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DUQUETTE PUSHES ALL THE RIGHT BUTTONS ... Bill Haselman is the hero in this game June 27, 1995 ... The next night, Bill Haselman slammed a solo home run in the 11th inning that carried Sox to a 6-5 victory over the hapless Blue Jays. Haselman sent a 3-and-2 pitch soaring into the left-field screen, his first home run with the Red Sox. For the second straight night, the Red Sox blew a lead to put themselves in position for a dramatic win. They squandered a 5-1 advantage that Roger Clemens took into the seventh inning. Clemens was fine for six, but rookie Angel Martinez hit a three-run homer into the right-field seats to pull Toronto within a run in the seventh. Clemens finished the inning but was done for the night after throwing 98 pitches. The Jays then got to Ken Ryan for the tying run in the eighth. The hero, Haselman, wasn't even in the game. Mike Macfarlane was lifted for a pinch runner after walking in the ninth, and Haselman came out to catch in the 10th. For six innings, the Sox had a ball at the expense of former Sox pitcher Danny Darwin, who gave up three home runs. Two came in the first inning, solo shots by Lee Tinsley and Mo Vaughn. Troy O'Leary hit his third of the year in the fourth, and with Clemens on the mound, the Fenway Faithful had to feel pretty good. When Macfarlane delivered with the bases loaded in the sixth, they had to be ecstatic. But a streak of wildness hurt Clemens in the seventh. Clemens actually struck out the first three batters, but the second, Ed Sprague, reached when strike three was a wild pitch. With two outs, Clemens hit Candy Maldonado with a pitch, and the next batter was Martinez, who made it 5-4. Ryan replaced Clemens in the eighth and wound up with his third blown save. He gave up a leadoff single to Paul Molitor, who stole second and scored with two outs on John Olerud's single to left. The throw home by Mike Greenwell was short, and Macfarlane boxed it around. Double plays got Boston out of jams in the 9th and 10th innings. Lefthander Derek Lilliquist was credited with the victory, prompting manager Kevin Kennedy to suggest he might see more duty. The Red Sox have won five of the last seven and are playing the way they did earlier in the season. Their American League East lead over second-place Detroit is back to six games. |
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