On Friday, August 23, the Red Sox made a statement. It made all teams in major league baseball take notice-they would be a tough team to contend with in the postseason. More on that later.
Tom Seaver was proving far more valuable than even the Sox front office had hoped for. He began the week by putting down the Twins 3-1. The future Hall of Famer hurled 8 2/3 innings, surrendered only 3 hits and fanned 7 before giving way to Bob Stanley for the final out. Rich Gedman broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the ninth with his 12th homer, a two-run job off future Soxer Frank Viola. Viola went all the way in a losing effort, surrendering 8 hits and fanning 7
Minnesota rallied the next night with a 5-1 win over the fading Al Nipper, who saw his record fall to 8-8 with a 4.95 ERA. The Twins power told the story, as tremendous homers by Kirby Puckett, and Kent Hrbek and another by Gary Gaetti made a winner out of Mark Portugal, who went in with a 3-8 record. Boston had 9 hits, including 3 by Dwight Evans, but could not score until the eighth.
As often happened in his Sox career, the Rocket proved a stopper, throwing his third two-hitter of the year on getaway day in a 9-1 romp over the Twins. “It was like old timers night with Clemens,” wrote the late Larry Whiteside, “an outing when he was a power pitcher de-luxe and the Sox hitters decided to take no prisoners.” The Townies had 14 hits off four Twin hurlers, including homers by Evans, Jim Rice, and Don Baylor. Roger was now one win away from being Boston’s first 20-game winner since Dennis Eckersley in 1978.
The statement made by the Sox came the next night Boston decimated the fading Indians to the tune of 24-5. They jumped to a 6-1 lead after five, but were just getting started. By the time the sixth ended, it was 18-1. Eleven of the tallies were scored after two were out, a team record. Seventeen men came to the plate; at one point, 11 straight reached base, climaxed by Tony Armas’ grand slam. The victims were Cleveland hurlrers Dickie Noles, Jose Roman and Brian Oelkers, who would end up surrendering 11 hits and 9 runs in 2 1/3 innings. The Sox knocked 24 hits, including 5 by Bill Buckner, 4 by newcomer Spike Owen, and 3 each from Rice, Evans, Armas and Marty Barrett. Oil Can was the beneficiary, hurling 8 innings to better his mark to 12-9. The 24 runs were tops in the AL in 1986. “The Cleveland Stadium scoreboard (Jacobs field had not yet been built) lights hadn’t seen these kinds of numbers since Lou Groza stopped kicking,” remarked Dan Shaughnessy.
The momentum carried over to the next day, as Bruce Hurst and Calvin Schiraldi combined for a 6-3 win .The Bosox rallied from a 3-2 deficit with 4 runs over the last three frames. The winning hit was a two-run single by Buckner of Ken Schrom, who had been one of the Indians’ all-star selections. Schiraldi picked up his sixth save.
Though they were in sixth place, Cleveland was able to rally in the final game for a 5-4 win. Boston had come back from a 4-1 deficit with two in the eighth of knucleballer Tom Candiotti and tied it in the ninth on a Wade Boggs sac fly. However, shades of the 1978 Boston Massacre appeared in the bottom half as a popup dropped between Evans, Buckner, and Barrett to set up the winning hit, a single by Andre Thornton off Bob Stanley. One of the bright spots was 2 1/3 hitless relief innings by Sammy Stewart. Barrett had 3 hits in a losing cause.
Boston now led the Yankees by 6 games. The Mets, meanwhile, led by 20 over the Phillies. The combination of Ron Darling, Bob Ojeda, Doc Gooden, Sid Fernandez and reliever Roger McDowell had a combined mark of 64-23. It is interesting to note
the Pawtucket stats in late August, as most teams were thinking about late season callups. LaSchelle Tarver led the league at .334, while Mike Greenwell was seventh with a .300 mark. First baseman Pat Dodson led the IL with 24 homers and 95 rbi’s. Only Greenwell would have a strong major league career. Dodson would play parts of three seasons in Boston and finish with a lifetime .202 average, hit 4 homers and drive in 10. Tarver would play in 13 games for the Sox in his only major league season and bat .120.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
