Roger Clemens

On a chilly April night, Clemens took the hill at Fenway Park on six days’ rest, thanks to a rainout and an offday. In the first inning, he faced Spike Owen, Phil Bradley, and Ken Phelps. He retired them on 21 pitches, striking out the side, despite going to a full count on all three men. All three went down swinging. The first man to hit a ball fair was Gorman Thomas, who led off the second, and lined to left. Then Jim Presley struck out, and Clemens caught Ivan Calderon looking. In the third, the M’s could almost believe they were figuring Clemens out, as only Dave Henderson struck out, and leading off the fourth inning, Owen, facing Clemens for the second time on the day, singled, breaking up the possibility of a perfect game or a no-hitter.

But not the masterpiece. Clemens came back to strike out Bradley, Phelps, and Thomas. Thomas almost popped out, but first baseman Don Baylor dropped the ball, allowing Clemens to finish the batter off. Patrons at Fenway Park were already counting K’s, and when Baylor fumbled the foul, there was an approving murmur because attentive fans realized this offered Clemens another chance for a strikeout. When he caught Thomas looking at a 3-and-2 pitch, The Rocket began a string of eight strikeouts in a row, knocking down some records along the way. At seven, Clemens surpassed Buck O’Brien and Ray Culp, two Red Sox pitchers who shared the team record for consecutive K’s at six. When he got veteran catcher Steve Yeager on a 2-and-2 curveball, he tied Nolan Ryan and Ron Davis as the only American Leaguers to fan eight in a row. Fans began to put up red K signs on the back wall of the bleachers. “Where’d they come from?” Nipper asked in the next day’s Globe. “Did those guys run out and get the cardboard and paint? Suddenly they were there.”

Spike Owen, though, broke the string, ending the sixth with a fly to center – and some fans had been yelling, “Drop it!” wanting Roger to retire the side on a strikeout. Red Sox manager John McNamara checked with his ace to see how he was feeling. “I’ve been doing that every game this year, making sure his arm feels good,” McNamara told the Globe. Clemens himself was fine, and he knew he was pitching as well as he ever had.

Boston’s offense, meanwhile, had yet to come to life, and the game stood at 0-0. Clemens went out to pitch the seventh and struck out Bradley and Phelps again. Clemens then had Gorman Thomas down 1-and-2, and the crowd screaming for another K. But Thomas was looking for something in the strike zone, and he connected for a home run into the first row in the deep center-field bleachers. The Mariners had broken the scoreless tie and taken the lead. Clemens retired Presley on a grounder to first, but he was in a 1-0 hole, despite his mastery. McNamara checked with him again. This time Clemens admitted his legs were cramping a bit, but his arm was fine. McNamara had no intention of pulling his pitcher, who already had 16 strikeouts to his credit.

The Red Sox finally got to Mariners starter Mike Moore in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs, Steve Lyons singled and Glenn Hoffman walked. Dwight Evans promptly cashed them both in with a three-run shot. Now Clemens had a 3-1 lead, and he went out for the eighth still throwing heat, but unaware of the record numbers he was approaching. Two more men struck out in the eighth, bringing Clemens’s total to 18. Clemens didn’t know exactly how many men he had set down, only that it had been quite a few.

As he took the mound for the ninth inning, Nipper decided to tell him about the possibility that another record might fall. “Nipper told him he needed one to tie and two to set the record,” reported Leigh Montville in the Globe. In Nipper’s words, “Wouldn’t it be a shame if a guy had a chance for something like that and didn’t try for it? I wanted him to know. He’s not the type of guy who would be affected by knowing.”

Clemens was unfazed by the knowledge. He faced Spike Owen once more to lead off the inning. Could Owen make contact again? No, he went down swinging, and the record of 19 men in a nine-inning game was tied. Now Bradley, who already had three strikeouts, came up, and went down looking. It was strikeout number 20. Fenway’s message board flashed the news that the single-game strikeout record had been broken. Wade Boggs came over from third base to shake Clemens’s hand for breaking the record. But the game was not quite over. Ken Phelps’ groundout was almost an afterthought, as in striking out 20 men Clemens had accomplished something that had never been done in 111 years of major-league baseball.

“When he has that kind of stuff, it’s really not difficult to call the game,” his catcher, Rich Gedman, told reporters after the game. “He just threw the ball to spots where they couldn’t hit it.” It took him 138 pitches (97 strikes) to finish the feat. Seattle put only 10 balls in play, only two of them pulled, as Clemens hit 97 on the radar gun repeatedly and did not go to a three-ball count on even one batter after the fourth inning.

“Watching the Mariners try to hit Clemens was like watching a stack of waste paper diving into a shredder,” wrote Dan Shaughnessy in the Globe. Clemens’s domination was, in some ways, superior to a no-hitter, or even a perfect game, because the record was singularly his. “If setting the major-league record for strikeouts in a game is any measure of a career,” wrote the Associated Press, “[then] Roger Clemens is heading for the Hall of Fame.” In fact, the Hall received Clemens’s spikes, cap, and other mementos of the game.

Clemens’s domination would continue all year, and he would finish the season at 24-4 and win both the Cy Young Award and the American League MVP Award, while helping Boston reach the World Series for the first time since 1975.

Extra Innings

Rich Gedman, by virtue of catching all 20 strikeouts in the game, broke an American League record and tied a major-league record with 20 putouts by a catcher in a nine-inning game. Jerry Grote had previously been credited with 20 on April 22, 1970, while catching for the Mets, on the day when Tom Seaver struck out 19 Padres, including the final 10 in a row. Grote had also caught a foul pop for an out. The record would later be equaled by Dan Wilson on August 8, 1997, in the AL, and Sandy Martinez May 6, 1998, in the NL. Gedman would still hold the record for most putouts by a catcher on two consecutive days, though, with 36 over April 29 and 30, 1986.

