As the 1994 Players Strike lingered on, Dan Duquette got going. He hired Kevin Kennedy to manage the 1995 Red Sox. Kennedy had managed in Texas for two years before the players tuned him out and revolted. The Players Association called for a moratorium on free agent signings during the strike, but Duquette kept trying. He acted aggressively, and under the new system ownership tried to unilaterally impose, he worked out deals to acquire Montréal relief pitcher John Wetteland, Kansas City starting pitcher Kevin Appier, and Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa. But when the courts ruled that the actions were illegal, the deals were negated. With Red Sox president, John Harrington serving as lead negotiator for the owners, the player's strike lingered into the spring, and baseball teams decided to open spring training with replacement players. Nobody was fooled and the obvious subpar product further offended the fans and made Major League Baseball look foolish. Finally, on April 2nd, both sides came to their senses and resumed business as usual. The strike had been for nothing and the 28 teams lost nearly $1 billion. Belt-tightening became the rule, particularly with the Red Sox. It was also agreed that the 1995 season be shortened to just 144 games. Dan Duquette began a great run of luck and every button he pushed along with every player he acquired, came through. Catcher Bill Hasselman was a free agent who was signed in November. Secondbaseman Luis Alicea was traded from the Cardinals for Jeff McNeely and Nate Minchey in December. Pitcher Vaughn Eshelman was picked up in the Rule 5 draft from the Orioles. The Sox shed more salaries and traded the Texas Rangers for problematic, high-priced slugger, José Canseco for outfielder Otis Nixon and part-time third baseman Luis Ortiz. He had the potential to hit 50 home runs in Fenway and provided some needed protection for Mo Vaughn in the Red Sox lineup. Tim Naehring was a restricted free agent thanks to a new salary cap imposed by the owners after the strike. He was one of 38 players eligible to sign with another team but said he had no desire to leave Boston and re-signed with the Red Sox in April. Catcher Mike Macfarlane was signed as a free agent on April 8th to a one-year contract for $1.5 million with a club option for 1996. The next day, outfielder Reggie Jefferson was picked up. The Cardinals then traded Mark Whitten and Rheal Cormier to the Red Sox for Cory Bailey and Scott Cooper. The Sox claimed Troy O'Leary on waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers.
Stan Belinda, a free agent pitcher was signed on April 9th, Erik Hanson on April 11th, and on April 18th, pitcher Zane Smith was signed. On April 20th, the Pirates released Tim Wakefield. Six days later, the Sox took a flyer and signed him to a Triple-A contract.
When the season finally started on April 26th, on the center-field scoreboard, printed in big red letters, was a sign reading, "Thanks Fans." There was new and better food at Fenway, where the help was wearing "Friendly Fenway" buttons and trying their best to make everyone feel welcome. But the fans booed the players when they were introduced. The fans and the public felt that they had been stabbed in the back by the strike and MLB had lost their loyalty. But the Sox shut out the Twins, 9-0. It was the pitching. It was the brilliant five-inning, one-hit performance of Aaron Sele, who got to the 14th batter before giving up a base hit and pitched as if he should have been the Opening Day starter to begin with, instead of merely the understudy to Roger Clemens, who was on the DL with a strained shoulder. He was followed by the four-inning, one-hit, tag-team effort of Frankie Rodriguez, Alejandro Pena, Jeff Pierce and Ken Ryan. The Red Sox had 22 baserunners. The Twins had five. In the second game of the season, Chicago came to Fenway Park and committed four errors, walked 14 batters, and handed the Red Sox a 10-4 victory before 23,199 fans on April 28th in the opener of a three-game weekend series. John Valentin, Mike Macfarlane, Naehring and Lee Tinsley each knocked in a pair of runs. Tinsley hit the first Red Sox homer of the year. He also opened the campaign with a 14-game hitting streak, while also making good on his first two stolen base attempts of the year to run his streak to a team record 15 in a row, dating back to 1994. After three games, the Red Sox were smokin'. With an 8-0 win over the White Sox, the next day on April 29th, the Red Sox starting pitchers have hurled a total of 15 innings and allowed two earned runs (a measly 1.20 ERA). Erik Hanson hurled a scintillating five innings in which he struck out seven. Four relievers followed and preserved the five-hit shutout.
