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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE CURSE OF
THE BAMBINO, PART 9 August 12, 1986 ... Just when it seemed the dog days of August were behind them, the Red Sox' pennant express ran off the track in Royals Stadium with a crushing double loss, 5-1 and 6-5. A crowd of 34,158 waited through a rain delay of 1 hour 12 minutes to see Kansas City give Boston the kind of double pounding that used to be ritual here on the second swing around the AL West. Once again, a complete game was not good enough. After Bruce Hurst lost a 1-0 lead in the opener, the Sox had no chance to catch up, making just five hits. The only groove Red Sox hitters found in the Green Carpet was one that led to five double plays. It was more of the same in the night cap, as Bob Stanley, making his first start since 1981, was given a 3-1 lead but couldn't hold it. Singles by Lonnie Smith, Willie Wilson and George Brett produced one run. But it was only a prelude to a two-run homer by Jorge Orta, his sixth, that put Kansas City ahead to stay, 4-3. The Royals got two insurance runs in the seventh off Sammy Stewart. That was the clincher, assuring Royals starter Mark Gubicza of the victory and the Red Sox of their first doubleheader loss since Aug. 31, l985 in Minnesota. Though the Red Sox hit into two more double plays in the nightcap, they did end a string of 19 innings without an earned run. Boston took an early lead in the nightcap, too, parlaying a walk to Wade Boggs into 1-0 lead with almost no effort at all. Gubicza helped out by throwing a wild pitch. Then Marty Barrett grounded to second, moving Boggs to third. From there, it was a piece of cake. Bill Buckner hit a fly ball to short left, but instead of a close play at home, Boggs steamed home easily because Smith in left field failed to throw the ball in. The lead didn't last long. In the second inning, Stanley gave up a leadoff double to Steve Balboni, who moved to third on a fly ball to right and scored on a groundout to second by Jamie Quirk, tying the game at 1-1. In the fifth, Boston surged ahead with a two-run splurge. It started with a single to center by Rich Gedman. Dwight Evans followed with a booming drive off the top of the wall in deep center, which enabled Gedman to score. Evans moved to third on Mike Greenwell's line drive to right. With the infield up close, Tony Armas got him home with a single past short. The Royals jumped on Stanley in the sixth for three runs and a 4- 3 lead. His troubles began with back-to-back singles by Smith and Willie Wilson. George Brett then smashed a hard grounder past Marty Barrett at second to score Smith. The throw from Evans got away from shortstop Rey Quinones and Wilson elected to go to third. Quinones made a quick recovery and got the ball to Boggs at third, who made a nice tag. That saved a run, for Orta hit an 0-1 pitch inot the Royals' bullpen to make it 4-3. Stanley then gave way to Stewart in the seventh and that didn't help matters. Buddy Biancalana walked with two out and scored what has become known as a Kansas City run. First, he stole second. Then he scored as Smith singled through the box. Smith took second on the throw home and Wilson followed with another base hit, scoring Smith and now the Royals led, 6-3. Gubicza, however, was no Jack Morris. He fared badly in the top of the eighth inning, allowing two runs after two were out. Mike Greenwell singled to lead off the inning and with two out moved to second on a walk to Boggs. Both moved up on a passed ball. Then Barrett delived a two-run double up the gap in left, scoring Greenwell and Boggs. Lefty Bud Black replaced Gubicza. The first thing Black did was hit Buckner with a pitch. Then, he walked Jim Rice on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases. This time, however, Gedman could not catch lighting in a bottle. He drove Black's first pitch to right for the final out, and Boston couldn't get over the hump In the opener, Sox bats were just stale. If it wasn't Royals lefty Danny Jackson dazzling Boston, it was reliever Steve Farr who stopped the Red Sox. Hurst was given a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Boggs walked and eventually scored on a single by Evans, after Baylor reached base with two-out on an error by George Brett. But with his control off early, Hurst surrendered it by allowing two runs in the second and three runs in the third. The Royals got it going in the second inning. Hurst dug a hole for himself with walks to Frank White and Jim Sundberg. Darryl Motley buried him in it with a double to left off Rice's glove for a 2-1 lead. In the third inning, Hurst loaded the bases on singles by Smith and Wilson and a walk to Hal McRae. White cleared them with a double to left-center. The rest was left to Jackson and Farr, who repelled every Red Sox threat. Jackson worked the first six innings before being removed because of a bruised left thigh. He took a hard shot off the bat of Rice in the top of the sixth inning. Farr worked the last three innings, and got the fifth double play in the seventh. This was doubly painful because the Red Sox lead in the AL East has been chopped from six games to 3 1/2 in two days. When Don Baylor was hit by a pitch in the second game (the 25th time this year he has been hit), he set an American League single- season record. Wade Boggs extended his hitting streak to nine games, and thus has reached base via a walk or hit in 96 of 107 games. With Crawford on the fringe, the Sox again have the elusive 25th man in the wings. That would affect the future of lefthander Tim Lollar or one of two spare outfielders, Mike Greenwell or Kevin Romine. Lollar, incidentally, pinch hit for Rey Quinones in the ninth inning of the second game and singled off of Dan Quisenberry. |
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