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The Sox don't quit and win in the 10th June 13, 1996 ... It was just another ho-hum night at Fenway. Yes, your typical 4-hour 26-minute extra-inning game, won in the bottom of the 10th by an Alex Delgado single, an obscure third-string catcher without a major league RBI on his resume singling off Texas reliever Dennis Cook on a 1-2 slider to give the Red Sox an 8-7 win after they'd twice rallied on their last chance at bat. That's exactly what happened. Troy O'Leary homered in the bottom of the eighth, making it 4-4, taking starter Roger Clemens off the hook and creating the first of three ties in the last three innings. Then, after John Valentin's homer in the bottom of the 10th erased a 7-6 Texas lead, Delgado struck. The Sox, who might be inching toward respectability after winning two of three games in Chicago and now beating the Rangers in the opener of a four-game series, rescued themselves repeatedly. Trailing, 6-4, heading into the bottom of the ninth after Mike Stanton and Rich Garces allowed an RBI single by Rusty Greer and an RBI double by Mickey Tettleton, respectively, in the top of the inning, they scored twice with two outs to tie it. Mike Stanley and Reggie Jefferson did the honors with back-to-back run-scoring doubles off Henneman. Then, after Texas took the lead in the top of the 10th when Mo Vaughn had trouble handling Ivan Rodriguez' one-out, bases-loaded grounder, Boston again rallied. After Valentin's 405-foot bomb, the Sox, now 5-10 in extra-inning games, continued to rally as Vaughn walked and advanced to second on a Jose Canseco ground out. After pinch hitter Bill Haselman was walked intentionally, Delgado sent the winning hit into left. For the night, the Sox overcame five deficits, four from the fifth inning on. This was basically two games in one. There was another frustrating no-decision for Clemens, who threw 156 pitches. He left after eight innings with the score 4-4. Then Boston's bullpen was shaky. Stanton was charged with both runs in the ninth, when the Rangers also had two runners thrown out at the plate, and Garces had a better chance of finding a ham on rye in a haystack than he did the strike zone in the 10th. He walked Damon Buford and allowed a bunt single to Kurt Stillwell, who had three hits and two RBIs hours after being activated. After Kevin Elster's grounder moved the runners into scoring position, Heathcliff Slocumb was summoned. Slocumb got Rodriguez to ground to Vaughn. The first baseman boxed it around before getting an out at first as the go-ahead run scored. But it all ended well for the Sox, who also got a home run from Canseco (No. 19) and four hits from Jeff Frye as they made their great escape. |
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