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WADE BOGGS' RECORD
BREAKING YEAR June 14, 1985 ... The Red Sox got their 11th victory in 12 games. And the fans had plenty to cheer about as Oil Can Boyd and the Sox scored a 4-1 victory over Toronto. Never mind the fact that Boyd had to work hard, that he didn't get to strut his way through the nine innings of this one. The Blue Jays are a tough team and got to him for 11 hits. But except for the second inning, when they took a 1-0 lead, they couldn't dent The Can, who went the distance for the ninth time this year. At the end, he had the crowd roaring with each pitch. Boyd, who struck out four, picked up his fourth straight victory, all of which have been complete-gamers. And in the process he boosted his record to 8-4 and lowered his earned-run average to 2.37. The Sox overcame the early deficit with single runs in the second and third innings. Rich Gedman drove in Dwight Evans, who had doubled and gone to third on a wild pitch, with a ground out in the second. Mike Easler had the game-winner, a two-out single in the third that scored Wade Boggs, who had singled with one out. They got eight hits, including four doubles. Bill Buckner, who extended his hitting streak to 11 games, had two hits, as did Easler, who now has five game-winners. When the night began it was doubtful that the Red Sox could equal the excitement of their 8-7 victory in the series opener, a game in which they overcame a 6-2 deficit. But with Boyd on the mound, the Sox at least had a good chance of making it two straight over the East leaders. Boyd had no trouble at all in the first, striking out two of the first three batters he faced. But it was a different story in the second inning: Toronto pushed across a run after singles by Willie Upshaw and George Bell. Bell's hit sent Upshaw to third, from where he scored easily on a grounder to second. Second baseman Marty Barrett forced Bell, but his throw to first was too late to double up Len Matuszek. The Sox had squandered a scoring opportunity in the first inning. Boggs walked with one out and Buckner, with two down, was credited with a double because of fan interference on his liner up the right- field line. It was Buckner's 18th double, who leads the AL in that category. The threat died, however, as Easler grounded weakly to second. But the Sox scored in the second inning, too, after a leadoff ground-rule double by Dwight Evans. A wild pitch by Toronto starter Jim Clancy put Evans on third base; from there, he scored on a bouncer to first by Rich Gedman, making it a 1-1 game. Boggs started a three-hit rally in the third inning that gave the Red Sox a 2-1 lead. He moved to second on a two-out hit by Buckner. That brought up Easler again, and this time he stroked a hard single to left-center that scored Boggs and put the Red Sox in front. Boyd continued to dominate in the next three innings - with help from catcher Gedman, who threw out two Blue Jays trying to steal. It was a steal attempt by Bell in the fourth inning that caused the first controversy of the night. Bell, who had singled with two out, came in with spikes high and tried to kick the ball out of the glove of Glenn Hoffman. Hoffman made the play, retaliating with a hard tag. Umpire Jerry Neudecker had to step between the two men as they exchanged words. Boyd found himself in a jam in the fifth inning when Ernie Whitt doubled to left wih one out and Tony Fernandez beat out an infield single behind second with two out; only a nice play by Barrett saved a run on the play. The next hitter, Damaso Garcia, followed with a drive to center, which speedy Steve Lyons ran down to preserve Boston's 2-1 lead. The Sox really teed off on Clancy in the bottom of the fifth inning as their lead grew to 4-1. Lyons got a checked-swing double up the left-field line. Then Boggs hit a bullet high off The Wall in left to score Lyons and make it a 3-1 game. Clancy got Rice and Buckner, but with two out Easler hit a towering drive to center that bounced off the glove of Lloyd Moseby for Boston's fourth double, and the Sox led, 4-1. The Red Sox, who a few weeks ago were closer to the bottom of the American League East than to the top, are now only 5 1/2 games behind the first-place Blue Jays. They have won 14 of their last 16 games and are 15-4 against the AL East, which is supposed to be a mutual suicide pact this year. |
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