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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE CURSE OF
THE BAMBINO, PART 9 May 14, 1986 ... There's nothing wrong with a lineup when it can produce an eight- run explosion in the last two innings, as it did for an 8-5 victory over the California Angels tonight. Boston's bats came to the rescue of Roger Clemens, earning him his sixth victory without a loss. There is no such a thing as a "must game" in an 162-game season, but this was a big win. Offensively, the Sox have been less than awesome lately, with only Wade Boggs, Jim Rice and Marty Barrett showing any consistency on the 6-2 West Coast trip. But overcoming a 4-0 deficit after six innings gave the team a good feeling. It carried over into the ninth when Bill Buckner broke out of a slump with a game-winning hit. What Reggie Jackson hit was his 537th career home run, a two-run job that pushed him ahead of Mickey Mantle into sixth place on the all-time list. After that, you sensed that it was going to take something spectacular for Boston to beat the AL West leaders. Especially after a walk to Doug DeCinces, a wild pitch and a single by Jerry Narron left Clemens trailing, 3-0, after one inning. Clemens clearly wasn't sharp. He had nine strikeouts to boost his league-leading total to 69. But they were offset by five walks, a hit batsman and two wild pitches. He threw 141 pitches, yet allowed only two hits after the first inning until the Angels got two more in the eighth when they tied the game, 5-5. It became 4-0 in the fourth when Narron walked, advanced to second on a ground out and scored on a weird two-base wild pitch when catcher Rich Gedman hustled after the loose ball, grabbed it and fell into the Red Sox dugout. Had Gedman simply let the ball go, Narron would have been sent back to third. After Boggs' two-run homer off Angel starter Kirk McCaskill cut the lead to 4-2 in the seventh, Gedman capped a rally in the top of the eighth with a three-run homer that gave Boston a brief 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the eighth, the Sox lost both the lead and McNamara, whose Irish blood had been boiling for three games over the general ineptitude of the umpiring crew. After Jackson led off with a single and advanced to second on a close play following a fly to deep right, McNamara blew his stack and was given the heave-ho by Derryl Cousins. It didn't help matters when Ruppert Jones doubled with two outs, scoring Jackson and tying the game, 5-5. But Boston would not be denied on this night, exploding against Angel reliever T.R. Bryden. The Sox scored three times on a walk to Dwight Evans and four straight hits by Boggs, Buckner (both of whom were sent up to bunt), Rice and Dave Stapleton, who was making his first plate appearance of 1986. The Red Sox showed some intestinal fortitude, according to Gedman, and they showed Clemens he has 23 people who want to win as much as he does. Clemens is the first Sox pitcher to be 6-0 since Bill Lee in 1978. Tony Armas and Steve Lyons took extra batting practice. Armas hit several out of the park, and wound up making his first start in center field since April 26. He was 1 for 5. |
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