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The Sox roll for the second consecutive night June 9, 1984 ... The Sox have turned Fenway into a racquetball court, with balls ricocheting off The Wall, inside the foul pole, into the V in center field, into the corners, into the bullpens. But what the Red Sox have wrought on the Brewers in the last two games (26 runs, 34 hits, 6 home runs, 63 total bases, and an 11-3 rout added to today’s 15-6 blast) is something they haven't really done since 1979. The middle of the Red Sox order mashed the Brewers for 19 hits in this victory, that gave Bobby Ojeda (6-5) and Bob Stanley (11 saves) rare gift numbers before 29,488 in the 96-degree heat. In the process, the Red Sox have dropped all the way to fourth in the league in the number of double plays grounded into. They tied the game in the second because of Jackie Gutierrez' speed beating out an infield roller and Bill Buckner's daring scoring from second on the play. They went ahead with four runs in the fourth inning when they went from first to third three times. Then after Cecil Cooper's three-run homer off Bob Stanley cut it to 7-6 in the sixth, they buried Milwaukee with three homers and two four-run innings in a show that saw everyone in the starting lineup but Ed Jurak get at least one hit, run and RBI. In reaching .500 for the first time since April 8th, when they were 3-3, the Sox had a myriad of offensive heroes. Mike Easler had a double, a single, his 10th homer and five RBIs. His streak is getting ridiculous at 27 for 55 in his last 14 games. He has reached base in 35 of his last 62 plate appearances, has 19 multihit games and a .396 average as a DH. Jim Rice notched his 1000th career RBI, had three singles, and in the last six games is 15 for 25 with 13 RBIs. The man is already at a 133-RBI pace, and he has only just begun. Dwight Evans hit a home run inside the right-field foul pole, walked twice, had another hit, and is 18 for 43 in his 12-game streak. Bill Buckner not only hustled them into a tie, but also had an RBI single, a two-run homer and three runs. Tony Armas had two doubles, a single and two RBIs, which gives him 12 RBIs in eight games and 20 in 17 games. All of which protected Ojeda, who was erratic. Now, Ojeda has had a season in which he has been either brilliant or wild; he has allowed no earned runs in five starts, one earned run in two, four in one, five in three and six in three. However, Ojeda also battled to stay in, so that when he left after 124 pitches with one out in the sixth it was 7-3. Cooper then hit his three-run homer off Stanley to make it a one-run game. Temporarily. Ojeda had fallen behind on a two-run Bobby Clark homer in the second, but in the bottom of that inning Easler doubled and was knocked in by Buckner's single off Bob Gibson (0-1), who was forced into the start because of Chuck Porter's elbow tendinitis and the ankle Mike Caldwell injured at a Baltimore hotel. Gutierrez then topped a roller toward shortstop. Robin Yount made a fine play getting the ball to Cooper, but Gutierrez beat it out. And Buckner was coming from second. Cooper made a quick throw to the plate in time to get Buckner, but Buckner slid past catcher Bill Schroeder, reached back and slapped the plate to tied it at 2-2. Rich Gedman started it in the fourth, down 3-2, when he singled, was bunted up by Jurak, moved to third on Gutierrez' single and scored on Wade Boggs' single; then the first-to-third parade began on hits by Evans, Rice and Armas. What an inning that was: Rice's 1000th RBI, Boggs' 10th, Cooper's tag on a sensitive area of Gutierrez' body that doubled him up, a Jim Gantner collision with the right-field stands and Randy Ready's collision with the stands behind third that forced him to leave for stitches over his brow. The difference is that for the first time in five years, the thunder stretched from the first through seventh spots in the order. |
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