In Yankee Stadium on May 2nd, Mo Vaughn and John Valentin hit grand slams. Vaughn Eshelman, the Rule 5 draftee, pitched six shutout innings in an 8-0 win over the Yankees on a cold and drizzly night. But Derek Lilliquist, Joel Johnston, Jeff Pierce and the rest of the bullpen blew three of the four games against the Yankees, including a 5-3 loss on May 4th. Three times the Sox and Yankees were tied, 3-3, in the eighth inning, and three times the Sox lost. In Detroit, the Sox overcame a 7-2 deficit after four innings and hit three home runs the rest of the way, including a tying blast by Mark Whitten in the seventh and a two-run shot by John Valentin in the eighth, for a 10-7 victory over the Tigers on May 5th. It showed that the Tiger bullpen may be worse than that of the Red Sox. The Red Sox' and Tigers' staffs walked a combined 16 batters in a 5-3 Sox victory over Detroit On May 6th. Such is the state of baseball early this season after a 7 1/2-month strike greatly affected the level of play. But for the Red Sox, ugly or beautiful doesn't matter. Winning does. The Red Sox improved to 6-4 with their second straight win after sustaining three losses in four games at Yankee Stadium. Aaron Sele walked six in five innings and threw 108 pitches, but escaped with his second win. The Sox ended their seven-game road trip by completing a sweep of the Tigers, 12-1 on May 7th. This one was over quickly as the Red Sox pounded three home runs and 17 hits in support of Vaughn Eshelman, the young lefthander who had not allowed a run in his first 13 innings. Eshelman went seven innings, allowed four hits, and didn't issue a walk. Wes Chamberlain had never hit a game-winning home run in the ninth inning but came through with just that, a dramatic pinch-hit shot that enabled the Red Sox to pull out a 4-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles back at Fenway and take sole possession of first place in the American League East on May 9th. The Sox had won five in a row, including a 6-2 decision over the Orioles the next night on May 10th. There was no drama. This game was 6-2 in the fifth inning and it stayed that way. They created their own thunder with two-run homers by Mo Vaughn and Lee Tinsley off Orioles starter Sid Fernandez. That was enough for Erik Hanson, who lasted five innings and allowed two runs in another strong outing.
Vaughn Eshelman pitched five innings of no-hit baseball as the Red Sox took a 6-4 victory over the Yankees at Fenway Park on May 13th. He lost a no-hitter in the sixth inning. The next day, May 14th, the Mother's Day crowd saw a mother of a ninth inning, but as much activity as the Yankees created to tie the game at 2-2, the ending was tidy and without fuss. A 1-0 fastball down the middle from New York's Steve Howe that catcher Mike Macfarlane was smashed into the center-field bleachers to propel the Sox to a 3-2 victory. Next, at County Stadium, on May 16th, Mo Vaughn did all he could in a 5-0 Red Sox victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. He drove in three runs, with two on homers. The third RBI came via a sacrifice fly. Vaughn's power was all the support needed by righthander Erik Hanson, who became the first Red Sox pitcher to throw a complete game this season. Hanson was overpowering, striking out 10, scattering four hits, and retiring 20 of the last 21 batters. He lowered his ERA to 0.71 With a combination of strong pitching and timely hitting, the first-place Red Sox did what good teams have to do in the next game on May 17th. For the second straight game, they crushed the Brewers, 8-2. The Sox were defying the spring training doomsayers. Even without the injured Roger Clemens, starting pitchers were now 10-1 with a 1.85 earned run average. Aaron Sele pitched 6 1/3 shutout innings in winning his third game in four decisions. After beating the powerful Cleveland Indians, 4-3, on a Mike Macfarlane eighth-inning home run on May 18th at Fenway, the Sox were 3 1/2 games in front of the Yankees in the AL East. On May 21st Cleveland rallied from an 8-4 deficit and broke a 9-9 tie with three runs in the ninth. The Sox lost on a day when they pounded a season-high 18 hits, including 11 for extra bases. But the Sox called on a bullpen that for the third straight game didn't have a clue as to how to harness the powerful Indians. Thus far this season, the Sox pen had blown seven of 10 save opportunities. In the next three games, the Sox had seemingly comfortable leads late. But the bullpen acted like it was throwing batting practice, and Cleveland took advantage. In these games, the Indians scored 17 runs in the eighth and ninth innings and the Sox lost each one. The Sox then traveled to the West Coast and got bad news. After reinjuring his left oblique abdominal muscle while taking a swing in batting practice at the Kingdome, José Canseco was diagnosed with a partial tear of the muscle that probably would sideline him for at least a month and more realistically until after the All-Star Game. The first game went 10 innings and the Sox pulled out a 5-4 win on May 23rd, when Mariners' pitcher Steve Frey walked in the winning run with the bases loaded. But the Sox lost the next two to the Mariners. Finally, Reggie Jefferson turned a somber dugout into a party in the sixth inning when the designated hitter launched a grand slam that propelled the Red Sox to an 8-3 victory over the Angels on May 26th in Anaheim. The thus Sox ended a skid of five losses in six games. But just a couple of hours before game time, manager Kevin Kennedy learned that both Aaron Sele and rookie Vaughn Eshelman would be accompanying José Canseco back to Boston because of sore shoulders. Making his Red Sox debut, Tim Wakefield baffled the Angels in seven frustrating innings before giving way to Derek Lilliquist on May 27th. Wakefield threw 91 pitches, allowed five hits, one run, two walks, and struck out four. Despite the rash of injuries, the Red Sox won their second straight game and were 3-2 on the West Coast trip. The win also gave the Sox a four-game lead over second-place Detroit in the AL East. In Oakland, Dave Stewart walked six and allowed five runs in four innings of a 9-6 Sox victory before a Memorial Day crowd on May 29th. Wakefield next out-dueled Ron Darling on May 30th with a three-hit 1-0 shutout of the A's. On May 31st, the Sox bullpen straightened out as Ken Ryan, Stan Belinda and Rheal Cormier allowed only one run in 16 innings. It all added up to a 6-5 victory over the A's that completed a three-game sweep. On a trip that started shaky, the Sox started 1 1/2 games ahead in the AL East. They roared back into Boston six games in front and then surged into June.
