TEDDY BALLGAME SENDS STADIUM CROWD HOME UNHAPPY
Splendid Splinter's 2 HRs, Wights CG Paces BoSox
NEW YORK, April 17 (AP) - Ted Williams belted a pair of two-run home runs and
Bill Wight fired a complete game as the Boston Red Sox spoiled New York's home
opener in front of a sellout crowd at Yankee Stadium with a 7-2 win.
The Red Sox got to Yankees starter Vic Raschi early and often, piling up a 5-0
lead after five innings and never trailing en route to the victory.
Dom DiMaggio and Billy Goodman swatted back-to-back singles to begin the game,
with DiMaggio scoring on Vern Stephens' long fly to take a 1-0 first inning
lead.
In the third, Goodman's one-out double into the left field corner was followed
by Williams' towering drive into the right field bleachers for a 3-0 lead.
Two innings later, Boston grabbed a stranglehold on the game with two more
tallies. DiMaggio led off with a single and, one out later, Williams moved
him to third with a single of his own to right field. Stephens kept the
parade moving with a single to left-center, plating DiMaggio and moving Williams
to third. Raschi fanned Walt Dropo but Bobby Doerr brought home the second
run of the frame--and the fifth of the game--with a base hit, plating Williams.
Meanwhile, Wight was putting forth a strong effort, surrendering only a solo run
to the Yankees in the fifth on Jackie Jensen's long fly ball.
New York attempted to get back in the game in the bottom of the eighth when Joe
DiMaggio tripled home Phil Rizzuto with two outs but, with the bullpen stirring
behind him, Wight retired Yogi Berra on a ground ball to keep the score 5-2.
Boston earned some insurance in the ninth when Williams cracked his second home
run of the game, a line drive that just cleared the low wall down the right
field line off reliever Joe Ostrowski, driving home Dom DiMaggio in the process,
accounting for the game's final two runs. Billy Johnson nicked Wight for a
harmless one-out single in the bottom of the ninth, but the Red Sox lefty
prevailed.
4/17/1951, BoA51-NYA51, Yankee Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1951 Red Sox 1 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 2 7 13 1 8 1 1951 Yankees 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 8 1 7 3 Red Sox AB R H BI AVG Yankees AB R H BI AVG DiMaggio, D cf 4 3 2 0 .500 Jensen lf 4 0 0 1 .000 Goodman rf 4 1 3 0 .750 Rizzuto ss 4 0 2 0 .500 Williams, T lf 5 3 3 4 .600 Mantle rf 4 1 0 0 .000 Stephens 3b 5 0 3 2 .600 DiMaggio, J cf 2 0 1 1 .500 Dropo 1b 4 0 0 0 .000 Berra c 4 0 1 0 .250 Doerr 2b 5 0 2 1 .400 Mize 1b 3 0 0 0 .000 Boudreau ss 3 0 0 0 .000 Muncrief p 0 0 0 0 .000 Rosar c 3 0 0 0 .000 Ostrowski p 0 0 0 0 .000 Wight p 4 0 0 0 .000 Bauer ph 1 0 0 0 .000 37 7 13 7 Johnson, B 3b 4 1 2 0 .500 Coleman, Je 2b 4 0 2 0 .500 Raschi p 1 0 0 0 .000 Collins 1b 2 0 0 0 .000 33 2 8 2 Red Sox INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Wight W 1-0 9.0 8 2 2 2 1 123 72 2.00 9.0 8 2 2 2 1 123 72 Yankees INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Raschi L 0-1 6.1 12 5 5 0 7 112 68 7.11 Muncrief 2.0 0 1 1 3 0 31 15 4.50 Ostrowski 0.2 1 1 1 0 0 14 8 13.50 9.0 13 7 7 3 7 157 91 NYA: Collins inserted at 1b in the 7th Bauer batted for Ostrowski in the 9th E-Williams, T, Collins. 2B-Goodman(1). 3B-DiMaggio, J(1). HR-Williams, T 2(2). RBI-Williams, T 4(4), Stephens 2(2), Doerr(1), Jensen(1), DiMaggio, J(1). K-DiMaggio, D, Dropo 2, Doerr, Boudreau, Wight 2, Mantle. BB-DiMaggio, D, Dropo, Boudreau, DiMaggio, J 2. SH-Goodman, Raschi. HBP-Rosar. HB-Raschi. GWRBI: Stephens Temperature: 58, Sky: cloudy, Wind: out to right at 17 MPH. Attendance: 67,118 Game Time: 2:15