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ON THIS DATE
(September 16, 1965) ...
Lee Thomas dug a
throw from Dave Morehead out of the dirt to record the final out of
the game and the jumped all over his pitcher, along with all his
other teammates, to celebrate what he had just done. Morehead had
just rode into baseball history by throwing a no-hitter against the
Cleveland Indians, beating them 2 to 0.
By just one pitch, on a 3 and 2 count in the second inning, Morehead
missed a perfect game. Rocky Colavito took that pitch and drew a walk
to first base. Then Morehead struck out the side.
Luis Tiant was on the mound for the Indians and limited the Sox
hitters to just one base hit until there were two outs in the sixth
inning. Jim Gosger reached on an infield single followed by a triple
from Dalton Jones, to put the Sox up 1-0. Then Lee Thomas lofted his
20th homer into the right field grandstand, for the second run.
As the tension grew on each pitch, Morehead's teammates quietly went
about their business each inning. Leading off the ninth inning was
Larry Brown, a right-handed batter, who was hitting for the catcher,
Duke Sims. He hit an easy line drive right at Eddie Bressoud, who
caught it just above his head with both hands.
Then there was former teammate, Lou Clinton, who was batting for
Tiant. Clinton lofted a lazy fly ball to centerfielder Jim Gosger for
the second out.
Finally, Morehead needed to take care of Dick Howser to complete the
unthinkable. But manager Birdie Tebbetts sent up the speedster, Vic
Davalillo to hit for Howser. Morehead's first pitch was taken at the
letters for a strike. The next pitch Davalillo also took for another
strike. Tebbetts came from the dugout and told Davalillo to swing at
whatever the next pitch was. Morehead's next pitch was a curve that
broke below Davalillo's knees and he swung. The ball bounced back to
Morehead on one hop and bounced off his glove. Morehead leaped at the
ball, knowing how fast Davalillo was, and made a panicky throw to
Thomas, who dug it out of the dirt. It was over. He did it !!!!!
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RED SOX ANNOUNCER, KEN
COLEMAN'S SCORECARD |
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3B
