Sox Century: Aug. 22, 1917

The Red Sox left Chicago for the last time in 1917 the same way they arrived -- in second place by two games.

Behind strong pitching by Dutch Leonard and a four-run seventh inning off Lefty Williams, the Red Sox salvaged a split with a 5-1 victory today.

The way the Chicago papers treated a split accurately reflected the way the prism through which they viewed most events. The Chicago Tribune noted the underlying truth ...

The White and Red Sox are just where they were before this series, except that they are four games nearer to the wire.

... while the Chicago Examiner said the home Sox missed an opportunity.

The failure of the White Sox to gain during this series may prove costly.

While this game was tied at 1 going into the seventh, the Red Sox had spent most of the day on the attack. Williams didn’t have his control and avoided trouble most of the day, but it finally caught up with him in the fateful inning. He issued a leadoff walk for the fourth time, then gave up back-to-back bunt singles to load the bases.

Pants Rowland called on Dave Danforth to try to pull off a magical escape, and the Tribune said he was inches away from doing so:

[Harry] Hooper, who was Danforth’s first antagonist, rapped a sharp drive which struck the ground just in front of Eddie Collins and caromed off him, letting two runs score. If that rap had driven the ball a foot farther Collins would have caught it on the fly for a triple play. If the ball had hit the ground three feet nearer the plate Collins could have made a double play by way of [Ray] Schalk, and the score would have been kept at a tie.

Alas, the remaining runners ended up at second and third when Happy Felsch’s throw went home, and both scored on a Del Gainer single to put the game out of reach.

Nevertheless, the White Sox watched the Red Sox leave knowing that they wouldn’t be in danger of losing the American League lead with a one-game swing. And maybe this is a bit of a spoiler alert, but they wouldn’t entertain such a threat the rest of the way.

Record: 74-46 | Box score