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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE CURSE OF
THE BAMBINO, PART 9 June 5, 1986 ... Steve Lyons is in the Red Sox' doghouse again. In his short career, Lyons has found a lot of ways to infuriate his not-always-understanding manager. But nothing matches the bonehead play last night that sealed a 7-5 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers that ended Boston's five-game winning streak. With two outs in the ninth inning, two men on base, and Wade Boggs, a .400 hitter, at the plate, Lyons took off from second. There was no sign. No instructions from the bench. He just ran and was thrown out by Brewer catcher Rick Cerone. The fact that former Sox reliever Mark Clear had given up two home runs and walked two batters to create the situation only infuriated McNamara more. Maybe Lyons wanted to be a hero. He is an aggressive player who likes to make things happen. Maybe he was aware that every club in the American League last year stole Clear blind. After winning nine of 10 games, the Red Sox opened this seven-game road trip with a performance that was as bad as they've given in months. The same club that had made only 36 errors all year committed three tonight. They helped Milwaukee score five unearned runs off rookie Jeff Sellers, who didn't show as much cool as advertised. Sellers walked five, hit one and threw a wild pitch. Yet, take away the third inning, in which the Brewers scored four unearned runs, it was acceptable. What proved to be the deciding runs for Milwaukee came in the eighth on a two-run homer by Rob Deer that made it 7-3. The third was a nightmare for Sellers, who began by hitting Bill Schroeder. Cerone lined to second for the first out, but Mike Felder singled. The Brewers loaded the bases when Ernest Riles grounded into an apparent forceout at second. Bill Buckner's throw, however, hit Felder in the back, and all runners were safe. Sellers then threw a wild pitch, scoring Schroeder. Robin Yount struck out. But a walk to Ben Oglivie loaded the bases again, and Dale Sveum cleared them with a booming double to right. Dwight Evans broke in on the ball, but by the time he recovered, it was over his head, and Milwaukee led, 4-0. Boston nibbled away at the Milwaukee lead, which reached 5-1 in the fourth. The Sox got a run in the sixth, sending starter Bill Wegman (1-5) to the showers, and another in the eighth to cut it to 5-3. In the eighth, a walk to Mike Stenhouse was followed one out later by Boggs' single, his third of the night. With that hit, Boggs reached the .400 plateau. He already had extended his hitting streak to 12 games. Wegman was replaced by Dan Plesac, who surrendered a sacrifice fly to Buckner that scored pinch runner Ed Romero. It was Buckner's second RBI of the game and the 1,001st of his career. In the bottom of the inning, the Brewers padded their cushion to a seemingly comfortable 7-3 when Tim Lollar walked Sveum, and Deer followed with his 10th homer. That set the stage for the Sox' ninth-inning rally. Solo homers by Rich Gedman (No. 4) and Evans (No. 5) got the Sox within striking distance, but it all ended with Lyons. |
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