Dave Henderson's HR brings the Sox
back from the brink of elimination
October 12, 1986 ...
When the curtain comes down on the Red Sox' season, this game could
be remembered as their finest hour. They came, they battled and they
survived in the American League Championship Series with one of the
most dramatic comebacks in Boston baseball history.
Perhaps it didn't quite match Game 6 of the 1975 World
Series. But few games will feature the intensity and excitement of the Red Sox'
7-6 victory over the California Angels that salvaged their drive for their first
pennant in 11 years. It cut the Angels' lead to 3-2 as the series heads back to
Boston for Game 6, and it was achieved after the Sox came within one strike of
elimination.
Heroes? From Dave Henderson, who became an instant Red Sox
legend, to Calvin Schiraldi, who removed a stigma that was less than 18 hours
old, it was a team victory and a team experience that people will be sharing for
years.
Filling in for injured center fielder Tony Armas who
sprained his ankle, Henderson twice came up with clutch strokes. One saved the
Sox from imminent defeat; the other won the game. With a 2-and-2 count and two
out in the ninth, he drilled a Donnie Moore pitch into the left-field seats,
turning an apparent 5-4 elimination into a 6- 5 Sox lead. That enabled him to
gain redemption for a two-run homer by Bobby Grich in the sixth, a ball that
bounced off Henderson's glove and over the fence.
In the 11th, Henderson climaxed the comeback with a
bases-loaded sacrifice fly that scored Don Baylor.
Then Schiraldi preserved the victory with a remarkable
comeback of his own. After giving up the game tying and winning runs in Game #4,
today he got revenge by recording the final three outs in the 11th, after Steve
Crawford had held the Angels at bay for 1 2/3 innings.
But things seemed grisly for the Sox as they came to bat in
the ninth. The Angels had a 5-2 lead, and many among the crowd of 64,223 were
massed in the aisles, primed to storm the field in celebration of California's
first pennant.
But the gathering was premature. Bill Buckner led off with
a single to center and left in favor of pinch runner Dave Stapleton. Jim Rice
struck out looking. Then Baylor, the former Angel, hit a two-run homer off
California ace Mike Witt, cutting the deficit to 5- 4. Witt retired Dwight Evans
on a pop to third, but, one out from the victory, he was lifted for reliever
Gary Lucas, who promptly hit Rich Gedman (4 for 4) with a pitch. Then Henderson
drove a 2-2 Moore pitch over the left-field fence for a 6-5 Red Sox lead.
It didn't last long. Bob Boone opened the bottom of the
ninth with a single off reliever Bob Stanley. Ruppert Jones ran for him, and was
sacrificed to second by Gary Pettis. Joe Sambito replaced Stanley, and
surrendered a first- pitch single to Rob Wilfong that tied the game. Crawford
came on, and the Angels still had a chance to salvage the pennant right there,
because Dick Schofield singled and Downing was walked intentionally, loading the
bases. But Doug DeCinces flied to right, Grich lined to Crawford to end the
inning, and the Red Sox had a reprieve.
The Sox gave starter Bruce Hurst an early cushion. Mike
Witt had not made many mistakes in an 8-1 victory in the opener. But this time
he did against two batters, and it cost him. Rice shot a breaking ball to right
field leading off the second. Witt struck out Baylor and Evans. But Gedman
launched a two-run homer for a 2-0 Boston edge.
Hurst gave one of those runs back in the third when Boone
cracked a homer into the the left-field seats. Then he was deprived of a chance
at a second series victory by the unlikely events of the sixth. With two out,
DeCinces hit what appeared to be a routine fly ball to right- center. The
problem is that no Red Sox player was within 20 feet of it, and it fell for a
double. Hurst got ahead in the count on Grich, 1 and 2, but then the veteran
infielder lofted a deep fly to center. Henderson went back to the wall, leaped
and got a glove on the ball, which was descending below the top of the barrier.
But the ball popped out of his glove, and Henderson crashed into the fence. As
he did, he also tipped the ball, and it landed on the other side of the fence
for a two-run homer and a 3-2 Angel lead.
After six innings, Hurst was replaced by Stanley, who had
become the forgotten man of the bullpen of late. In the seventh, he showed why,
giving up two runs on three hits as the Angels shot to a 5-2 lead. George
Hendrick led off with a single, and Devon White ran for him. White was
immediately sacrificed to second by Boone, his fifth such bunt of the playoffs.
Pettis walked. Batting for Rick Burleson, Wilfong hit a ball that hopped over
Stanley's head, and before second baseman Marty Barrett could run it down in
short center, Jones had scored, Pettis was on third and Wilfong had a double. An
intentional walk to Schofield loaded the bases. When Downing followed with a
sacrifice fly to right, Witt had a three-run lead.
It vanished in the melodramatic ninth as manager Gene
Mauch's strategy backfired. With the score 5-4 and two out, he decided to lift
Witt because Gedman had gotten three hits against him. But Lucas hit Gedman. And
Henderson, who had figured to be the goat, delivered. He worked the count to 2
and 2 and fouled off two pitches. Then he stroked a forkball into the distance.
Henderson savored every moment of it. As he ran up the first baseline and
watched the ball sail over the fence, he staged an impromptu celebration,
leaping twice and dancing in. After he circled the bases, he was given a royal
welcome by the entire Red Sox bench.
That didn't put the Angels away, but Henderson did on his
next trip to the plate. Moore, who was struggling just to survive, opened the
11th by hitting Baylor with a pitch. Evans followed with a single, and Gedman
popped a would-be sacrifice bunt down the third baseline. DeCinces scooped it up
but couldn't get Gedman. The catcher had his fourth hit; the Sox had the bases
loaded. Henderson then drilled a line drive deep enough to center to score
Baylor, and though the Red Sox could do no further damage in the inning against
Moore and Chuck Finley, Schiraldi rescued them in the bottom of the inning.
The 1986 Sox edition was on their deathbed and the
heartbeat meter was a straight line. The Henderson went deep, and it started
beeping again.
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