ON THIS DATE (May 3, 1940)
... Jim Tabor's slugging touch dominated the
St. Louis Browns in a 9 to 8 triumph, for which the Red Sox were
forced to finish in dramatic fashion. It was his line drive against
the left centerfield wall off John Whitehead, with one out and the
bases loaded in the 10th inning, that settled the outcome of a crazy
engagement that saw the Red Sox leading 4 to 0 going into the seventh
inning and then trailing 8 to 5 entering no later than the last of
the eighth-inning.Previous to Tabor's winning drive, he belted two
home runs, his third and fourth of the young season, over the wall in left
field. The second of his roundtrippers was when he was the first batter in the
last of the ninth-inning and the Red Sox trailing 8 to 7. That one sent the game
into extra innings.
Ted Williams belted his second home run of the year earlier and it was most
notable because it landed in the covered right-field section of the grandstand.
It was the first time that Ted had homered into that area. At the time the blast
gave the Sox a 2-0 lead and appeared only to provide some extra runs for Jim
Bagby who was pitching shutout ball.
Then in the seventh inning, with the Red Sox leading 4 to 0, things began to
happen for St. Louis. The Browns rattled out six hits with Bagby only retiring
two men. The big blow in this barrage was by Walt Judnich, who belted a home run
just inside the right-field foul pole with two men on board. Although there were
two outs at the time, Bagby couldn't keep the Browns from following with three
successive singles that tied the score. Jack Wilson had to come in to retire the
side.
Wilson then lined a single in the last of the seventh-inning, that scored
Tabor, who had walked and had been sacrificed to second. It gave the Red Sox
back the lead, 5-4. However he did not last on the mound for very long. Starting
with a bobble by Bobby Doerr on a ground ball, the Browns sent 10 men to the
plate in the eighth-inning and scored four more times, giving St. Louis an 8 to
5 lead.
Then came the counter charge with home runs by Joe Cronin in the eighth and
Tabor in the ninth inning, that tied the game.
Ted was the first batter in the 10th and he tried to end it with a line drive
that landed only a few feet from the top of the left-field wall. He ended up on
second base and then the Browns decided to walk Jimmie Foxx on purpose. Cronin
next laid down a perfect bunt and moved the two runners up a base.
The Browns now decided to walk Bobby Doerr and pitch to Tabor, who they
thought would never do it again. But he surprised them when he wasted no time
and sent the first pitch on a line toward the left centerfield wall. The ball
caromed off the bottom of the fence and Ted grinned all the way as he raced
across the plate with the winning run.
Joe Heving got his 10th straight relief decision win for the Red Sox cause,
including eight in a row from last year and now two from this year.
