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MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL STRIKES OUT ... May 30, 1994 ... With the Sox struggling through the end of May, the late innings of May 30th's 6-5 Red Sox victory over the Kansas City Royals at Fenway were tinged with some kind of magic. Damon Berryhill's double off The Wall scored Scott Cooper with the winning run, but the real drama was in the eighth inning when Butch Hobson decided to pinch hit for top hitting prospect Luis Ortiz with the Sox trailing, 5-4. He opted for Andy Tomberlin. Tomberlin hadn't done much at the plate and was 0 for 2 as a pinch hitter when he stepped up against Jeff Montgomery and lost a baseball into the net to tie the game. Tomberlin, Lee Tinsley and Ortiz had been told by Hobson before the game that they needed to loosen up and act more like veterans. Two batters before Tomberlin's blow, Mike Greenwell had homered off Mike Magnante to make it 5-4. The Sox had blown a 3-0 lead they built by touching up Kevin Appier in the first inning. Mo Vaughn had an RBI single, Ortiz hit a sacrifice fly and Cooper walked with the bases loaded to account for the runs. Aaron Sele was roughed up for five runs (four earned) in his second straight shaky outing. The big blow was a three-run homer by Wally Joyner in the fifth. Greg Harris tossed a wild pitch that allowed the fifth Royals run to score, but after that he settled down and pitched 2 2/3 innings of shutout baseball. Paul Quantrill pitched one flawless inning in which he struck out the side, and then was replaced by Ken Ryan. The big righthander pitched two scoreless innings to earn his first win of the season. Adding to the day was strong defense by the Sox' middle infield. Tim Naehring made two extraordinary plays at second, one behind the bag, while Carlos Rodriguez turned a nifty double play by making a turnaround pivot. Rodriguez also dived toward the middle for a liner off Joyner's bat. The Red Sox had a chance to win in the ninth when they placed runners at first and third with one out, but Vaughn struck out swinging and Naehring bounced out, catcher to first. But in the 10th, after Greenwell lined to center for the first out, Cooper and Tomberlin struck for back-to-back singles before Berryhill, who had pinch hit for Rich Rowland in the eighth and struck out, hit an offering off The Wall. |
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