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LEFTY GROVE |
THE SUMMER OF .406 AND "THE STREAK" ...
Foxx and Grove lead the Sox past the Yankees
May
12, 1941 ... Lefty Grove unfurled a
masterpiece in piloting the Red Sox to an 8 to 4 victory over the
Yankees, before 10,900 chilled fans at Fenway Park. All Grove needed
was five runs to win this game and they were all given to him right
in the very first inning, when Jimmy Foxx parked a pitch from Lefty
Gomez out onto Lansdowne Street with two runners aboard. In
fashioning his 295th career victory, Grove hurled a smooth game, even though he
was reached for 10 hits, which was two more than his teammates collected against
a trio of New York pitchers. Grove handed out five base on balls, but in spite
of this, showed excellent control. He made the Yankees hit the balls he wanted
them to hit, and as a result they were impotent with runners on base.
Today's win was his second of the spring and it was also the second time he
had gone the distance in his last two starts. He was nipping the corners all
afternoon and when he didn't have the Yankees nibbling at borderline pitches,
they were taking called strikes.
After the Yankees took out Gomez for a pinch-hitter in the fourth, the Sox
sluggers seemed to go to sleep. They only gathered three hits and were blanked
over the final five innings. But before then, they had gathered enough off Gomez
to make the going rather easy for Lefty Grove.
Gomez, who has been wild all spring, started off by passing Dom DiMaggio and
then Ted William in the first inning. He had Jimmy Foxx down to a 3-2 pitch and
Jimmy was waiting for a fat pitch when it came. The ball cleared the wall in
left-center for his second home run of the year and his first in more than two
weeks.
The rally didn't subside even though Gomez struck out Joe Cronin on a called
third strike. He couldn't resist it seems, and handed out more free passes as he
walked Bobby Doerr. Jim Tabor then lashed a fastball off the centerfield wall
for a double that brought Doerr home. At this point the defense of the Yankees
fell apart, allowing the Red Sox to pick up their fifth run. Johnny Peacock
rolled one down to Red Rolfe at third, and when his throw bounced in front of
Joe Gordon at first, Tabor scored easily.
Up 5 to 0, the Sox scored another run in the second inning. Ted Williams
singled to right and took second when Foxx was passed. A wild pitch advanced the
runners and then Gomez passed Cronin. But when the fourth ball was a wild pitch,
Ted galloped across the plate to make it 6 to 0.
The only time Grove allowed more than one hit in any inning was in the third,
when the Yankees scored three times. A double by Rolfe, a single by Charlie
Keller and a double Gordon, followed by a single off the bat of Buddy Rosar,
counted for three runs.
The Sox retrieved two of them in their half of the inning on a walk to Tabor,
a double by Dom DiMaggio and a single by Stan Spence, to make the score 8 to 3.
The Yankees picked up a final run in the ninth-inning after two were out.
Grove walked Keller and Joe DiMaggio. Then Cronin booted a tricky grounder off
the bat of Gordon and Keller scored the final run of the afternoon. |
