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WADE BOGGS' RECORD
BREAKING YEAR
Jim Rice's walk-off homer extends
the Sox winning
streak
June
10, 1985 ... It is not pure luck that has vaulted
the Red Sox from the compost heap to certified contention in the
American League East. It's great to count on commanding clutch
performances, and the Sox have those in abundance. The latest and most dramatic example was the bottom of the
ninth inning in tonight's duel with the Brewers before a disappointing but
hardly disappointed crowd of 18,967 at Fenway Park. On their last chance of the
evening, the Sox parlayed fantasy, fortune and ferocious determination into a
three-run rally: specifically, a three-run Jim Rice homer into the screen that
gave them a 4-2 victory, ran their winning streak to eight games, extended their
overall surge to 11-1 and pulled them into a third-place tie, 6 1/2 games behind
front-running Toronto.
The first eight innings of this latest chapter in Red Sox
resourcefulness were implausible; the climax bordered on the impossible. It
began with a single to the opposite field by Wade Boggs. It proceeded with a
would-be sacrifice bunt by Bill Buckner that was headed into foul territory
before it struck a kind-hearted pebble and wound up as a single. And it ended
with Rice's blast, which came after the Boston strongman had twice failed to lay
down his first sacrifice in five years.
For eight innings, this match was the equivalent of the
heavyweight boxing championship being determined with a game of patty-cake. Two
teams that had been tattooing AL pitching (league-leading Boston was hitting a
cumulative .278; No. 3 Milwaukee came in at .275) suddenly saw their bats turned
into stumps - by a pair of left-handers with the wind blowing out at Fenway, no
less.
The Brewers had packed a bit more wallop as Cecil Cooper's
two-run third inning homer overshadowed Glenn Hoffman's second-inning solo shot
and gave Milwaukee a 2-1 lead. It appeared that would be the extent of the
offense. And it appeared Bob Ojeda would be cursed. In his third start since
returning from the bullpen to the rotation, Ojeda (4-1) was masterful, limiting
the Brewers to seven hits and retiring 18 of the 20 batters he faced after
Cooper's bomb into the center-field bleachers.
But Ojeda seemed destined to see both his earned-run average
(now 2.25) and won-lost record lowered, because his counterpart, Milwaukee
rookie Ted Higuera, had stifled the Sox on three hits and had set down 20 of the
21 batters he faced after Hoffman's homer.
Boggs ended Higuera's spellbinding stretch with a leadoff
single to left. Then came Buckner's carom shot. At that point, with runners on
first and second, Brewer interim manager Frank Howard hauled Higuera off the
mound, sending in relief ace Rollie Fingers to face Rice.
Meanwhile, Rice, who was in the cleanup spot despite a
scratched left cornea that had forced him out of Sunday's game, was being
assigned to perform the unimaginable: sacrifice. Rice's best didn't quite pan
out. He fouled his first bunt attempt down the third-base line. His second bid
went skimming toward first, but it had originally struck his foot for strike
two, meaning that the sacrifice experiment now had to be scrapped.
After two more pitches, Rice sent the into the screen, and the
Red Sox into third place. |
