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TED COMES BACK FROM KOREA
WITHOUT LOSING A STEP ...
Jimmy Piersall scores Ted Lepcio
with a walk-off single
May 14, 1953 ... Jimmy
Piersall's 11th inning two-out single drove home Ted Lepcio with the
run that gave the Red Sox a 5-4 triumph over the Indians in a game
full of fantastic situations.
Bob Feller and Hal Brown were the starters but neither finished.
Brown was rocked for three homers and all four Cleveland runs. Feller
gave up two runs in the first six innings and was yanked at the start
of the seventh.
Cleveland was the first to score, as Al Rosen knocked out his fifth
homer over the screen in left field. Another homer by Joe Tipton,
gave Cleveland a 2-1 lead in the third inning.
A couple of balks helped make possible the Sox third straight win
over Cleveland. The Indians actually balked themselves out of the
game. The Sox tied it up on a balk by Feller in the third. Gene
Stephens opened with a single and was awarded second on the balk. He
galloped over to third when George Kell grounded out to Bobby Avila
and sprinted home on Dick Gernert's sacrifice fly.
The Indians re-took the lead in the fourth with two outs. Harry
Simpson singled and Jim Lemon homered to put them up 4-2, but they
were shutout by the Sox after that. Willard Nixon took over for Brown
in the fifth inning and pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings. Kinder came
in and shut the door in the 11th inning, to get the win.
When Bolling opened the seventh with a base hit, Dave Hoskins
relieved Feller. He set down the next three batters but ran into
trouble in the eighth inning. Kell opened with a base hit and Floyd
Baker came in to run for him. The Sox got a break when Gernert's
grounder was deflected by Hoskins into a base hit. Sammy White's
attempted sacrifice bunt was turned into a force play at second base,
with Baker moving to third. Lepcio walked to load the bases. A balk
by Hoskins allowed Baker to walk home, with White moving over to
third base and Lepcio to second. Mike Garcia was brought into the
game and Tom Umphlett's base hit brought home White with the tying
run.
Lepcio opened the Sox 11th inning with a hot roller up the middle for
a base hit, giving him the distinction of reaching base every time he
came to bat. He had homered, singled and walked twice before getting
this hit. Umphlett followed by sacrificing him up to second. After an
intentional pass was handed to Milt Bolling, Al Zarilla, batting for
Kinder, popped up. This brought up Piersall, who had gone hitless in
five times at bat. He slammed a ground ball between thirdbaseman
Rosen and shortstop Ray Boone into left field, as Lepcio rounded
third with the winning run. |
