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THE SOX WIN THE AL EAST IN
SPECTACULAR
FASHION, BUT THAT'S ABOUT IT ...
Kevin Romine's
walk-off HR wins
July
2, 1990 ... Kevin Romine’s leadoff,
ninth-inning home run off lefthander Kenny Rogers, gave the Red Sox a
3-2 win, ending their 11-game homestand with a 9-2 record and
boosting their American League East Division lead to 4 1/2 games. Check your
astrological charts on this one. It was a game that was supposed to feature
Nolan Ryan and Mike Boddicker. Both pitched well. Boddicker, the junkballer,
improved to 11-3 and 33-17 as a Red Sox, winning his 10th straight game. Ryan,
who lasted eight innings and threw 144 pitches, surrendered seven hits and left
a 2-2 game in the hands of Texas' interim closer, Rogers.
To have
been in the position to win was a strain in itself. Ryan wasn't throwing his
usual express. His fastball was 95 percent, though he got better as the game
progressed.
None of
the Red Sox regulars could manage much. Wade Boggs struck out three times. Mike
Greenwell doubled in the first, earned a key walk on a great at-bat in the
third, then was helpless the rest of the way. Tom Brunansky, who DH'd, went 0
for 3, though his third-inning sacrifice fly gave Boston a 1-0 lead. Carlos
Quintana, a four-hit man Sunday, was 0 for 3. Dwight Evans' self-imposed day off
made it possible for Romine to get a start.
The first
Sox run came when Boggs reached on an infield hit on a ball second baseman Jeff
Huson played into a hit. Jody Reed, a doubles machine who managed two hits off
Ryan and continued to make a case for a spot on the All-Star team, doubled to
left. With runners at second and third, Greenwell worked a tough walk. Even Ryan
commented later on the magnitude of the at-bat. Brunansky then got one deep
enough to center field to get the run in.
Rafael
Palmeiro stroked an RBI single in the fifth, tying it on a 3-2 pitch. Boddicker
thought he had Palmeiro struck out. Then in the sixth, Geno Petralli doubled to
center and rode in on Kevin Reimer's double to right.
So with the Rangers leading, 2-1, in the seventh, the
"Veggies" as they call themselves, raised a little stardust. Romine singled to
left. With Luis Rivera due up, Morgan decided to go with Billy Jo Robidoux. In
an at-bat Robidoux might never forget, he forged the count to 3-2, fouled off a
couple of nasty pitches and then slapped a double to left. Left fielder Jack
Daugherty was playing way over to left-center, so he had a long run.
Robidoux
had struck out and grounded out against Ryan in his previous at-bats. The third
time he found the shortstop hole. Meanwhile, Romine, who was running on the
pitch, was chugging along around the bases. Third baseman Scott Coolbaugh was
forced to go out in short left to take the throw, all of which helped Romine's
chances of scoring. Tie game.
In the
ninth, on 3-2, Romine sent the second-largest Fenway crowd of the year quickly
into Happy Hour. In one fell swoop, he saved Boddicker some deep frustration.
Boddicker, who is still pitching with a tender elbow and
threw 139 pitches, allowed 10 hits and walked three. He struck out nine. To have
come away with no decision would have been like fingernails on a blackboard. His
nine innings were busy. He had only three 1-2-3 innings and one of them, the
eighth, came when Tony Pena threw out Cecil Espy trying to steal. Boddicker did
retire the Rangers in order in the ninth. |
