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THE SOX WIN THE AL EAST IN
SPECTACULAR
FASHION, BUT THAT'S ABOUT IT ...
Dwight Evans drives in the winning run
to clinch at least a playoff in the AL East
October
1, 1990 ... The Red Sox clinched a tie for the
American League East championship with a 4-3 victory over the Chicago
White Sox, the second-best team in the American League, while the
Fenway fans let them know on more than one occasion that the Toronto
Blue Jays were falling to the Baltimore Orioles, 6-3.
Dwight Evans' single to center field off reliever Barry
Jones with one out in the eighth inning broke a 3-3 tie the White Sox had fought
so hard to gain. The game-winning rally began with a Wade Boggs walk, but he was
thrown out at third when Ellis Burks singled high off the left-field wall, a
vicious shot that missed being a two-run homer by a foot and a half. With Burks
at second, the White Sox walked Greenwell, setting the stage for Evans.
Jeff
Reardon struck out two of the three batters he faced in the ninth. After he
fanned pinch hitter Steve Lyons for the first out, the final Baltimore-Toronto
score went up.
Dana
Kiecker had left the game to a standing ovation in the eighth after allowing a
leadoff double to Ivan Calderon. He has pitched two straight good games at
Fenway, where he is still 3-5 but saw his ERA drop from 7.15 to 6.36.
Kiecker
was relieved in the eighth by the weary Larry Andersen, who surrendered a shot
to Lance Johnson that went over Tom Brunansky's head in right field and into the
bleachers for a ground-rule double, scoring Calderon.
When
Andersen struck out Carlton Fisk and Frank Thomas, it appeared a Boston reliever
would finally get out of a jam. But Dan Pasqua singled up the middle, scoring
the second run. Robin Ventura sliced a bloop double to left field, scoring the
tying run in the person of pinch runner Rodney McCray, who had just stolen
second.
The Red Sox pounced on White Sox starter Greg Hibbard for
one run in the third and two in the fourth. With two outs in the third, Jody
Reed reached on Ventura's throwing error and scored all the way from first on
Carlos Quintana's single off the wall.
The Red
Sox drove Hibbard out of the game in the fourth. Greenwell hit a ground-rule
double and Evans blooped a single to right field. Brunansky hit what appeared to
be a double play ball to Guillen, but the White Sox could not turn it, as
Brunansky beat the throw, scoring Greenwell with the second run. After Pena
flied to center, Luis Rivera doubled, scoring the third run. |
