DUQUETTE PUSHES ALL
THE RIGHT BUTTONS ...
Canseco
connects for a game winner
September 5, 1995
...
A battle royal of Sox and Athletics at Fenway Park on September 4th,
seemed fated to end one way, on a Jose Canseco home run. Fortunately
for the Red Sox, he's wearing their uniform now, so his three-run
blast in the 14th inning produced a 7-4 victory for Boston instead of
Oakland. It was the Sox fourth straight victory and dropped the magic
number to nine for clinching the American League East.
Most of the 27,080 fans had left the extra-inning contest. But those who hung
around saw a beauty of a finish. Troy O'Leary singled with one out and stole
second as John Valentin struck out. After a walk to Mo Vaughn, Canseco sent a
1-and-0 pitch from Carlos Reyes high into the screen.
The ball was going all night, in fact. Rickey Handerson and Stan Javier hit home
runs for Oakland. Valentin and Vaughn hit back-to-back home runs (for the third
time this year) in the sixth.
The Sox trailed in this one, 2-0, 3-1 and 4-3, but there is a reason they are
8-3 in extra innings, including 5-0 at Fenway Park.
One would not suspect from the way they battled that the A's are bringing up the
rear of the AL West. Starter Todd Stottlemyre went seven strong innings and left
with a 4-3 lead. He outdueled Erik Hanson, who worked eight innings and gave up
10 hits.
Henderson's home run in the third gave Oakland a 2-0 lead. Boston got one run
back in the bottom of the inning on a single and stolen base by Luis Alicea and
a two-out double by Valentin, one of three hits by the shortstop.
Oakland pushed across another run in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead, but the Sox
tied it in the sixth on the homers by Valentin, his 24th, and Vaughn, his 33d.
Javier's blast broke the tie in the seventh, but Boston scraped back in the
eighth to force extra innings.
Canseco was in the middle of the tying rally, too. Valentin led off with his
third hit, a single, but was erased by Vaughn on a force play. Canseco then hit
a grounder up the middle that handcuffed second baseman Brent Gates and skipped
through for a single. Vaughn scored easily on a single by Mike Greenwell. The
drama dragged on for six more innings. Finally, Canseco came through, but he
claimed there was no extra satisfaction in beating his old team. |