THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 9
"IT AIN'T OVER 'TIL IT'S OVER"...
Clemens halts the Sox skid

July 19, 1986 ... Roger Clemens' personal victory tour played the Pacific Northwest and Boston's stopper improved his record to 16-2 with a 9-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners. He stopped a Sox losing streak for the ninth time in this starlit season. He gave up 6 hits, walked 2 and struck out 8 in 8 innings. Joe Sambito worked the ninth inning and loaded the bases before striking out Harold Reynolds.

Clemens had more help than he needed from a lineup that awoke with 14 hits against three Seattle pitchers. Bill Buckner and Marty Barrett each had three hits, while Dwight Evans reached base five times and knocked in three runs.

The Mariners, meanwhile, appear to have seen enough of Mr. Clemens. He embarrassed them in a 20-strikeout performance in April, and last night was the focus of a benches-clearing shouting match with Seattle DH Alvin Davis.

The Sox led, 9-3, in the bottom of the seventh when things got hot. With two outs and nobody on, Clemens hit Ken Phelps in the right bicep (Seattle starter Mike Morgan had hit Evans in the fifth). Davis, who had homered earlier, struck out to end the inning.

Rich Gedman dropped the third strike and threw to first to retire Davis. Davis was hollering at Clemens as Boston's ace neared the first-base dugout. Clemens started back toward Davis. Gedman stepped in front of Davis and home plate umpire Larry Young blocked Clemens, as the pitcher and DH yelled at each other. Most players from both dugouts were on the field before order was restored. Two months ago, Sox starter Al Nipper dropped Seattle outfielder Phil Bradley with a left jab after Bradley was hit by a pitch and charged the mound.

This was Clemens' first look at the swinging Mariners since they all rode into history together on April 29th. This time Clemens faced a Seattle lineup that included only five players who batted against him April 29. Spike Owen, Bradley, Phelps, Jim Presley and Danny Tartabull accounted for 12 of Clemens' historic 20 strikeouts.

The All-Star MVP was staked to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Wade Boggs started things with a one-out, line-shot double off the wall in left-center. Morgan walked Jim Rice with two outs, then Don Baylor scored Boggs with a line double to left-center. It was Baylor's first extra-base hit since June 29th in Baltimore. Evans followed with a grounder through the hole into left, scoring Rice and Baylor. It was 3-0 and everybody figured that would be enough for Clemens. Going into the game, his 1986 road ERA was 2.01.

Clemens struck out John Moses (swinging) and Presley (called) in the first, and the Red Sox added a run in the top of the second when Buckner singled home Barrett, who had walked, stolen second and taken third on a wild pitch. Clemens had a 4-0 lead.

Boston's ace punched out Phelps to start the second, then got Davis on a pop-up and Tartabull on a grounder to third.

In the bottom of the third, Scott Bradley did what nine National League All-Stars were unable to do four nights earlier: He got a hit off Clemens. Bradley cracked his first pitch of the inning to right-center for a triple. He walked the next batter, his former University of Texas shortstop, Owen. Bradley scored from third when Owen was forced at second on Reynolds' hard grounder to short. Reynolds was caught stealing (a nice throw by Gedman) and Moses fouled to Boggs to end the inning.

Boston got the run back in the fourth when LaSchelle Tarver reached on an error, took third on a hit-and-run single to right by Barrett and scored on a force-out grounder by Boggs.

It looked like Clemens turned it up a notch at the start of the fourth. He got Phil Bradley and Presley on swinging third strikes. Phelps worked the count to 3-and-2, then stroked a clean single to right. The hit extended Phelps' streak of reaching base to 25 consecutive games. Davis was next and he cranked Clemens' first pitch 402 feet into the right- field grandstand to cut Boston's lead to 5-3. It was Davis' 11th homer and the 17th allowed by Clemens this year.

The Red Sox blew it open and KO'd Morgan in the fifth. With one on and two out, Rey Quinones and Tarver smacked back-to-back singles to center. Tarver's hit was the first of his big league career and scored Evans (who had been hit by a pitch) from second. The runners took third and second on the throw home, and Karl Best relieved Morgan. Barrett greeted Best with a soft, two-run single to left-center that made it 8-3. The Red Sox like to score runs when Clemens pitches. Evans made it 9-3, singling home Dave Stapleton (pinch running for Buckner, who had doubled) in the sixth.

After the bench-clearing incident, Clemens was touched for another run in the eighth when Reynolds led with a triple and scored on a passed ball.

The Red Sox disabled Steve Crawford (shoulder) Friday and summoned righty reliever Calvin Schiraldi from Pawtucket. Schiraldi, Roger Clemens' teammate at the University of Texas, was 4-3 with 12 saves and a 2.86 ERA in 31 relief appearances with Pawtucket. In 44 innings he gave up only 32 hits while striking out 60. He walked 20. Schiraldi pitched against the Rochester Red Wings Friday night and was scheduled to join the Sox before last night's game. He is the ninth Pawtucket player to join the Red Sox this year (Mike Brown, Jeff Sellers, Mike Trujillo, Rob Woodward, Mike Stenhouse, Rey Quinones, Kevin Romine and LaSchelle Tarver).

Going into tonight's game, the Sox had committed a whopping 23 errors in their last 11 games, at least one in every outing.