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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE CURSE OF
THE BAMBINO, PART 9 May 12, 1986 ... Tonight's crowd of 25,450 at the Big A went home talking about two powerful home run thrusts by Wally Joyner that crushed Al Nipper and carried the California Angels past the Red Sox, 7-1. The two home runs off Nipper were Joyner's 11th and 12th, tying him with Minnesota's Kirby Puckett for the American League lead. The first one came in the first inning as the lefthanded-hitting Joyner hit a shot over the 386-foot sign in left-center. In the fourth, Joyner's second homer ended Nipper's night, the earliest exit by a Sox starter this year, and highlighted a six- run California explosion that didn't help the Sox' team earned run average, which soared to 3.01, the first time since April 25 it has been over 3.00. Despite the loss, Boston remains in first place in the AL East, now tied with the New York Yankees. The Angels, the AL West leaders, halted a five- game Boston winning streak. It was evident early that it wasn't going to be Nipper's night. He made the mistake of falling behind on Joyner, 3-and-1, and paid the price as California took a 1-0 lead. In the second inning, Boston got its first hit off Don Sutton, the veteran righthander who notched career victory No. 297. Marty Barrett singled with two out, extending his hitting streak to 13 games, tying a career high. Barrett, however, was caught stealing. Only a brilliant throw by Jim Rice prevented the Sox from falling behind by two runs in the bottom of the second. Ruppert Jones sliced a double into the left-field corner, a good 40 feet away from where Rice was stationed. Rice ran the ball down near the base of the wall, and let go a long but accurate heave to third on one hop. Wade Boggs easily tagged out the sliding Jones. Boston took a cue from this and came back with enough firepower to produce a game-tying run in the third inning. It started when Steve Lyons ripped a double off the glove of third baseman Doug DeCinces. He moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Ed Romero. From there, Lyons scored easily as Dwight Evans hit a shot down the left-field line that just missed being a home run and wound up a double. The tie would last only one inning as the Angels came back with six runs in the bottom of the fourth. Nipper might have escaped with just two runs had it not been for a bad hop. He did start badly, walking DeCinces. He then gave up a hit-and- run single to Brian Downing and compounded things by walking Jones to load the bases. Rob Wilfong blooped a single to right, two runs scored and California led, 3-1. Then came the bad luck. After Dick Schofield struck out and Bob Boone lined to third, Nipper got Gary Pettis to hit a ground ball to second. The ball found a pebble and took a high hop right over the head of Barrett, scoring Jones. Joyner then stepped up and drove a 2-0 pitch over the center-field wall to make it 7-1. Tim Lollar replaced Nipper and got out of the inning by striking out Reggie Jackson. Bruce Hurst became the latest Red Sox pitcher to win American League honors. Two victories last week earned Hurst a share of the AL Player of the Week award, along with Seattle's Al Davis. Hurst, who beat California and Oakland, joins Roger Clemens, who previously received both the weekly and monthly league awards. |
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