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WADE BOGGS' RECORD
BREAKING YEAR
The Red Sox explode for 16 runs at Fenway
August
14, 1985 ... Bill Buckner and his teammates
exploded for a 16-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals. The Red Sox
went on a 21-hit barrage that is tops in the American League this
year, en route to a crushing win over the Royals that ended a
five-game Boston losing streak. Balls were flying out of Fenway, and a crowd of 22,870 watched
almost in disbelief as the Red Sox came within one run of scoring as many runs
in one night as they had in the previous five home games.
Buckner crunched a Joe Beckwith fast ball and sent it into the
right-field seats for a grand slam in the third inning, his third as a Red Sox
player and fifth of his career. It turned a 7-2 game into an 11-2 rout and, if
nothing else, gave left-hander Bruce Hurst a sense of security that made him
tough the rest of the way.
Bruce Hurst went the distance for his eighth victory, retiring
19 of the last 21 batters he faced, 13 in a row at one stretch. And please don't
call him the Red Sox' stopper.
After being mesmerized for two days by the Royals' two young
right-handers, the Sox jumped on left-hander Bud Black for five runs in the
first inning and never looked back. A leadoff double by Marty Barrett and the
first of four hits by Wade Boggs, a single, opened the flood gates. A two-run
homer by Dwight Evans and run-scoring singles by Jackie Gutierrez and Steve
Lyons sent Black to the showers and sent Hurst toward his first victory since
July 23.
After taking a 5-0 lead in the first, the Sox scored nine runs
in the next four innings in what seemed like a never-ending assault. For
emphasis, the Sox added two runs in the eighth, when Boggs got his fourth hit to
once again assume the American League batting lead over Kansas City's George
Brett, .360 to .357. Boggs is hitting a torrid .441 (26 for 59) in the month of
August.
Everybody in the starting lineup except Mike Easler had two
hits. Rookie Steve Lyons had three hits, including a two-run homer in the fourth
inning off left-handed reliever Mike Jones. The 16 runs is a Red Sox high for
1985.
Hurst seemed to be off early, and gave up a run in the second
inning on a two-out single by Onix Concepcion. But Boston came right back to
score two more runs in the bottom of the second. Boggs got his second hit, a
single, and moved to third on a base hit by Evans. With one out, Boggs scored on
a sacrifice fly by Tony Armas. Singles by Easler and Gedman drove in Evans for a
7-1 lead.
Kansas City got another run in the third on Hal McRae's
line-drive home run into the center-field seats. But the Red Sox got that run
back and plenty more in the bottom of the third when Buckner's grand slam made
it 11-2. The rest of the night belonged to Mr. Hurst. |
