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Roger Clemens strikes out 15 Royals
August
21, 1984 ... Roger Clemens struck out 15
Kansas City Royals in an 11-1 victory tonight, which is as many as
Smokey Joe Wood struck out in 1911 against St. Louis and Mickey
McDermott struck out in 1951 against Cleveland. Only Bill
Monbouquette has thrown more for Boston with 17 strikeouts in 1961
against the Washington Senators. The 22-year-old rookie threw 87 strikes and 31 balls. He
struck out a batter in every inning, two batters in each of four innings, and
three in the fourth inning. Steve Balboni was the only Royal to draw three
balls, in the fifth inning. Clemens struck him out, anyway.
After striking out Willie Wilson and breaking Pat
Sheridan's bat (he grounded weakly to third), Clemens gave up a double to Iorg
into the left-field corner. Trailing, 1- 0, he threw fastballs, inside and out,
and struck out Darryl Motley to end the inning.
Jim Rice granted him the luxury of four runs with a homer
(after Wade Boggs' single) in the first inning and a single (scoring Boggs and
Dwight Evans) in the second against left-handed loser Charlie Leibrandt (7-6).
Marty Barrett (second-inning walk) helped by taking second on a passed ball and
scoring on Jackie Gutierrez' single. So the Sox led, 5-1, with seven innings
left.
Clemens struck out one in the second, two in the third, and
got five straight outs with strikeouts into the fifth. Orta went down swinging
in the fourth for his 100th strikeout in his 116th major league inning. (Only
three Red Sox pitchers have thrown more than 200 in a season.)
His only problem was the sixth inning, which began with his
10th strikeout. Iorg singled to right, the first hit pulled against Clemens.
Orta then pulled another single that nicked Bill Buckner's glove and sent Iorg
to second. Motley came up with one out. It was Motley's only chance. He grounded
into a double play.
Threatened, Clemens' teammates responded in the bottom of
the sixth with their fifth six-run inning of the season, including a three-run
homer by Tony Armas.
Fans hung an 11th K' from a sign below the right-field clock
as Clemens began the seventh with a strikeout. He had 14 going into the ninth.
Motley was number 15.
Clemens (8-4) has struck out 52 batters in 49 innings since
the All-Star break. Tonight, he became the only Red Sox starter to win five
straight decisions. |
