The Oakland Jacks used two big innings to build a big lead over the Boston Splinters. Boston chipped away, but their 9th-inning comeback fell short, as the Jacks took the 1st game of the final season series 9-8. Oakland’s Lefty Grove walked in a run in the 2nd inning, and allowed a 2-run single to Ichiro Suzuki to give Boston an early 3-0 lead. In the 3rd, Josh Gibson hit a bases-clearing double during a 5-run inning to put the Jacks on top. Mickey Mantle hit an RBI grounder to tie it in the 4th, but Hank Greenberg overthrew 1st as part of a 3-run inning for Oakland. Gibson added another RBI single in the 6th. Wade Boggs hit a solo home run in the 7th to cut into the Oakland lead. Mariano Rivera gave up a leadoff double to Alan Trammell in the 9th, but struck out Boggs and Nap Lajoie. That’s when Iván Rodríguez hit a two-run homer to make it a one-run game. Rivera rebounded to strike out Tris Speaker to save the game. Gibson finished 2 for 3 with 4 RBI. Lou Boudreau was 4 for 5. Suzuki was 2 for 4 to extend his hitting streak to 18 games.
