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THE SOX WIN THE AL EAST IN
SPECTACULAR
FASHION, BUT THAT'S ABOUT IT ...
It's Tom Brunansky bringing
the Sox from behind
June
4, 1990 ... In this 5-3 victory over the
Yankees, the Sox cut down two runs at the plate and scored the
winning run on Tom Brunansky's fourth RBI of the game, an
eighth-inning double that drove in Ellis Burks.
Brunansky, who is hitting .419 at Fenway Park (.238 on the
road), was at the center of every Sox rally: In the first, he had a sacrifice
fly on which left fielder Claudell Washington threw the ball to Ecuador trying
to get Wade Boggs at home; in the third, he hit a two-run homer (No. 5) onto
Lansdowne Street off lefthander Chuck Cary; in the eighth, he hit a double about
2 feet from the top of the left-center-field wall, breaking a 3-3 tie.
The Yanks
brought in lefthander Lee Guetterman later in the inning to face Mike Greenwell,
who continues to bat seventh against lefthanders. Greenwell looped a single to
left, his 11th RBI in 180 at-bats. Righthander Jeff Reardon (2-1), brought in
with the game tied in the eighth, allowed one hit over the last two innings and
struck out Bob Geren to end the game.
Down, 3-0,
after Brunansky's homer, the Yankees began to come back in the fifth, scoring
two runs off righthander Dana Kiecker, who developed a blister in the fourth
inning and lost it almost immediately: In the fifth, he walked the first batter,
gave up a run-scoring single off the Wall to Rick Cerone (2 for 2) and allowed
another run to score on a wild pitch.
Cerone
moved up to second on the wild pitch. Randy Velarde followed with a single to
left center. Burks ran down the ball and came up with one of his best throws of
the season, a one-hopper dead on the plate. The play still was close. Catcher
Tony Pena tagged Cerone high, near his face, but plate umpire Rocky Roe called
Cerone out.
The
Yankees tied the game in the seventh against Wes Gardner, who relieved Kiecker
in the sixth. With one out, Gardner walked Jesse Barfield. Washington struck
out, but Cerone followed with a run-scoring double to right-center, past Burks,
who dived on the play. Dent pinch ran Deion Sanders, the gold-swathed defensive
back. Velarde followed with a difficult ground ball to Rivera's right. His throw
got away from Quintana, who chased it down near the first-base coach's box.
Sanders
slowed rounding third, and it cost him. Quintana, who proves himself more and
more capable by the day, picked up the ball and threw a perfect strike to Pena,
who tagged out the sliding Sanders.
The Sox (26-23), who have been perched on the edge of first
for about three weeks, took over the lead by one-half game over Milwaukee and
Toronto. |