June 2nd was one night John Valentin, who went 5 for 5 with three solo homers and 15 total bases, will never forget. It probably would be frozen in Red Sox folklore. The last time a player had more than 15 total bases was Fred Lynn, whose 16 against the Detroit Tigers in 1975 tied an American League record.
Valentin's third home run of the game in the eighth inning, a high, towering blast that cleared the net and likely landed across Lansdowne Street, had brought the Sox to within a run. Then the hysteria continued when Mike Macfarlane smacked his eighth home run with one out in the bottom of the ninth to bring the Sox back to a 5-5 gridlock. Finally, it was Valentin who began the winning rally when he doubled to start the 10th. After an intentional walk to Mo Vaughn and a botched sacrifice bunt by pinch hitter Steve Rodriguez, Mike Greenwell brought the house down with an opposite-field single to left that scored Vaughn with the winning run. A 10-8 victory over the Seattle Mariners the next night on June 3rd, suggested a seven-game lead is no fluke. That lead in a division where only one team is above .500 is no guarantee of anything. But these back-to-back wins were an indication of the team's character. The Sox came back with 10 runs on 12 hits. They were led by Tim Naehring, who collected four hits, and Greenwell, who had three more, including a home run and three RBIs. It was the bottom of the 10th in the third Seattle game, on June 4th, when the very tough Bobby Ayala came on to pitch for the Mariners. The Sox trailed, 1-0. There was one out and one on when Troy O'Leary came up. With the count 1 and 1, O'Leary got a fastball and smacked it into the net in left-center, sending the crowd into another Fenway frenzy, as the Sox took a 2-1 win. It was their sixth straight victory and gave them their best start (23-11) since 1971. The best nights at Fenway Park are still the ones when the Red Sox grind their way to victory with a touch of power, a dash of defense, and clutch pitching in the face of apparent disaster. Those were the ingredients of a 3-2 victory over the California Angels on June 5th. It was the seventh straight triumph and one that started fast and was in doubt until the final out. Nobody went home disappointed. Early on, there were the kind of fireworks that the Red Sox seemed to bring to the table each night. California took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. But if you left for a hot dog, you missed a game-tying shot to the opposite field by Reggie Jefferson. It was quiet until the fourth inning when Mo Vaughn hit the game-winner into the Sox bullpen. After that, it was defense and the still-hard-to-believe pitching of Erik Hanson (6-0) and the bullpen. In late May, the Red Sox had given Willie McGee a tryout and saw enough to offer him a minor league contract, signing him on June 6th. June 7th’s 5-1 win wasn't laced with
fantastic finishes, unusual circumstances, or unlikely
heroes. Roger Clemens returned to his forceful and
dominating ways with his first win in almost a year. He
displayed a repertoire of four pitches throughout his
five-inning stint. It was an eight-strikeout, two-hit
effort that still tweaked the radar guns into mid-90s
readings at times. But they were not the types of pitches
that used to break the machine. On June 10th, infielder Chris Donnels was picked up from the Astros. After losing three straight, the Red Sox responded with an 11-7 win at SkyDome on June 13th. The Sox bombarded the Blue Jays with 13 hits as Reggie Jefferson and John Valentin (two stolen bases) knocked in four runs apiece in a game that included a near brawl and Mike Greenwell crashing headfirst into the left-field wall. The Sox still had an eight-game lead in the AL East. Again losing three more games, the Sox came through on June 18th by beating the Brewers 4 to 2 at Fenway. Down 2-1, the Sox busted out with a three-run seventh, led by Tim Naehring's third homer of the year. Erik Hanson (7-1) went out on June 21st against the Cleveland Indians and showed that the Red Sox were capable of beating the best team in baseball. No doctor could have prescribed a better antidote to the recent woes, than the four-hit performance of Hanson, who produced a 3-1 win. After five straight losses to the American League Central leaders, the Sox used home runs by Mike Greenwell and Mo Vaughn to power their way to the victory and halted their 2-8 skid. The Red Sox walked into Baltimore with a 4-1 win on June 22nd. Cal Ripken's streak had reached 2,060 consecutive games, Mo Vaughn slammed his 18th homer and Roger Clemens returned with his second win and longest outing (6 2/3 innings) of the season. They split the four game series and came home with a four game lead down from a nine game lead three weeks ago. José Canseco finally won a game for the Sox on June 24th, and he did it not only with his bat but with his legs and with his mistakes. Canseco's theatrics were the centerpiece of a two-run rally in the ninth that gave the Sox a 6-5 victory over the Orioles. Canseco scored three times, knocked in the game's first run with an opposite-field double in the third, and started a rally with a double in the seventh. Many Red Sox fans bought tickets last winter and did so because they thought they might see Canseco hit 25 or 30 homers in Fenway. He had hit one in Fenway and had not played at Fenway since May 14th and had played in only nine home games. Canseco returned to the lineup immediately (batting cleanup), and for several days it looked as if the Sox had rushed him back into service. He went 0 for 15 in his first four games before stroking a single. The 0 for 15 gave him a line of 0 for 28 dating back to May. Canseco launched his long-awaited second home run of the 1995 season. Leading off the fourth inning of a 10-1 loss to the Orioles on June 25th, José turned on an Arthur