After the Magic Ride ended with a thump in Detroit (4 losses in 5 games), the Sox were playing rather strange baseball. While setting an AL record with 24 straight wins at home, they were almost futile away from Fenway, dropping 16 of 24.
The Townies had ripped through the Brewers' pitching earlier, but a visit to Milwaukee in early August was distressing. Winning only once in a four-game series, they fell by scores of 3-2, 8-3, and 4-0. The Brew Crew paraded a rather mediocre group of pitchers, including present Sox pitching coach Juan Nieves, but Boston was outscored 16-10.
The series began with a rare defeat of Roger Clemens, who always owned the Brewers. Leading 2-0 in the opener of a twinbill, the Rocket surrendered a run in the fifth, another in the eighth to tie it, and a walkoff homer in the ninth to phenom Joey Meyer.. Nieves allowed only 6 hits and walked none in 8 1/3frames, but the win went to reliever Bob Crim. Boston battled back to win the nightcap 5-1 with "comeback kid" Bob Stanley hurling 3 2/3 shutout relief innings. The Townies were backed by 3 hits from Mike Greenwell and a Rich Gedman homer. Milwaukee recovered, however, to blast Mike Smithson, who couldn't hold a 3-0 lead. Behind two homers from Paul Molitor, the home squad seized the lead with a four-run fourth featuring a costly throwing error by Todd Benzinger. Despite surrendering 11 hits, Ted Higuera picked up his eighth win. The final game saw Dan August, who was 13-7 as a rookie but soon disappeared, throw a 6-hit shutout, walking only one.
Boston had now fallen 4 1/2 games behind the Tigers, but were coming home for another first-place battle. They immediately changed into their Superman capes, shocking Detroit with two one-sided wins, thus breaking the league mark with 23 straight home victories. They first smashed away at Doyle Alexander with a six-run third on the way to a 9-4 triumph. Dewey Evans had two doubles and a single and Jim Rice poled a now-rare homer. Bruce Hurst ran his mark to 13-4, while Stanley's rebirth continued with three hitless frames.
The next contest was 4-4 entering the bottom of the sixth, when Sox bats again exploded in all directions. 3 in the bottom half, 2 more in the seventh, and 7 in the eighth made the final 16-4. Evans, breaking out of a slump with a vengeance, had two homers and a bases-loaded triple for 7 rbi's and a career-high 12 total bases. Greenwell also had 4 hits to lead a 19-hit attack. The bullpen continued strong, with Tom Bolton nothching three one-hit innings in relief of Mike Boddicker.
Detroit did get some revenge in game 3 by knocking out a slumping Clemens early and shooting out to a 14-2 advantage after three (18-6 final). The home streak was over at 24, but the Sox were clearly still in the race, trailing by 3 1/2 as the Bengals left town.
With seven weeks to play, a Dan Shaughnessy piece chronicled 10 previous Sox "races" from 1967 to 1988, including the Bucky Dent year of 78. The results were three division or league titles and seven misses (remember-no wild cards yet). But considering their first-half performance, even the presence of a race was heartening to Sox fans. Despite a recent slip, the team was hitting again, led by Greenwell (.337) and Wade Boggs ( a league-leading .357). And in Clemens, Boddicker, and Hurst, they had three reliable starters. Things were not perfect, but being in Fenway was fun again.
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