NEW YORK, May 22, 1941 -- Not even Mother Nature can stop the Yankees.
Thursday afternoon's game in the Bronx pitted New York against the Detroit Tigers, and the proceedings were almost erased by a thunderstorm, but the rain subsided and the home team prevailed once again.
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The 6-5 victory before 10,156 persons was the Yankees' third consecutive triumph and has them in the slightly more comfortable position of 19 wins and 17 losses. They are still 5 1/2 games behind Cleveland but seemingly gaining momentum with each day.
The weather came early, delaying the game by a half-hour in the middle of the third inning, but the storm moved on. The game was tied at 3 heading into the bottom of the sixth when a double by Bill Dickey and a subsequent triple by Frankie Crosetti gave the Yankees two more runs, and they would not trail again.
Yankees first baseman and leadoff man Johnny Sturm singled in a run in the eighth to make it 6-4, which ended up rendering meaningless the run-scoring single by Tigers first baseman Rudy York in the ninth.
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Steve Peek pitched seven innings for New York and was relieved by Norm Branch, who took care of the last two.
Tommy Henrich hit a two-run home run in the first inning for the local nine's first runs, and Joe DiMaggio, who also singled later in the game, pushed across the team's third run on a lineout in the third.
In total, five hitters -- Sturm, Red Rolfe, Henrich, Dickey and Crosetti -- had two hits apiece for the victors, who will now greet Ted Williams and the Boston Red Sox for an anticipated three-game rendezvous that begins at Yankee Stadium on Friday.

On May 15, 1941, Joe DiMaggio began his legendary 56-game hitting streak. In celebration of the 75th anniversary of that seemingly unbreakable record, we'll be doing a day-by-day account of the momentous feat.