Rhodes pitch and drove it 429 feet, off the back wall of the Red Sox bullpen in Baltimore. And so, the Red Sox still held a four-game first-place lead while Canseco had only two home runs. Back at Fenway, after a 5-8 road trip where the Sox lead in the AL East was reduced from eight games to four games, Mike Greenwell was hit by a pitch to lead off the ninth inning on June 26th. But a few moments later, he was feeling no pain as he slid home with the winning run in the Red Sox' 4-3 victory over the Blue Jays. Luis Alicea's single to left scored Greenwell, who had stolen second with two outs. The clutch offense by the Sox made up for a ninth-inning rally by the Blue Jays that wiped out a 3-0 lead and deprived starter Erik Hanson of his eighth victory in 12 starts. The next night, June 27th, Bill Haselman slammed a solo home run in the 11th inning that carried the Sox to a 6-5 victory over the Blue Jays. Haselman sent a 3-and-2 pitch soaring into the left-field screen, his first home run with the Red Sox. For the second straight night, the Red Sox blew a lead to put themselves in position for a dramatic win. They squandered a 5-1 advantage that Roger Clemens took into the seventh inning. Clemens was fine for six, but rookie Angel Martinez hit a three-run homer into the right-field seats to pull Toronto within a run in the seventh. Clemens finished the inning but was done for the night after throwing 98 pitches. The Jays then got to Ken Ryan for the tying run in the eighth. Tim Wakefield's knuckler left the Tigers flatfooted, and fans at Fenway Park, on June 29th. The Sox came away with a 7-1 win. Wakefield (5-1) went the distance and allowed a first-inning homer, then nothing. He pitched his third complete game, lowered his ERA to 1.61, and had now pitched into the seventh in seven of his eight starts. The Sox (34-25) finished the month with an even 14-14 record and still sat on top of the standings with a five game lead over Detroit.
With Roger Clemens trailing Detroit, 5-0, on July 2nd, the Red Sox were perilously close to heading out for a seven-game road trip feeling the Tiger's breath down their collective necks. Instead, the Sox did a little one-upmanship on the Tigers, answering Detroit's five-run top of the third by scoring eight in the bottom of the inning. Then, after Detroit scored five runs in the ninth off the embattled Ken Ryan and Stan Belinda to tie the game at 11-11, the Sox loaded the bases on three walks and got a single to right-center from Lee Tinsley to pull out their 10th win in its last at-bat, 12-11. Mo Vaughn's two home runs were keys to the win.
In July 3rd's 12-5 victory in Kansas City, the Sox pounded Kevin Appier for 10 runs, while Vaughn drove in six runs with two home runs. His production soared from 50 RBIs to 56 (tied for the league lead) and 21 homers to a league-high 23. He had 149 total bases and a rising slugging percentage of .618. Tim Wakefield (6-1) worked eight innings at Kauffman Stadium in a 6-5 Sox win the next night on July 4th. The game was tied, 1-1, from the fourth until the eighth, when the Sox rapped Royals starter Mark Gubicza for five runs, punctuated by José Canseco's three-run homer on a 2-2 pitch after Vaughn had been walked intentionally. Canseco's drive, only his fourth homer, barely cleared the left-field wall. He had struck out in his first two at-bats, then singled. The Red Sox surprising success forced the organization and Dan Duquette to make moves and try to win the division this year. On July 5th, Mike Greenwell went on the disabled list to allow his sore ribs to recover through the All-Star break, and Willie McGee, the 1985 National League Most Valuable Player, took his place. On July 6th, he traded for closer Rick Aguilera with the Twins. The Sox gave up promising righthander Frankie Rodriguez, a player to be named later and cash considerations. The Sox were playing at Minneapolis, so the timing and circumstances of the trade were steep with irony. Aguilera was, at midnight, to become a 10-and-5 man (10 years in the majors and 5 with the Twins), and have the right to veto a trade. As the trade was being finalized he was waiting his turn in the bullpen to go into a game against the Sox. Within 24 hours, he made his first appearance with the Red Sox on July 7th, and it was against his former teammates. The move paid immediate dividends. After the Sox took a 5-4 advantage into the top of the ninth inning, Aguilera retired his former mates in order after surrendering a leadoff single and striking out Kirby Puckett to save the Sox win. His first save with the Red Sox was his 13th of the season and kept the Sox in a three-game lead in the AL East. Twice this season, including July 9th, Tim Wakefield had taken a no-hitter into the eighth inning, only to lose it. With one out in the eighth against the Oakland A's on June 9th, Stan Javier broke up Wakefield's bid. Now, one month later, Jeff Reboulet, leading off the eighth, singled cleanly to center to prevent him from entering the record books. Regardless, Wakefield sent the Red Sox scattering to their All-Star break retreats with a four-hit shutout and his fourth complete game in a 7-0 Sox win. Wakefield (7-1) saw his league-best ERA decrease to 1.61, which begged the question: Why wasn't he on the All-Star team? Mo Vaughn's selection as a backup first baseman for the American League by Yankees manager Buck Showalter was a long overdue honor. His 21 home runs and 50 runs batted in were impressive totals as the first half of a 144-game season winded down. He led the charge in late inning heroics as he learned to hit the outside pitch to left field and take advantage of the Wall. He became more popular and a better hitter with consistent left-handed power. Vaughn didn't win the All-Star Home Run Derby, but he came up a big winner, anyway. Frank Thomas of Chicago won the contest