Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
Home     List of Articles

Washington Senators I at Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park, Boston, MA
August 7, 1958

Introduction

A small "crowd" of only 5,850 fans were in attendance to watch the Boston Red Sox take on the Washington Senators in a Thursday day game on August 7, 1958. The American League pennant race had essentially already been the decided but the Red Sox were in a tight battle with the Chicago White Sox for second place, with Boston entering play 0.5-game ahead of the Pale Hose. The Senators, meanwhile, were living up to the famous quip: First in War, First in Peace, and Last in the American League.

The starting pitchers for this day's matchup were Frank Sullivan, who entered play with a record of 8-5, for Boston, against, Hal Griggs (3-8) for Washington.

First Inning

Sullivan started strong, striking out Senators' leadoff hitter Eddie Yost as part of a 1-2-3 top of the first inning.

After Red Sox leadoff hitter Don Buddin fouled out, the Red Sox went to work giving Sullivan a lead to work with: two walks, a wild pitch, an RBI double by Frank Malzone, an RBI fielder's choice by Jackie Jensen (where everybody was safe), and a sacrifice fly by Jimmy Piersall gave the Red Sox a 3-0 lead at the end of one inning.

Second Inning

A solo home run by Jim Lemon was the first hit by a Senator and cut the Red Sox lead to 3-1. But the Red Sox matched their first-inning run total in the bottom of the second inning.

Two singles and a walk loaded the bases with one out and led to a Washington pitching change. Ted Williams greeted new pitcher Tex Clevinger with a two-run single and Malzone followed up with his second hit and second RBI of the game.

Third - Fourth Innings

The third inning was uneventful for both teams.

The Senators made some noise, though, in the top of the fourth inning. The first two batters of the inning walked and Roy Sievers put the ball over the Green Monster, cutting the Red Sox lead to 6-4. A two-out single by Norm Zauchin was wasted, but the Senators still had some hope if their pitching could hold the Red Sox at six runs.

The Senators pitching could not hold the Red Sox at six runs, as Don Buddin led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a home run of his own to extend the Red Sox lead to 7-4.

Fifth - Eighth Innings

From there, things settled down to a relative pitching duel. From the fifth through eighth innings, the only batter on either team to get past first base was Ted Williams, whose solo home run with two out in the bottom of the sixth inning pushed the Red Sox lead to 8-4.

Ninth Inning

And so, the Senators came into the ninth inning trailing by four runs. Red Sox starter Frank Sullivan was still on the mound - the 1950s were still the era where complete games were expected, if not necessarily the norm (the 1958 Red Sox had 44 complete games; Sullivan tied for the team lead with 10) - with the 5-6-7 hitters due for the Senators.

Clint Courtney lined out to first base for the first out. Jim Lemon grounded out to the shortstop. And, in a flash, the Senators were down to their final out.

Norm Zauchin hit a ground ball to third baseman Frank Malzone, who won the first two Gold Gloves awarded to third basemen in 1957 and 1958, but Malzone bobbled the ball and the Senators still had hope.

Neil Chrisley followed up with a single to left field and all of a sudden, the Senators had the tying run in the on-deck circle.

Faye Throneberry (Marvelous Marv's brother) was called on to pinch hit for the third Senators' pitcher, Vito Valentinetti. Throneberry entered the game batting .189/.232/.321. Alas, those numbers would not improve on this day. The best Throneberry could do was hit a ground ball to Red Sox second baseman Ted Lepcio, who fielded it cleanly and threw to first base for the 27th and final out of the game. Red Sox win, 8-4.

Game Summary

With their win, the Red Sox gained a half-game on the idle White Sox in their battle for second place. It would not last as the Red Sox finished the 1958 season in third place, three games behind the White Sox (and 13 games behind the New York Yankees).

The star of the Red Sox' August 7th win was Ted Williams - who was the star of a lot of Red Sox wins during his 19-year career. The 1958 season would turn out to be arguably the last truly great season of Williams' career. He led the league in batting average (.328) and on-base percentage (.458), the last time he would lead the league in anything. Jackie Jensen's first-inning RBI in this game was one of 122 runs he would end up driving home in 1958, the most in the American League - his second of three times leading the AL in RBIs - enough for Jensen to be elected American League MVP.

Finally, one final note about the 1958 Boston Red Sox. By 1958, the Red Sox were the last major-league team who had not yet integrated. That would come the next season, when Pumpsie Green would finally break the color barrier for the Red Sox.

Details of the game are shown below. First, I show Player won-lost records for all of the players who participated in the game. Baseball Player won-lost records are constructed so that the players on the winning team earn two pWins and one pLoss in the game while the players on the losing team earn one pWin and two pLosses. I also show expected wins and losses, eWins and eLosses, which are context-neutral. Full play by play details of the game are shown below the won-lost tables. My Player won-lost records are described in more detail in this article and throughout my website.

Retrosheet Box Score and Play-by-Play