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THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 9
BLEEPIN' BUCKY DENT'S HOME RUN ...
Jim Rice pounds the
White Sox
May 6, 1978
...
Jim Rice belted his eighth home run of the season and
drove in five runs as the Red Sow swept the White Sox in a
doubleheader. They won the opener 6 to 4 and also the nite cap, by a
sore of 3 to 0, behind the pitching of rookie, Jim Wright, making his
first major league start.
The Red Sox rallied to win the first game on Dwight Evans' two-run
homer, with one out, in the 10th inning. Rice's double in the eighth
inning of the first game was his 600th hit in just his fourth full
major league season. His two-out single in the ninth inning drove in
the tying run, setting the stage for the Evans game-winning liner
into the left field screen, following a single by Carlton Fisk, the
next inning.
Rice knocked in Jerry Remy with the Red Sox first run in the first
inning of the opener. But Lee gave up four runs and the Red Sox were
down, 4-1, going into the eighth inning. After Remy doubled off Steve
Stone, Rice doubled off the wall to score him. Rich Hinton replaced
Stone for the White Sox, and Carl Yastrzemski lined a single to
center that scored Rice and cut the Chicago lead to 4-3.
Then in the ninth inning, Rick Burleson singled to center and was
sacrificed to second base. Rice's line drive to center scored him and
tied the game at 4-4, sending the game into the tenth inning.
Reliever, Bob Stanley, was the winning pitcher, retiring the White
Sox in order in the 10th inning, after coming in for the starter,
Bill Lee. Lee gave up 11 hits and six walks in the first nine
innings.
Wright, a 27-year old righthander then scattered seven hits in the
second game, earning his first major league victory. He was replacing
the scheduled starter, Mike Torrez, who withdrew with a sore back. He
struck out three and didn't issue a walk, in outdueling Francisco
Barrios. Wright became the first Red Sox rookie to throw a shutout
since Billy Rohr blanked the Yankees in 1967.
Rice drove in three runs in the first game and in the second game, he
hit a two-run homer off Barrios in the fourth inning and later added
a double. His five RBIs pushed his total for the year to 30.
Evans, who entered the game in the eighth inning as a replacement for
the ailing centerfielder, Fred Lynn, hit his second homer of the
season in the seventh inning of the second game, a solo shot, for the
third Red Sox run.
Carl Yastrzemski had two singles in the first game and a double in
the second game, moving him into 31st place among baseball's all-time
greatest with 2751 hits. His four total bases gave him 4475, passing
hall-of-famers Paul Waner and Nap Lajoie. |