by outlasting Cleveland's Albert Belle in the finals. Vaughn, who reached the semifinals, excited the crowd with a towering 460-foot blast, which some thought might make the roof of the right-field stands. In his All-Star Game debut, Vaughn suffered along with his American League teammates in a 3-2 loss to the National League. He came up twice with men on base and failed to produce. In the sixth inning, after replacing Frank Thomas, he couldn't get a runner in from third base with one out. In the eighth, he lost a battle to former Blue Jay Tom Henke with one out and a runner on first. But then controversy dogged Vaughn, when one night in a Boston nightclub called the Roxy, a notorious gang member confronted him and knocked him to the ground. He was kicked and beaten by his opponent’s entourage and the next day was seen with his eye swollen shut. The incident marked the end of Vaughn's honeymoon with the front office. Although the fans gave him a pass, Sox brass never seemed to look at him the same way. He was no longer considered the leader of the team, with a lack of trust and respect. Vaughn's relationship with the Red Sox slowly deteriorated. Tim Wakefield's dancing knuckleball had been fooling hitters all year. Now he was using it to produce strikeouts and shut down rallies before they started. That was his latest trick on July 14th in the Red Sox' 5-2 victory over the Texas Rangers at Fenway. Wakefield (8-1, 1.70 ERA) struck out a career-high seven. Rick Aguilera earned his first save for the Sox at Fenway. On July 17th, Jeff Suppan became one of the youngest Red Sox pitchers to make his major league debut, going against the Kansas City Royals. Suppan, who had a 2.36 ERA at Double-A Trenton, was on the losing end of a 4-3 decision. For the fourth time in five games since the All-Star break, the Red Sox went down to defeat. Fine pitching by Suppan and eight hits by the offense were an improvement, but simply not enough. Leaving after 7 1/3 innings and allowing one run against the White Sox, Tim Wakefield’s ERA was reduced to a paltry 1.66 on July 19th. He improved to 9-1 this season in the Sox's 5-3 victory at Comiskey Park. He was 11-1 in his last 14 major league starts.
The Red Sox again beat the White Sox, 3-1, the next night at Comiskey Park on July 20th. The Sox got a lift from Mo Vaughn, who homered to give the Sox a 2-1 lead in the seventh, and José Canseco, who knocked in two runs and smacked a solo shot in the ninth for insurance. Vaughn added a 444-foot grand slam in the fifth during a 13-5 victory over Minnesota back at Fenway in the next game on July 21st. Roger Clemens said he was hurting again, with a sore right elbow that swelled up without medication, after an 8-3 drubbing by the Minnesota Twins on July 23rd. Aaron Sele had begun his third rehabilitation program in Florida. The first two didn't work. After two straight losses, Tim Wakefield shut down the Twins. The Sox coasted to a 4-1 victory at Fenway on July 24th as Wakefield pitched 7 1/3 innings to record his sixth straight victory. Troy O'Leary's two doubles helped the Sox win, 5 to 3 over the White Sox on July 26th. Luis Alicea brought home four runners in Texas with two home runs on July 28th. The Sox beat the Rangers, 6 to 2 after losing four of their last six games. Backup catcher Bill Haselman, forced into the game because of an injury to Mike Macfarlane, crystallized it perfectly with his first career grand slam, breaking a 1-1 tie and triggering an eventual 7-1 Red Sox victory in Texas the next night, on July 29th. Wakefield improved to 11-1, and his ERA dropped like one of his knucklers from 1.64 to 1.58 with the complete-game victory. He threw 131 pitches, allowing six hits, three walks, and striking out seven. The win enabled the Sox to improve their American League East lead to 5 1/2 games. In an effort to move Rheal Cormier to the rotation, Mike Stanton was acquired by the Red Sox on July 31st.
Tim Wakefield was voted the American League "Pitcher of the Month" for July, going 6-0 with a 1.53 ERA. He had allowed hitters a batting average of only .219. John Valentin drove in six runs, the largest such outburst of his career, as the Sox built up a 12-0 lead and strolled to a 13-3 win over the Tigers behind Zane Smith at Tiger Stadium on August 1st. Valentin’s average rose from .275 to .280, and he now had 17 homers and 56 RBIs. On August 3rd, the Sox blasted the Tigers, 10 to 2. Wakefield (12-1) chalked up his 12th win but left after getting into trouble in the sixth inning. Relievers Joe Hudson and Mike Stanton were near perfect after he left. It was the start of a twelve game winning streak for the Red Sox. In Toronto, Tim Naehring drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth to snap a 1-1 tie. Willie McGee provided some insurance with a sacrifice fly, and the Sox poured it on in the ninth via John Valentin's RBI double and Mike Greenwell's three-run homer. That provided abundant support for Erik Hanson (9-4), who allowed five hits and struck out seven in eight innings, in a 7-1 Sox win on August 4th. The next night on August 5th, in a 9-3 victory, the Sox had nine runs by the third inning as Mo Vaughn knocked in four runs, one of them with his league-leading 29th homer, to pace the Sox' potent attack, which produced 11 hits. Vaughn and John Valentin accounted for five of Sox's six runs in a 6-4 win over the Blue Jays on August 6th. Valentin's two-run opposite-field homer in the seventh broke a 4-4 tie and sent the Sox to their third win of the series. He went 3 for 5 and knocked in three runs. The Red Sox swept the series with a 5-4, 10-inning victory on August 7th. The Jays literally gave the game away loading the bases with a hit batsman and two walks. Mike Macfarlane's fly ball scored the game winner. The win wrapped up their 10-game road trip at 8-2, their best excursion since 1981.
