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Yaz and Rice lead an 18-hit attack for the Sox May 21, 1982 ... The Red Sox pounded three home runs among their season-high 18 hits and regained sole possession of first place with an 8-7 victory over the Oakland A’s. The Red Sox trailed, 4-1, in the early innings, the A's got the tying run in scoring position in the eighth, and almost sent the game into extra innings when Danny Meyer sent Dwight Evans to the bullpen wall with two out in the ninth. Evans pocketed the rocket and the Sox won. This was a game which started with Rickey (39 steals) Henderson drawing a leadoff walk, then getting tossed out (thanks to a pitchout by Mike Torrez) stealing second by Rich Gedman. It was only the second time this season that Henderson has been caught at second by an enemy catcher. Everything between that play and Evans' game-ending catch was the topping. Among the highlights and lowlights: Billy Martin, loyal to his depleted bullpen, stubbornly stuck with starter Rick Langford, who finally left in the sixth after surrendering a whopping 14 hits and seven earned runs; Sox catcher Gedman, proving he's one of those rare players who can keep both teams in a game simultaneously, cracked three hits (.333), threw out Henderson and picked off Tony Phillips, but committed two errors and was thrown out while foolishly trying to stretch a single into a double; A's coach Charlie Metro was banished from the game by umpire Rich Garcia for arguing an obstruction call in the eighth inning. It was that kind of a night. Cliff Johnson and Rice matched solo homers in the first. Oakland erupted with three runs in the second, thanks to a two-run single by Phillips, a No. 9 hitter with a .154 average against right-handed pitchers. The Red Sox came back with three of their own in the third. On his 151st at-bat of 1982, Evans hit his first home run of the year. After a single by Rice, the indefatigable 42-year-old DH Yaz, drove one into the Sox bullpen which Dennis Eckersley caught in mid warm-up. That made it 4-4 after three. On the negative side, Torrez was lifted after giving up three hits and a run in the fourth. In 43.2 innings, he's given up 50 hits and 24 walks while striking out only 14. His ERA is 5.57. Tom Burgmeier came on to pick up the win with three innings of three- hit pitching. The Sox got two in the bottom of the fourth to take a 6-5 lead. After a single by Gedman, Glenn Hoffman hit a bloop triple to right, scoring Gedman. Hoffman came home when Remy drove a single to left past Martin's drawn-in infield. Gedman's third hit drove in Dave Stapleton and made it 7-5 after five. The A's got one in the sixth off Burgmeier and another in the eight off Clear, but Carney Lansford drove home what proved to be the winning with a sacrifice fly off Dave Beard in the seventh. Mark Clear picked up his eighth save, Jim Rice (four hits, .299), Dwight Evans and Carl Yastrzemski (three hits, .340) hit home runs, and the Red Sox continued their offensive onslaught which has now produced 25 runs, 47 hits and seven home runs in the three games since Floyd Bannister blanked the locals Tuesday night. |
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