Late Inning Magic

Tigers at Red Sox, May 12, 1908

Late Inning Magic

This really was an all-time classic.

Detroit has struggled all season. The Tigers managed to get out to a quick 4-0 lead in this game, a lead that they pushed up to 5-0 in the top of the 6th.

The Red Sox started to come back in the bottom of the 7th, but I didn’t really take it seriously. Detroit was ahead 6-3 going into the bottom of the 9th.

And that’s when things got serious.

It started innocently for Boston — a walk, a ground ball sending the runner to second, then another walk.

However, Bob Unglaub hit a double, Amby McConnell singled, and then Heinie Wagner provided the blow that tied the ballgame:

The Tigers managed to go ahead in the top of the 10th, thanks to a walk, a groundout, a single, and then a clutch base hit by Ty Cobb.

That left it up to the Red Sox to do whatever they could to win it.

Bill Carrigan started things off:

That error was charged to Tigers reliver George Suggs, who had entered the game in the bottom of the 9th to get the final out.

Up next was Gavvy Cravath, who I ordered to bunt. He bunted foul twice, and so I let him swing away:

Two plate appearances had resulted in two errors, and now the Red Sox were in business. Jack Thoney came up next as a pinch hitter for the pitcher:

Thoney’s bunt was a beauty, putting two men in scoring position with only 1 out. Maybe bunting was a little bit too aggressive in this situation. However, the deficit was only a run, and I figured getting that run was more important than anything else.

Doc Gessler was up next, and I knew he had to be walked intentionally with first base open and less than two men out:

That meant it was all down to Bob Unglaub:

This was probably the worst possible result: a comebacker to the pitcher that led to a double play. Suddenly the chance of tying or even winning the game was dead, and the Tigers emerged victorious in a wild one.

The two teams combined for 9 errors, which is simply crazy. I’ll also note that there was only a single successful sacrifice bunt in this game, mostly because it was a blowout up until the very end.