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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE CURSE OF
THE BAMBINO, PART 9 September 16, 1986 ... Roger Clemens was just the inspiration that the Sox needed for a sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers, once Boston's most feared rival in the American League East. The Brewers were hardly that in the opener, won by the Red Sox and Clemens, 2-1. In the nightcap, they suffered an embarrassing 9-3 loss before a crowd of 31,272, who seemed to take extra joy because the Red Sox broke open a 3-3 game in the eighth inning with six runs off former Sox relievers Mark Clear and John Henry Johnson. The Sox extended their lead in the AL East to nine games despite victories by New York and Toronto. The magic number for clinching the division is down to nine. The Red Sox have won 14 of 17 games. Clemens (23-4) won the most important game. He was locked in a tight struggle in the opener, which was won when Dwight Evans hit his 23d home run in the seventh inning to break a 1-1 tie. Evans also started the winning rally in the nightcap with a leadoff double. Clear and Johnson lost the nightcap for the Brewers. Tim Leary left trailing, 3-2, but Milwaukee tied the game in the top of the eighth with a home by Paul Molitor. Then the Red Sox erupted, with help from a leaky Brewer defense. Clear was not the same pitcher who came to town with a 5-4 record, including 13 saves and a 1.86 earned run average. He threw three wild pitches, hit a batter, issued a walk and left the field to the jeers of the Fenway Faithful, who obviously had forgotten that Clear had a save in his last visit. Johnson was no better, giving up a walk and a single with the bases loaded. The big hits were a two-run single by Wade Boggs, who extended his hitting streak to 18 games, hiking his average to .352, and rookie Pat Dodson, who drove in a run with ground rule double. Three of the six runs were unearned. Clemens, who pitched his 10th complete game, has won more games than any Red Sox pitcher in 37 years. While the Brewers were formidable earlier in the season, winning five of seven games, they didn't bother Clemens, who scattered six hits, and responded to the greater challenge of a much-needed victory for the 13th time in 15 games following a Red Sox loss. Lefthander Juan Nieves was given a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning and after six innings Clemens was still locked in a 1-1 duel. With strong winds blowing from left to right, it seemingly took a rocket to get a ball out of Fenway. But that's exactly what happened in the seventh when Evans led off with a drive over the left-field screen on a 2-0 pitch. Clemens did the rest with a fastball in the 90-mile-an-hour range. Nieves didn't look like a pitcher who would crack. In fact, while Clemens was striking out seven in the first three innings, the Brewer southpaw was holding Boston hitless with only Evans reaching on a walk. In the fourth, Brewers rookie Glenn Braggs, filling in for injured Ben Oglivie, singled with one out. Billy Joe Robidoux walked and Rob Deer singled past short to fill the bases. Ernest Riles scored Braggs with a sacrifice fly. But the Red Sox came charging back and, after getting two hits and no runs in the fourth inning, pushed across the tying run with two out in the fifth. Spike Owen walked and Wade Boggs, who rarely pulls the ball, drilled a Nieves fastball to right-center. The ball hung up, but with the outfield shaded to the left, center fielder Robin Yount had no chance of catching it and Owen scored. With a 2-1 lead, all that remained was for Clemens to slam the door, and he did it with classic style, allowing but two hits the rest of the way. The Sox scored three times off Leary in the first inning of the nightcap. A single by Boggs, a groundout and a single by Dodson, making his first major league start, accounted for one run. Jim Rice doubled to right. Then two runs came in on a throwing error by third baseman Molitor, who fielded Don Baylor's grounder and threw it into the stands. Milwaukee got an unearned run off Jeff Sellers in the fifth. Robidoux singled past second as leadoff man, and moved to third on a double by Deer. Dale Sveum flied to left for what should have been a run-saving out. But Rice's strong throw to Boggs, the cutoff man, was mishandled and Robidoux scored. The Brewers scored again in the sixth when Yount walked, stole second and scored on Robidoux' single. Molitor's home run in the eighth off Calvin Schiraldi, the third Red Sox pitcher, tied the game. But it didn't stay tied for long in the kind of nightmarish inning that used to all too often for Clear, who took over for Leary at the start of the eighth. Evans doubled to start the ball rolling and went to third on a wild pitch. Rich Gedman struck out. But with the infield up close, Dave Henderson bounced a grounder off the leg of shortstop Riles, and it was a start of a long night for the right-hander. Clear hit Owen with a pitch, putting runners on first and second. Then he uncorked wild pitch No. 2, putting them on second and third. Boggs' second hit of the game drove in two runs, and it was 6-3. Then Clear walked Barrett and threw wild pitch No. 3, moving Boggs to third. When Dodson hit a ground rule double, scoring Boggs, it was 7-3 and Johnson replaced Clear. Johnson was no bargain, either. He walked Rice to load the bases and, after striking out Baylor, walked Evans to push across the eighth run. Gedman singled to left, scoring Dodson. Wade Boggs picked up hits in each game of the doubleheader and now has an 18-game streak (31 for 76, .408). He boosted his average to .352, two points better than the Yankees' Don Mattingly (.350). With his seventh-inning homer, Dwight Evans reached the 90-RBI mark for the third time in his career. Boston is now 23-9 in one-run games, and has come from behind to win 39 times this year. The Sox have scored the winning run in their final at-bat 17 times this season. |
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