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Gary Allenson's walk-off
double
wins
for the Sox in the 12th inning
May
19, 1982 ... The nine inning, one run stint of
Stanley and Mark Clear covered up for what otherwise looked like a
loss until the Seattle bullpen finally cracked in the 12th inning for
Gary Allenson's two out, 3-and-2 double and a 6-5 Red Sox victory
before 12,927 in Fenway.
When Jim Beattie came down with back spasms, the Mariners
had to start Larry Anderson, who not only had never started before, but unfurled
a 6.66 ERA as his credential. But after nine hits and two errors in 4 2/3
innings, all the Red Sox had to show was a 4-4 tie. The Sox made three errors,
had two passed balls, allowed three stolen bases, left runners in scoring
position in the eighth, 10th and 11th innings. And if you think they had
problems, Seattle had runners on base in 10 innings, had the go-ahead run at
third in the final three innings and had to go to bed knowing that if third
baseman Manny Castillo's shoulder hadn't tightened and nightclub comedian Lenny
Randle hadn't been playing third, Jim Rice's two-out routine grounder in the
ninth would have ended the game and given the Mariners' bullpen its 11th save in
11 save opportunities.
Instead, the Red Sox ended up winning the battle of the
bullpens. After all, Seattle manager Rene Lachemann was into his before the
national anthem, and, after a three inning, four run stint by Chuck Rainey, Houk
was into his in the fourth. In the end, it came down to the two best
strikeout-per-inning pitchers in the American League, and Clear got his four
strikeouts to end his three innings, when Caudill went for his fourth, his old
winter ball catcher Allenson nailed it for the game- winning double; in a
fitting ending, center fielder Joe Simpson's throw to cutoff man Todd Cruz
bounced away.
Way back in the fourth inning, when Stanley entered the
game, it already looked as if this were going to be a dilly of a game. Al Cowens
and Glenn Hoffman had traded two-run homers, and Hoffman had knocked in Rich
Gedman, who had three hits, two passed balls and an error, right after Jerry
Remy pulled a groin muscle and right before Houk threw out his arm to deflect
Dwight Evans' line drive. From that point until the ninth, Stanley had allowed
only a home run by Bobby Brown (who got thrown out at third with one
base-running blunder and butchered two balls in the outfield) that cleared the
Boston bullpen. But that had made it 5-4, Seattle, and when Bryan Clark came in
for 2 1/3 innings, during which time he struck out three of four lefties
looking, and Mike Stanton got Boston's 45th ground-ball double play in the
eighth and got into the ninth, it appeared over.
However, just as this game was started by a Rainey walk, so
appropriately Stanton committed the grievous sin of walking Rick Miller to start
the bottom of the ninth. A Wade Boggs bunt, Evans ground ball to second and Rice
ground ball. Problem was, Randle started backing up on Rice's grounder,
completely missed it, and, despite the valiant effort of Todd Cruz, Rice was
safe, it was 5-5 and for the first time in 11 save opportunities the Seattle
bullpen had failed.
Then came the extra innings. An infield hit and a Stanley
error on a DP ball brought Clear into his first jam in the eighth. In the 10th,
he had second and third, one out, and got a weak grounder from Jim Maler and
blew away Bud Bulling. In the 11th, he had Brown at third, two out, and blew
away Simpson. In the 12th, he had second and third, one out, and blew away Maler
and Bulling, giving him 29 innings pitched, 35 strikeouts and a 1.24 ERA.
After lefty Ed VandeBerg followed Stanton with a brilliant
inning, then Caudill came in after Boggs' first Wall Double to fan Evans and
Rice in the 11th, Dave Stapleton nudged a broken bat blooper into center with
two out in the 12th off the Mariner ace who has 30 strikeouts in 29 innings.
When it got to 3-and-2 and Muggsy fouled off two pitches,
he turned the dial up two more notches, got another fastball and with Stapleton
running drilled it into the left center field gap for the winning run. |