Tim Wakefield (12-1) pitched his sixth complete game and held the Indians to six hits in a 5-1 victory (Boston's sixth straight) before a season-high crowd of 34,574 at Fenway Park on August 8th. Lee Tinsley knocked in four runs with three hits and Troy O'Leary also had three base hits. The Red Sox, who were scorching right now, cooled off the Indians 9 to 5, hailed by many as baseball's best team, on their abbreviated visit to Fenway Park, the next night on August 9th. Two games, two Sox wins. Cal Ripken played in his 2,105th consecutive game as he continued to pursue Lou Gehrig. Meanwhile, the Red Sox' streak, far more modest than Ripken's but just as satisfying, reached eight straight wins as they drubbed the Orioles, 11-1, at Feverish Fenway on August 10th. Blasting four homers, including a two-runner and three-runner by John Valentin (Nos. 19 and 20), the Sox saw their AL East lead swell to eight games. The Sox turned to some late-inning magic to pull out a 5-4, 12-inning victory over the Orioles, on August 11th. Pinch-runner Juan Bell fell rounding third, and you could have bet a million dollars he'd never make it home before a throw from left by Bobby Bonilla, who had played Lee Tinsley's fly tentatively as it glanced off his glove along the left-field line. But Bell made it with inches to spare and sent the crowd home more confident than ever that they were watching what might be the best team in major league baseball. A 7-0 defeat of the Orioles the next night on August 12th, was behind Roger Clemens' 7 2/3 innings of six-hit pitching. The Sox held a modest 3-0 lead for six innings and Clemens was more than able to hold it. José Canseco's two-run ground-rule double in the third provided the bulk of the offense. Tim Wakefield's unrelenting dominance continued with a 3-2 victory over the Orioles, and a sweep of the series on August 13th, making him the first Sox pitcher to win 10 consecutive starts since Mike Boddicker in 1990. The Red Sox kept drubbing along on August 14th, trampling the New York Yankees, 9-3. It was their 12th straight victory, matching the "Morgan's Magic" exploits of July 1988. The Red Sox, who now led the second-place Yankees by a whopping 10 games. They spotted them a 2-0 lead in the first inning, then scored nine straight runs. Mo Vaughn's 30th homer tied it in the bottom of the first and Tim Naehring's three-run blast broke it open in the fifth. Naehring knocked in four runs to pace the Red Sox 13-hit attack, while Erik Hanson (10-4) pitched 8 1/3 innings, allowing eight hits and three runs. When José Canseco's run-scoring double in the eighth inning sent home Vaughn and broke a 4-4 tie, on August 16th, it led the Sox on their way to a 7-4 victory over the Yankees. Facing a nine-game competition against the preeminent teams in the league, Cleveland, and the Sox’ two chief division pursuers, New York and Baltimore, the Sox had exceeded even their most delirious diehards' expectations. They went 8-1 and almost doubled their lead from 5 1/2 to 10 games. The divisional leaders of the East and West met in a one-game series in Anaheim on August 17th, to accommodate the 144-game schedule necessitated by the season's late start. They were on nearly equal terms until Lee Tinsley's ninth-inning double scored Luis Alicea from first and lifted the red-hot Sox to their 14th win in 15 games, 4 to 3.
The next night in Seattle on August 18th, Tim Wakefield lost only his second game of the season. The following night on August 19th, Erik Hanson, who still made his home in the suburbs in Seattle, held the Mariners to three hits over 7 1/3 innings as the Red Sox beat them, 4-3. Hanson posted his 12th win in his 22nd start, striking out nine and keeping his ERA at 3.55. He was 4-0 in August. Four relievers held the fort, with Rick Aguilera, who pitched for the first time in eight days because of shoulder tendinitis, working the ninth for his 21st save of the season (nine with Boston) and the 200th of his career. The Sox left the gray and dank Kingdome with two wins in three games, including a 7-6 victory over the Mariners behind a nice effort from Rheal Cormier, in the third game on August 20th. By virtue of their 6-4 win over the Angels on August 21st, the Red Sox passed California for the second-best record in the league by a half-game. The Sox traveled back to Anaheim and beat the best of the West with solo homers by Luis Alicea and José Canseco, and a key two-run single by John Valentin, that plated the decisive runs in the seventh. They also received an excellent pitching performance from Vaughn Eshelman (5-2, who lasted six innings, allowing seven hits and two earned runs. The Red Sox beat the California Angels, 6-4, again on August 22nd. It was the Sox' fifth win in six games on this trip and the 18th win in their last 20 games. Some midgame fireworks, capped by a dramatic José Canseco home run gave the Sox a 5-2 lead. It was one of three hits by the Red Sox. The final one, Lee Tinsley's solo shot in the ninth, provided some breathing room for Rick Aguilera to notch a two-out save, his 11th for the Sox. Troy Percival was throwing the ball 100 mph and completely stumped the Red Sox for two innings. Lee Smith was their closer and after they had seen such heat, 90 mph seemed like a beach ball to Sox hitters. They frolicked accordingly as Mike Greenwell tripled in Tim Naehring in the top of the 10th inning, lifting the Red Sox to a 6-5 win over the Angels on August 23rd, at the Big A. It was a night when Tim Wakefield again struggled mightily (five runs in seven innings). Wakefield, who until this trip was the hottest pitcher in baseball, allowed eight hits, including three homers, and walked six. In Oakland, on August 24th, Erik Hanson improved to 13-4, allowed 12 hits and six runs in 6 1/3 innings, and got a wealth