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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE CURSE OF
THE BAMBINO, PART 9 August 3, 1986 ... No matter what happens to him in the days and years to come, the Boston Red Sox and their fandom were certainly happy to see one Calvin Schiraldi emphatically smother a ninth-inning Royals rally to preserve a 5-3 victory at Fenway. After the ridicule and rubble of Saturday's Royal carnage (11 runs in the seventh), the Sox needed a turnabout. Schiraldi provided the big lift by coming into a two-on, none-out jam in the ninth and retiring three straight Royals and two on strikeouts. Wade Boggs' one-out, two-run single off lefty Charlie Leibrandt gave Sox starter Al Nipper a 5-3 lead after seven. Nipper cruised through the eighth, retiring three straight on four pitches. George Brett (three hits and a walk) led off the ninth with a single to right, then Jorge Orta followed with a single to center. Manager John McNamara came out with the hook. Mac didn't have a lot of options. Two righties were coming up, which ruled out Joe Sambito. Meanwhile, Bob Stanley was still reeling from Saturday's savage beating and his entry into the game might have transformed the nervous 33,682 into a soccer-style lynch mob. That left Schiraldi who came to the Red Sox with Wes Gardner, John Christensen and LaSchelle Tarver. Used as a long-relief setup guy in five appearances since he was summoned from Pawtucket, Schiraldi wasn't expecting to appear in a pennant-race contest while the game was on the line. He caught Frank White looking at a 1-and-2 fastball down and away. One out. Next was Steve Balboni, who had accounted for all of Kansas City's runs with a three-run homer off Nipper in the fourth. Schiraldi ran the count to 3-and-2 on Balboni, then blew him away with a fastball that ran down. Balboni went down swinging. Two outs. Schiraldi finished the job by getting impressive rookie Mike Kingery on a first-pitch grounder to Marty Barrett. Ballgame. Schiraldi has been likened to Clemens since they pitched the 1983 Texas Longhorns to the NCAA championship. Another game ball should go to Boggs, who provided the winning runs with one of the great at-bats of the season. The Sox had scored two in the first, and added another in the third when Jim Rice hit his 10th homer. Balboni's homer tied the game and set up Boggs' dramatic hit in the seventh. The winning rally started when Rey Quinones drew a one-out walk and took third on Barrett's single to center. Barrett (two hits) made it to second on the throw. Enter Boggs. Facing the left-handed Leibrandt, the Chicken Man worked the count to 2-and-2, then fouled off a low-and-away slider that broke his bat. Boggs took his time getting a new bat. When Boggs returned with his practice bat, Leibrandt tried an inside changeup. Boggs slapped a ground ball into right field past the drawn-in infield. The Red Sox got another mental boost when it was learned that the Orioles lost in Toronto. Boston's first-place lead is back to 4 1/2 games. |
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