Strong pitching efforts by Tom Seaver and Bruce Hurst plus a return to powerful hitting sparked the Bosox to their best stretch in weeks. The week began with a tough 1-0 loss to the White Sox as a complete game 4-hitter by Roger Clemens was wasted. The visitors’ only run was unearned, as throwing errors by Wade Boggs and Roger himself led to the game’s only run. Interestingly, the bunt that led to Clemens’ miscue was by present Chicago skipper Ozzie Guillen. On the other side, Jose DeLeon won his second straight after being obtained from Pittsburgh, allowing just 2 hits in seven innings.
The Chisox then spoiled Oil Can’s return with a 3-1 triumph. Boyd, who said very little about his absence and hospitalization, gave a good effort, allowing 8 hits and 3 runs in 7 2/3 innings. Ex-Red Sox Carlton Fisk knocked a two-run homer in the fifth and Harold Baines did the same in the eighth. Chicago’s Richard Dotson was the winner in a strong three-hit performance over 7 frames.
The Red Sox were definitely in a slump-they had lost 5 of 7 and 11 of 15 and scored 1 run in the last 19 innings, though they still led the AL East by a small margin. An article by the Globe’s Sean Sullivan pointed out that the Sox were last in the AL in fielding percentage with 101 errors in 104 games. Fielding, of course, would continue to be a problem.
The sudden change in Boston fortunes was started by the reliable Hurst, as the lefty hurled a three-hit shutout and the bats awoke for a 9-0 drubbing of Chicago. Bruce did not walk a batter, while the Bosox put this one away with 4 in the first and 3 in the second. Boggs, replacing Marty Barrett as leadoff hitter, began it with a walk, and Barrett followed with a homer as starter Floyd Bannister failed to retire a batter. In the second, Bill Buckner’s base-clearing double brought it to 7-0. The Sox lineup exploded for 15 hits,including 3 each from Boggs and Buckner.
Seaver then gave his best effort yet with Boston, cooling off a hot Tiger team in Detroit with a complete-game 6-1 victory. Tom Terrific, showing some of his Hall of Fame form, surrendered 5 hits, walked 1 and fanned 9. “On this midsummer Motown night, “
wrote Dan Shaughnessy, “he was the same guy who went 25-7 with the 1969 Miracle Mets.” The Sox again jumped to an early lead, plating 4 in the second on only one hit and helped by some poor fielding. Boggs’ homer in the fourth made it 4-0, as Boston pounded 11 hits off the Tigers’ Randy O’Neal and Bill Dawley.
The bats had definitely appeared again. Apparently helped by his return to the leadoff spot, Boggs contributed 4 safeties the next night as the Sox took an 8-7 slugfest. Boston gave Al Nipper a 6-1 lead after six, sparked by homers from Dwight Evans and Rich Gedman, but the righty couldn’t hold it. Nipper left ahead 6-3, but Joe Sambito was hit hard in relief. The winning rbi came on a Jim Rice sac fly in the eighth,, as Calvin Schiraldi, quickly becoming what we now call a closer, pitched 1 1/3 innings for the save.
Gedman, breaking out of a long slump, contributed a pinch-hit grand slam the following day in a 9-6 victory. The Sox gave Clemens a 4-0 lead in the fourth with homers by Rice and Don Baylor, but the Bengals rallied with 2 off Roger in the fifth. The Rocket left with a 4-2 advantage in the seventh, but Tim Lollar again was no help, surrendering a slam to Darrell Evans for a 6-4 Tiger lead. It didn’t stay that way long, however, as old friend Bill Campbell gave up a homer to Baylor. Willie Hernandez came in, and, three batters later, Gedman did his thing. Strangely, Rich had taken a day off with back pain and produced his grand slam as a pinch hitter for backup Marc Sullivan.
The Sox now had a four-game win streak, their best stretch in a long time. In three days, their lead had gone from 2 1/2 to 6 games, as Detroit fell 7 1/2 behind. “If they can’t be deflated after this one, ” Barrett remarked, “they will never be.”
At week’s end , Boggs’ mark was back up to .354, continuing to lead the majors; Rice was fourth in the AL at .330. Clemens was back on top with a 17-4 mark. Despite a .238 average, Baylor had 21 homers and 68 rbi’s to lead the team. After 9 appearances, Schiraldi had an excellent 0.46 ERA.
Bobby Ojeda, who topped the quartet of Met pitchers at the top of the NL list at 12-3, would go on to finish 18-5 to lead the league in winning percentage. Before being dealt to New York, Ojeda had had six up-and-down years with the Sox. 1986 would be far the best in his 14-year career.
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