of support in a 13-6 decking of the A's. Three homers, accounting for eight runs, by John Valentin (No. 22), Vaughn (32) and José Canseco (19) accounted for the scoring. Valentin knocked in five runs with a single, double and homer. After losing losing two in a row for the first time in more than a month the Sox rebounded again on August 27th with a 4 to 1 win behind Roger Clemens, who went seven innings. The Sox returned home after an 8-3 West Coast trip, 15 1/2 games ahead of the Yankees. They had won a ridiculous 20 of 22 games and ended a stretch of 27 games, 22-5. They started the stretch, 48-38, and ended it 70-43. It had been three straight starts, and Tim Wakefield hadn't fully emerged from his funk. He wasn't mauled in a 6-4 loss, in the first game back at Fenway against Seattle on August 29th. He went six-plus innings, allowing eight hits and five runs. But over his last three starts, his ERA was 9.56. Overall, it was up to 2.51, which still led the American League but was just a shade better than Randy Johnson's 2.60. The Sox finished August by losing two of three to the Mariners.
Erik Hanson won "Pitcher of the Month" honors for August, going 5-0 with a 5.01 ERA. On September 1st, the Sox rolled to an 11-3 victory over the Angels at Fenway, scoring three times in the fifth and adding two more runs in the seventh. Roger Clemens pitched well for the seventh consecutive start. He had compiled a 2.19 ERA in his previous six. In 7 2/3 innings, he threw 128 pitches, allowing 10 hits and three runs (two earned) while striking out nine and walking two. The Sox held off the Angels on September 2nd, finishing with a 5 to 4 win. Tim Wakefield returned to his dominant form, pitching eight innings of four-hit ball in an 8-1 victory over the California Angels on September 3rd. He allowed one run, walked three and struck out seven, improved to 15-3, and had his ERA dip to 2.44. He was 8-1 with a 1.73 ERA at Fenway and 2-0 in three games against the Angels, who ended their regular-season series with the Sox 3-11.
A battle royal of Sox and Athletics at Fenway Park on September 5th seemed fated to end one way, on a José Canseco walk-off home run. Fortunately for the Red Sox, Canseco (3 RBIs) was wearing their uniform now, so his three-run blast in the 14th inning produced a 7-4 victory for the Sox instead of Oakland. John Valentin continued to wield a hot bat with an additional homer in the sixth and a double. Mo Vaughn knocked out his 33rd of the season in the sixth inning also. Roger Clemens' dominant performance was far and away the highlight of an 8-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics the next night, on September 6th, at Fenway. The big righthander struck out at least ten batters for the 60th time in his major league career. Then over three days and nights in the Bronx, the second-place Yankees pummelled the first-place Red Sox. Playing under a "1918" banner hanging from the upper deck facade, Kevin Kennedy's team finished their Lost Weekend with three straight losses to the hated Pinstripes. It marked the first time the Sox were swept this season. Two of the embarrassing losses were nationally televised. Over the course of five days, five games were chopped off the Red Sox' lead. So bad were the Sox performing, they lost the next two games to Baltimore but still had a 10 1/2 game advantage over New York. In the final game in Baltimore on September 13th, Tim Wakefield proved to be the stopper when he allowed only two hits over 8 1/3 innings. Rookie outfielder Dwayne Hosey collected four of the Sox's seven hits, including his first major league home run, in a 2-0 victory that ended a five-game losing streak. Wakefield was in control allowing three walks and one hit batter, as his knuckleball bedeviled the Orioles. With Erik Hanson in vintage form and Mo Vaughn supporting him with a three-run homer in the eighth, the Sox downed the Cleveland Indians, 6-3, on September 15th at Jacobs Field. Hanson (14-5) allowed five hits and one run with five strikeouts and one walk in eight innings. Vaughn did the most significant damage against Indians reliever Alan Embree, triggering a five-run eighth. The Sox and Indians split their four game set when the Sox won the finale on September 17th, 9 to 6. With the score tied going into the eighth inning, the Sox put two runs across when Matt Stairs doubled home John Valentin. They added another in the ninth on a single by Carlos Rodriguez that scored José Canseco. The team had looked flat on a 3-7 road trip, but then the Red Sox again showed no edge to their game, and the dancing knuckleball of Tim Wakefield was flat on September 18th. The Milwaukee Brewers hit it well enough to ring up a 6-1 victory over the Sox in the first game back at Fenway. But the Sox took the next two games. On September 19th the Brewers, Jeff Suppan faced seven batters and struck out five of them, winning 5 to 3. Finally, on September 20th, after Rick Aguilera struck out Dave Nilsson with one of his patented forkballs for the final out, the 1995 American League East champion Boston Red Sox stormed out of the dugout and staged a love-in on the mound witnessed by 32,563 delirious fans at Fenway Park, who had just watched the division-clinching 3-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. On September 23rd, Roger Clemens shut out the Blue Jays, 5 to 0. And on September 28th beat the Brewers for his tenth win. Even though they made it hard on themselves at the end, the Red Sox had romped to a division title. Every player brought in by Duquette seemed to play like an All-Star and fans loved him. Fifty three different players wore a Red Sox uniform in 1995 and most helped win at least one game. The Sox finished with a record of 86-58, seven games ahead of the Yankees, who won the first ever wild-card.
