October 27, 1986 ...
For the second straight game, that weapon betrayed Boston at crunch
time as the Sox squandered a three-run lead and dropped the seventh
and deciding game of the World Series to the New York Mets, 8-5, last
night at Shea Stadium.
For the second straight game,
the Sox had a clear road to victory, if only the
pitching would hold up, this time for three more
innings. With a 3-0 lead and Mets starter Ron
Darling in the clubhouse, Red Sox bats fell
temporarily silent. And the Mets' bats awakened.
Sox starter Bruce Hurst, who had beaten the Mets twice in
the Series and was brilliant for five innings last night, wilted in the sixth as
the Mets climbed into a 3-3 tie.
Hurst was removed for a pinch hitter in the top of the
seventh, and the bullpen that had squandered Game 6 after the Sox were within
one strike of the crown failed again. For the second straight game, the loser
was former Met Calvin Schiraldi, who was the victim of a three-run rally in the
seventh that carried New York to victory.
It was the second title in three tries for the Mets, who
won their first trip to the Series in 1969 and lost in 1973. For Boston, it was
more frustration in a string that dates to World War I. The Sox' Series visits
in 1946, '67 and '75 also stretched seven games and resulted in defeat. Now they
have company. And to think, less than 48 hours beforehand, they were ready to
end the champagne drought.
Schiraldi was but one of five pitchers who came out of the
Red Sox bullpen as the Mets piled up all their offense in a three-inning
splurge. Joe Sambito, Bob Stanley, Al Nipper and Steve Crawford all worked with
varying degrees of effectiveness, but Schiraldi suffered the most damage.
The decision to remove Hurst, said McNamara, was difficult.
But, working on three days' rest, the lefthander had fallen apart after holding
the Mets to one hit in five innings.
In fact, the Sox never led again after a homer by Series
Most Valuable Player Ray Knight (3 for 4), the first man Schiraldi faced. It was
the start of an seventh-inning uprising from which the Sox couldn't recover.
But the Mets had the Sox where they wanted them. New York
has lived and died by its momentum all year. Once the Mets got it going, there
was no denying them.
It didn't seem likely to happen when the Sox tagged Darling
for three runs in the second inning on back-to-back homers by Dwight Evans and
Rich Gedman and a run-scoring single by Wade Boggs. A single by Marty Barrett
sent Darling to the showers, and the Mets brought in lefthander Sid Fernandez.
He retired Bill Buckner on a line drive to center that
ended the inning. Fernandez dazzled Boston in the next two innings, striking out
four of six batters. Hurst kept pace, but his energy was draining, and in the
sixth, it evaporated.
With one out, Hurst surrendered consecutive singles to Lee
Mazzilli, who was batting for Fernandez, and to Mookie Wilson, putting runners
on first and second. Tim Teufel then worked Hurst for a walk, loading the bases.
McNamara went out to visit his pitcher. When the manager
returned to the dugout, Hernandez stepped up and sent a single to left-center,
scoring Mazzilli and Wilson to make it 3-2. Teufel steamed into third and was
replaced by pinch runner Wally Backman. The next hitter was Gary Carter, who got
the run home with a strange fielder's choice. Evans barely missed making a
shoestring catch of Carter's blooper to right. He apparently had the ball in his
glove, but when he hit the ground, the ball rolled loose as Backman scored to
tie the game. Evans alertly threw to second to force Hernandez. Hurst escaped
the inning, but it took a great play by Jim Rice to bail him out. Darryl
Strawberry hit a sinking liner to left, and Rice hauled it in with a diving
catch.
Tony Armas was sent up to bat for Hurst in the seventh and
struck out as the Sox failed to score.
Then Schiraldi experienced another horror show. On a 2-1
count, Knight rammed a fastball over the left-field wall to give New York the
lead for good. The rally continued when Len Dykstra batted for Kevin Mitchell
and singled. Then Schiraldi cracked again. First he threw a wild pitch on what
was supposed to be a pitchout, allowing Dykstra to move to second. Rafael
Santana proceeded to send a dribbler up the first base line that hobbling Bill
Buckner couldn't get, and Dykstra scored, making it 5-3. Relief pitcher Roger
McDowell, who got the win, bunted Santana to second. Sambito replaced Schiraldi
and issued an intentional walk to to Wilson. But Sambito then walked Backman
quite unintentionally, loading the bases. When Carter followed with a sacrifice
fly to center, Santana scored and the Mets led, 6-3. Stanley replaced Sambito
and retired the side.
The Red Sox did not go quietly. Singles by Buckner and Rice
and a two-run double by Evans turned it into a one-run game, 6-5.
McDowell then was lifted for lefthander Jesse Orosco, who
left the tying run at second. The first man he faced, Gedman, eschewed a
sacrifice bunt and sent a shot to second that Backman speared, almost doubling
Evans off the bag. Dave Henderson's magic then ran out as Orosco fanned him for
the second out. The Sox played their long-anticipated trump card, sending up Don
Baylor as a pinch hitter for Spike Owen. It didn't work as Baylor grounded to
short for the third out.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Mets supplied some
insurance. Strawberry led off with a homer off Nipper, who had been Boston's
Game 4 starter. A single by Knight, a grounder by Dykstra that advanced the
runner to second, and an intentional walk to Santana preceded a single by Orosco
that produced the final run. Crawford took over and escaped a bases-loaded jam
after hitting Wilson.
But the Sox had no thunder left, going down 1-2-3 in the
ninth, the final out a Marty Barrett strikeout.
