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MORE OF "MORGAN'S MAGIC"
(BUT NOT ENOUGH)
A five run 7th finishes a comeback
from a 4-0 deficit
May
9, 1991 ... Jack Clark was a hero again. The
boos turned to cheers when he completed the Sox comeback from a 4-0
deficit with a bases-loaded walk against Texas reliever Goose Gossage,
breaking a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Sox went
on to defeat the Texas Rangers, 8-4, with a five-run seventh for a
rare late-game come-from-behind victory. The Sox,
who improved to 16-9 and retained sole possession of first place, chipped away
at Texas starter Scott Chiamparino for three runs over the first six innings.
The Sox offense, which improved to a .242 team batting average after 12 hits
(three by Mike Greenwell and two each by Jody Reed and Clark), would normally
have had problems coming back. But two major strugglers, Clark and Reed, had
good offensive nights.
While it
was the Red Sox hitting that got it back, Sox pitchers were patting themselves
on the back for keeping the game in reach. Starter Tom Bolton walked five and
allowed a pair of homers, a three-run shot by Juan Gonzalez in the second inning
and a solo shot to the center-field bleachers by Julio Franco in the third.
Bolton was yanked by Joe Morgan in the bottom of the sixth with two outs after
retiring Gary Pettis with a soft liner to second base. Bolton's 1.08 ERA, third
best in the league behind Tom Gordon (0.67) and Roger Clemens (0.77), ballooned
to 2.05.
Winner
Dennis Lamp, who improved to 2-1, held the status quo for 1 1/3 innings before
giving way to Jeff Gray and Jeff Reardon.
The Red
Sox' seventh-inning assault began with Luis Rivera's double. The new starting
shortstop, who went 1 for 3 to improve to .303, was wild-pitched to third when
reliever Mike Jeffcoat, replacing Chiamparino, tossed his second pitch to the
screen. After Boggs walked, Gossage allowed a game-tying single to Reed. Gossage,
whose velocity has suddenly returned to the low 90s at age 37, walked Ellis
Burks, setting the stage for clean-up hitter Clark. Tom Brunansky's sacrifice
fly scored the final Boston run after Greenwell's two-run double.
The Sox
haven't been the rallying type this year. They left two runners on base in the
second inning, and the fourth loomed ominous when Greenwell took over the league
lead in triples with his third, a long drive into the triangle that missed being
a home run by a few feet. This appeared to be an easy run to get in, but
Brunansky hit a tapper back to the mound.
Carlos
Quintana came to the rescue when he bounced a grounder to second, the ball
bad-hopping away from the charging Franco. Greenwell scored and Quintana wound
up on second when Franco rebounded on the bad hop and threw errantly beyond
first baseman Rafael Palmeiro. It was a costly error because it allowed the Red
Sox to pull within two runs on Tony Pena's single up the middle, scoring Q from
second.
Clark
slammed his helmet into the dugout wall after popping out to the catcher in the
fourth, but his night, his demeanor and perhaps his season forever changed when
he started off the sixth with a single to left field and raced to third on
Greenwell's single to right. Steve Buechele assisted greatly in helping Boston
with its third run when he appeared to have Clark dead at the plate on
Brunansky's grounder, but opted for a potential double play. Buechele got only
the force at second, and Clark scored, making it 4-3.
And so
Clark's terror over the past eight games ended, when the boos finally turned to
cheers. |
