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ON THIS DATE (July 23, 1961)
... The Red Sox turned the tables on the New York
Yankees by scoring two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, and
walked-off with a 5 to 4 victory. In the process, Don Schwall won his
10th game.
The game had a double climax. The Yankees came from behind in the top
of the ninth inning on a two-run homer off the bat of Elston Howard,
putting them ahead 4-3.
But Don Buddin started the bottom of the ninth with a base hit to
left. Then Carl Yastrzemski moved him up with a sacrifice bunt.
Pumpsie Green, pinch-hitting for Schwall came up next. He pumped a
curve ball off the scoreboard for a double, that enabled Buddin to
romp home with the tying run. Yankee pitcher Bud Daley, next got
Chuck Schilling to pop up for the second out. On a 2-and-2 pitch,
Gary Geiger next singled to right and Pumpsie jubilantly came across
the plate with the winning run.
For Schwall, the victory was a sweet one. He gave up two runs in the
third inning on a Bobby Richardson single, a Tony Kubek double, and
an RBI single by Roger Maris. He then walked Mickey Mantle and
proceeded to shut down the Yanks. Only one man reached base and that
was Mantle who walked in the sixth.
Meanwhile in the second, third and fourth innings, the Sox put up
single runs. In the second it was a homer by Jim Pagliaroni. In the
third Yaz got a base hit off Richardson's glove, Schwall sacrificed
and Geiger blooped a run-scoring single to right. And in the fourth
inning, Frank Malzone homered to put the Sox ahead 3 to 2.
Now Schwall did a splendid job of protecting his one-run lead by
pitching no-hit ball. Daley also was great in holding the Sox to just
two hits during the stretch. Schwall retired 14 batters in a
row, except for Mantle's walk.
Then in the eighth, Tony Kubek beat-out a nubber hit toward
Schilling. Maris then worked Schwall for a free pass and Mantle
waited out Schwall for a walk on four pitches, to load the bases for
Yogi Berra. Yogi smashed the ball right at Schilling however, who
tossed over to Buddin, catching Maris off the bag for a doubleplay
and crushing the potential rally.
Schwall had worked himself out of trouble, but it was only temporary.
In the top of the ninth, the Yankees continued when Bill Skowron
led-off with a single to center. That brought up Elston Howard who
took a 1-and-1 pitch into the fourth row of the center field seats,
and the score was now in the favor of the Yankees, 4-to-3.
Then came along the Red Sox fireworks in the bottom of the ninth. |
