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Marty Barrett knocks in the game
winner
in the
10th inning
May
29, 1989 ... Marty Barrett poked a Bob Welch
2-2 fastball into right field with one out in the 10th inning and
delivered pinch runner Randy Kutcher from second base for a 3-2
victory over the Oakland A's at Fenway Park. Another
major part of the victory was the standout pitching of Mike Boddicker, who went
nine innings (two runs, six hits) for only the second time in a Red Sox uniform
but wasn't around to pick up the victory. That was left for Lee Smith (3-1), who
took over in the top of the 10th and set down three straight.
Welch
(6-4) put down the foundation of his loss by walking Rich Gedman to lead off the
10th. Manager Joe Morgan sent Kutcher out to pinch run for the Sox catcher and
then watched Jody Reed move the winning run to second on a sacrifice bunt. Up to
the plate came Barrett, who had been a dormant 0 for 4 (reached on an error,
grounded out and flied out twice).
Welch went
to 2-2 and tried to move Barrett off the plate with a heater, high and inside.
Bailing out, Barrett heard the ball bounce foul off his bat, a big break
considering it was within an inch or two of cracking off his head. Back in the
box, looking to drive something behind Kutcher at second, Barrett got his pitch.
For his
part, Boddicker regularly put down the Athletics, who've all but held a mortgage
against the Sox in recent years. Boddicker gave up only four hits in the first
six innings, burned only by Terry Steinbach's solo homer to lead off the second.
In the seventh, a single, double and intentional pass (Boddicker's only walk)
loaded the bases for Oakland, and Mike Gallego's near-DP grounder brought in Ron
Hassey with the go-ahead (2-1) run.
The Sox,
however, never trailed for more than an out or two all night. In the second,
after Steinbach's homer, they knotted it, 1-1, when Nick Esasky drilled a single
to right to bring in Ellis Burks after the center fielder started the little
rally with a Wall double.
In the
home half of the seventh, after Gallego's RBI, Esasky pumped his eighth homer of
the year to straightaway center for the 2-2 tie.
In the
10th, Kutcher moved up when Reed put down his textbook roller just up the
first-base line. The Oakland outfield moved in, looking exactly for the type of
hit Barrett muscled to Stan Javier in right. Kutcher just kept wheeling, waved
home by Rac Slider and opting for a bellyflop slide as catcher Hassey went for
the throw. Hassey caught the ball and tried sweeping it around his right hip to
make a sort of back-door tag.
Barrett signed a two-year contract extension with a club
option for 1992. His signing ended months of negotiating with general manager
Lou Gorman. |
