page_title: 1912 World Series
section_title: Game 2
hierarchical_section_title: 1912 World Series / Matchups / Game 2
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of baseball player as pitcher for the New York Giants. Gelatin silver photographic print
context_page_description: In the 1912 World Series, the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Giants four games to three.
  This series, featuring close games and controversial decisions, was regarded as one of the most exciting World Series of its era. Nearly all of the games were close. Four games in this Series were decided by one run. A fifth ended in a tie. A sixth was decided by two runs. Game 7 was the only one with a margin greater than three runs. Two games, including the decisive Game 8, went to extra innings. In Games 1 and 3, the losing team had the tying and winning runs on base when the game ended.
  The series showcased star pitching from Giant Christy Mathewson and Red Sox fireballer Smoky Joe Wood. Wood won two of his three starts and pitched in relief in the final game. In the deciding game, Boston rallied for two runs in the tenth inning thanks to two costly Giants fielding misplays.
  This was one of only four World Series to go to eight games, and the only best-of-seven Series to do so. While the 1912 Series was extended to eight games due to a tie game being called on account of darkness, the 1903, 1919, and 1921 World Series were all best-of-nine affairs that happened to run eight games.
context_section_description: Christy Mathewson later said of the moment when he took the mound at Fenway Park, "This was the only place in the world that I wanted to be.  I could think of nothing greater than pitching this game for the glory of the New York Giants."
  An error by Giants shortstop Art Fletcher led to three first-inning unearned Boston runs off Mathewson. Single tallies in the second and fourth by the Giants cut the lead to 3–2. Another error by Fletcher, who failed to tag Harry Hooper on a stolen base attempt, led to a fourth Boston run in the fifth when Yerkes followed the error with an RBI triple. In the top of the eighth Boston returned the favor, allowing New York to strike back for three runs.  Left field at brand-new Fenway Park was unique for a 10-to-15-foot (3.0 to 4.6 m) incline in front of the wall (later to be called "The Green Monster"). Red Sox left fielder Duffy Lewis was so proficient at negotiating this incline that it was first named "Duffy's Cliff" in his honor, but this time Lewis tripped on the hill and failed to catch Fred Snodgrass' fly ball, putting him on first base.  He scored on Murray's double, and two batters later third baseman Buck Herzog hit a two-run double to give New York a 5–4 lead.
  The Giants' lead was brief. Lewis doubled in the bottom of the eighth, and then Fletcher's terrible day continued with his third error allowing Larry Gardner to reach base and Lewis to score. This tied the game at 5. In the ninth, Boston reliever Charley Hall, who had replaced Ray Collins in the eighth, got the first two outs but proceeded to walk Snodgrass, Larry Doyle and Beals Becker consecutively.  But with the bases loaded, Red Murray grounded into a forceout and the Red Sox escaped. Boston went quietly in the bottom of the ninth, setting up extra innings. Fred Merkle led off the New York tenth with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly to give the Giants a 6–5 lead. Mathewson, who pitched the entire game for New York, came back to the mound in the bottom of the tenth with a chance to slam the door on Boston and even the Series at one game apiece, but Tris Speaker, who had hit .383 in the regular season, slammed an extra-base hit to center field. Giant third baseman Buck Herzog deliberately collided with Speaker to prevent an inside-the-park home run, but Speaker got up and came home anyway.  Becker threw the ball in to cutoff man Tillie Shafer, who threw to the plate but catcher Art Wilson dropped the ball—for New York's fifth error of the game—and Speaker, who was credited with a triple on the play, scored to tie it at 6. McGraw claimed, and reporters in the press box agreed, that Speaker had missed first base, but base umpire Cy Rigler ruled that he hadn't on appeal.  Lewis followed with a double to put the winning run in scoring position, but Mathewson retired Gardner and Stahl to escape the inning with a tie.
  New York had one last chance in the top of the 11th. Snodgrass led off the inning by being hit by a pitch, but was then thrown out attempting to steal second.  After Doyle struck out, Becker drew a walk but was also thrown out on an attempted steal of second, ending the inning. After the Red Sox went down in order in the bottom of the eleventh, the game was called on account of darkness tied at 6, Boston retaining a 1–0 lead in the Series.  Baseball's National Commission ruled that the players would still get a share of the gross receipts from only the first four games despite the Game 2 tie, a decision which caused much discontent among the players.
caption: Christy Mathewson in 1910
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