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REVERSING THE CURSE,
PART 2
PEDRO
& TEK COME TO TOWN
Nomar's 2nd HR of the game is a walk-off
August 11, 1998 ... The
Red Sox weathered a 1-hour 25-minute rain delay and rallied to score
a 7-4 victory in the 10th inning. After thunder and lightning rumbled
overhead for much of the first eight innings, Nomar Garciaparra
treated the diehard Sox fans among the Fenway Park crowd of 33,290
who refused to leave to a real thunderclap in the 10th with a
three-run homer off Jeff Montgomery, the shortstop's second blast of
the night.
Nomar
hit a solo shot in the sixth off Royals starter Tim Belcher to tie the game,
2-2. But it was his 10th-inning homer -- his 24th of the season -- that made a
winner of reliever Tom Gordon, who allowed three hits and a run in 2 1/3 innings
to improve to 6-3.
Sox starter
Steve Avery, who was relieved by Jim Corsi after issuing a leadoff walk to Jose
Offerman in the seventh, had his third no-decision in 15 starts. He allowed two
runs on four hits.
After giving
up a run on Dean Palmer's single to left in the third, Avery surrendered a
second run when Offerman scored on Sal Fasano's squeeze bunt in the sixth to
give the Royals a 2-1 lead.
Garciaparra
got Avery off the hook when he took Belcher into the Sox bullpen in the bottom
of the inning to tie it, 2-2. After twice battling back to tie, the Red Sox
finally surged ahead in the seventh, 3-2, when Darren Bragg slid home on Orlando
Merced's pinch- hit sacrifice fly to right.
But the
Royals came back with two outs in the eighth to push across the tying run when
Jermaine Dye -- after barely beating out a triple-play throw to first -- scored
on Terry Pendleton's double to center. Then the skies finally parted at 9:33
after threatening all night.
When the
game resumed, Gordon entered the game with runners on first and second but got
Mike Sweeney to pop up to second baseman Mike Benjamin.
After John
Valentin grounded to third to open the eighth, Mo Vaughn singled sharply up the
middle but wound up getting doubled off on a baserunning blunder. Vaughn was
already around second when Johnny Damon tracked down Garciaparra's fly to
center. Hal Morris, who was shifted from left to first after the resumption of
play, drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth on a line-drive single to left.
Damon, who reached on a base hit and stole second, beat the relay from Troy
O'Leary to Scott Hatteberg, putting the Royals up.
The Sox
loaded the bases in the ninth against Montgomery on singles by O'Leary, Mike
Stanley, and Bragg. However, they managed to push across only one run when
Hatteberg hit into a 4-6-3 double play. Benjamin came to the plate with two outs
and pinch runner Damon Buford at third but struck out to send the game into
extra innings.
That's when
Nomar's thunderous hit saved it from being a washout. |
