|
THE ALL STARS
& PEDRO'S HISTORIC YEAR
Trot Nixon and Brian Daubach
lead the Sox in a come back
June 1, 1999
...
What started out as a triumphant return by pitcher Bret Saberhagen
wound up as a celebration 5-4 victory, featuring rookies Trot Nixon
and Brian Daubach, who tied and won the game with homers in the
seventh and eighth innings. The winning pitcher was John Wasdin, who
would you believe has a 5-0 record.
Luck? This
team has had a ton of it lately. Take the ninth inning, when the Tigers put a
man on first base with two outs and had fleet outfielder Karim Garcia pinch run
for Bill Haselman. When the next batter, Brad Ausmus, hit a double into the gap,
Garcia took off like a deer. But he rounded second like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,
stumbling across the bag. By the time he got up, he could get only as far as
third. Derek Lowe then struck out Damion Easley to end the game.
Saberhagen
used up his pitch limit at 77 and had to be relieved after five innings, but he
left with a 3-2 lead, built in part on homers by Troy O'Leary (No. 10) and Jason
Varitek. Jim Corsi held the fort until he gave up a two-out single to Luis
Polonia in the seventh. Wasdin came in and Ausmus socked his first pitch into
the screen for a two-run homer and a 4-3 lead.
With two out
in the bottom of the seventh, Nixon hit a fastball into the Red Sox bullpen, his
first home run at Fenway Park. Daubach couldn't wait for his turn and teed off
against reliever Doug Brocail in the eighth. Not bad for a couple of kids.
While the
frantic finish pleased most of the 26,457 in attendance, it was the return of
Saberhagen that seemed to delight the Red Sox most. Pitching coach Joe Kerrigan
pointed out that the righty threw 13 first-strike pitches (he faced 21 batters).
His velocity was in the low 90s, and through three innings he had thrown just 38
pitches. But he needed 27 in the fourth inning, and there was no way the Sox
were going to let him go over 80 pitches after five innings.
The
first-place Red Sox have a five-game winning streak, matching their season's
best so far. They aren't supposed to be a power- hitting team, but they belted
four homers, getting contributions up and down the lineup. |
