Baseball Joe in the World Series : Or Pitching for the Championship
When the gong
rang, the Giants started out as though they were going to sew up the game then
and there.
Burkett set the
ball rolling with a wicked drive through the box that got past Roth before he
could gauge it. Larry followed suit with a smoking hit to left. A prettily
placed sacrifice bunt by Denton
advanced both men a base. Roth struck out Willis on three pitched balls, but
Becker came to the rescue with a line drive over second that scored Burkett
easily, though Larry was put out as he made a great slide for the rubber.
The net result
was only one run, but the most encouraging feature of the inning was the
exhibition of free hitting.
“Three clean hits
in one time at bat is going some,” Robson exulted.
“The boys seem to
have their batting clothes on for fair,” responded McRae, vastly pleased.
“I doubt if that
bird will come again for more,” judged “Robbie.” “They’ll probably take him out
and put Fraser in.”
Joe was in fine
fettle, and he showed his appreciation of the lead his mates had given him by
retiring the Red Sox without a man seeing first base.
Contrary to
Robson’s prediction, the Boston
manager elected still to pin his faith to Roth, who tightened up after his bad
start and for the next three innings held the Giants scoreless.
He was helped in
this by the superb support given him. Both the outfield and infield were on
their toes all the time, and drives that ordinarily would have gone for hits
were turned into outs in dazzling fashion.
One magnificent
catch by Thompson, the Red Sox catcher, was the feature of the fourth inning.
Iredell, who was at bat, sent up a sky-piercing foul. Thompson, Hobbs and Roth started
for it.
“I’ve got it,
I’ve got it!” yelled Thompson.
The others
stopped and Thompson kept on.
The ball swerved
toward the Boston
dugout, where the substitutes and extra pitchers of the team were sitting.
A shout of
warning went up, but Thompson did not falter. With his eye on the ball and his
hands outstretched, he plunged ahead.
He grabbed the
ball in a terrific forward lunge and went head over heels into the dugout,
where his comrades caught him and saved him from injury. But he still clutched
the ball as he was put on his feet, and a tempest of applause went up in which
even the Giants and their partisans could not help joining.