The Red Sox drew the central division winner, the Cleveland Indians in the first round. In Game #1, Roger Clemens lasted seven innings, trailing 3-2. The Sox tied the score and went ahead in the 11th inning, but on a team laden with power hitters, it was backup catcher Tony Pena, who hit a two-out home run off Zane Smith in the 13th inning to give the Indians a 5-4 victory over the Red Sox in the first game of their divisional series this morning at Jacobs Field. Orel Hershiser and three relievers shackled the Red Sox, 4-0, in Game #2. Meanwhile, the Sox set an all-time record for postseason futility with its 12th straight playoff loss. They again got nothing out of their bruisers, Mo Vaughn and José Canseco. Hershiser allowed only three hits before leaving after 7 1/3 innings and squirmed out of a bases-loaded jam in the second which seemed to set the tone of the game. The teams returned to Boston for Game #3 but it didn't help the Red Sox. Tim Wakefield, who had lost his three final regular-season starts, got knocked around by the Indians with five runs in the sixth inning. The Indians went on to win, 8-2, and sweep the Sox out of the playoffs. The playoff loss exposed the Red Sox lineup. Their patchwork offense came undone as players like Lee Tinsley, Mike Greenwell and Dwayne Hosey didn't match up with the likes of Kenny Lofton, Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez. The Indians just pitched around Mo Vaughan and José Canseco, as both players went a combined 0 for 27 in the series, stranding 17 runners and striking out nine times. The tagline of the season became, not the club's quite remarkable achievement in winning the AL East, but their 0-13 record in the postseason since game five of the 1986 World Series. Roger Clemens started the season on the DL. He won his first game when he returned, but in his next 11 starts won only three games. He then turned it on by winning five straight with a 1.95 ERA and a 10-5 record. Tim Wakefield had one of his best years with the Red Sox. He finished the season with a 2.98 earned run average and won his first four starts – two of them complete games, allowing just two earned runs over 34 innings. He placed third in voting for the "Cy Young Award" voting and was 16-8, leading the team in victories. Rheal Cormier pitched very well for the Red Sox out of the pen. When pressed back into a starting role in August, Cormier responded with three victories in four starts as the Sox went on a 20-2 run. Between April 26th and May 20th, Jeff Pierce managed an ERA of 2.57, more than two runs better than the league average. However, in his next two games, he allowed ten of thirteen batters to reach base and surrendered seven earned runs in only one inning pitched. Sox manager Kevin Kennedy was "particularly peeved" about Pierce's outing on May 24th against the Seattle Mariners in which Pierce allowed a three-run double. After the game, Kennedy publicly criticized Pierce's performance, telling reporters that his "grandmother could have hit that" pitch. He would not get another chance to pitch in the majors. Mo Vaughn batted .300, smacked 39 home runs, and drove in a league-leading 126 runs. It was the only time in his career that he’d top the league in a major category. He won a controversial American League MVP award vote. In a city marred by a racist past, Vaughn had clearly become the face of the franchise and received the "Bart Giamatti Award" for Community Service. José Canseco once again battled injuries, missing 50 games during the first half of the year. However, from July 1st until the end of the season, he had a .387 batting average (122-for-315) with 21 home runs and 66 RBIs in 79 games. From August 27th to September 15th he had the longest hitting streak of his career, hitting safely in 17 games (he had a hit in 24 of his last 28 games of the year). At the end of the regular season, he had 24 home runs with a .306 batting average. Tim Naehring became the team’s full-time third baseman and batted .307 with 27 doubles, 10 homers, and 57 RBIs. He was known for being a team player, one of many reasons he was popular in Boston. He was also known for signing autographs and appearing at local events, and few players were more charitable: the BoSox Club, the Red Sox’ official fan club, named him “Man of the Year” for his willingness to help worthy causes. Luis Alicea hit .270 and performed well in the ALDS. He hit .600 (6-for-10) with a double and home run. Catcher Mike Macfarlane batted .225 overall and .300 against lefties with eight home runs. Against right-handers, he hit seven home runs but had a much poorer .201 average. He led the league with 26 passed balls, although 13 of them were due to trying to catch Tim Wakefield’s knuckleballs. He threw out 35 percent of runners trying to steal and had a .993 fielding percentage. Lee Tinsley had a career-best 15-game hitting streak from June 10–25, finishing the campaign with a .284 average in 100 games. Troy O'Leary played in 112 games, finished with a .308 batting average in his first season, and was named the Red Sox Rookie of the Year After spending time in extended spring training in Florida, Willie McGee reported to Pawtucket. In five games, he piled up ten hits in 21 at-bats. When Mike Greenwell was placed on the disabled list, McGee took his place on the roster. He started 42 games during the remainder of the season and hit .285.
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