A little more than 10 years later, Clemens later had another 20-K game, against the Tigers in Detroit on September 18, 1996. In 1998 Kerry Wood of the Chicago Cubs struck out 20 Astros on May 6.

The record for the most strikeouts in a big-league game belongs to Tom Cheney of the Washington Senators. He struck out 21 opponents, though it took him 16 innings to do so in the September 12, 1962, game against the Orioles. On May 8, 2001, Arizona’s Randy Johnson struck out 20 Reds in nine innings; he was relieved after nine.

This article appeared in “The 1986 Boston Red Sox: There Was More Than Game Six” (SABR, 2016), edited by Leslie Heaphy and Bill Nowlin. Read more game stories from the book at the SABR Games Project by clicking here. An earlier version of this article was published in “The 50 Greatest Red Sox Games” (Riverdale Avenue Books, 2013), by Cecilia Tan and Bill Nowlin, and appears here by permission.

On Monday night, May 19, 1986, the Boston Red Sox hosted the Minnesota Twins at Fenway Park. The first-place Red Sox had defeated the Texas Rangers on Sunday in a stunning 10-inning finish. As Yogi Berra once said, it was déjà vu all over again on Monday, as Boston again rallied and won in walk-off fashion, beating the Twins 8-7.

The previous day, Boston had entered the bottom of the ninth trailing the Rangers 3-2. Leadoff doubles by Marty Barrett and Wade Boggs tied the score. In the top of the 10th the Rangers’ Pete O’Brien scored on a walk, a single by Tom Paciorek, and an error by Red Sox catcher Rich Gedman to give Texas the lead again. Boston then created one of the more bizarre walk-offs in Boston history. With one out, Steve Lyons singled to center field. With Barrett batting, Rangers hurler Greg Harris appeared to have Lyons picked off but threw wild and Lyons scampered to second base. Barrett blooped a flare down the right-field line and the Rangers’ George Wright dove to make a sensational catch. He gloved the liner, but the “ball came loose when Wright’s glove hit the ground — one account said Wright trapped the ball1 — and then the fun started.” Lyons evidently thought the catch was going to be made, so he returned to second base and slid back into the bag just as Barrett came in standing up from the first base side. “I thought he caught the ball, so I decided to get my butt back to second. I knew I’d never see the field again if I got doubled off. The next thing I know, Marty was standing there, and he yelled, ‘What are you doing here?’ So I headed back to third because all of us can’t be at second.”2 Right fielder Wright scooped up the ball and ran toward the infield. As Lyons broke for third, Wright threw on the run, but the ball skipped past both third-baseman Steve Buechele and the pitcher, Harris, who was backing up the play. It went into the Texas dugout and both Lyons and Barrett were awarded two bases, giving Boston two runs and a walk-off 5-4 victory.

On Monday night, Boston took on the sixth-place Twins. Before a crowd of 18,428, Boston and Minnesota gave the fans their money’s worth. John Butcher took the mound for the Twins, facing Boston’s Mike Brown. Neither would get the decision. Brown gave up doubles to Roy Smalley and Kent Hrbek and a single to Mark Salas in the first inning. Boston answered in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run to right-center by Bill Buckner, cutting the Twins lead to 2-1. With one out in the bottom of the second, Boston’s Don Baylor walked and moved to third on a double by Mike Stenhouse. Rey Quinones singled, driving in Baylor, and Steve Lyons followed with a line-drive double, scoring both Stenhouse and Quinones, and Boston had a 4-2 advantage.

In the first four innings, Boston batters put together seven hits in scoring four runs, but they also hit into four double plays3 and had a runner thrown out at second to end an inning.

Kirby Puckett doubled and Hrbek and Tom Brunansky hit back-to-back homers off Brown in the top of the fifth, making it 5-4 in favor of the Twins. After Mark Salas singled, Boston manager John McNamara pulled Brown and brought in left-hander Tim Lollar. Lollar allowed a single to Gary Gaetti and a double to Mickey Hatcher that plated Salas and Gaetti, and Minnesota had captured a 7-4 lead by batting around in the inning. Boston got a run on a walk and two singles in the bottom of the fifth, but then the innings ticked by and Minnesota still clung to its 7-5 lead.

Until the bottom of the eighth. Twins reliever Frank Pastore allowed a one-out single to Jim Rice. Rice moved to third on a single by Gedman. Don Baylor grounded to third, but it was deep enough for Rice to come home. At the end of eight innings, it was Minnesota 7, Boston 6.

One run down, Boston came to bat in the bottom of the ninth against closer Ron Davis. Quinones and Lyons quickly made two outs for the Red Sox. Barrett drew a walk on a 3-and-1 pitch. Boggs kept the inning alive with a double off the left-field wall, sending Barrett to third. Davis intentionally walked Bill Buckner, bringing Rice to the plate. Rice fouled off five 1-and-2 pitches and finally looked at ball four on the 11th pitch of the at-bat, drawing an RBI walk as Barrett scored the tying run.4 Marc Sullivan, the backup catcher, who had come in after Gedman was lifted for a pinch-runner in the eighth, now faced Davis. Sullivan watched the first pitch cross the plate for strike one. The second pitch struck his left hip, forcing Boggs in with the winning run. The Red Sox had gained their second straight walk-off win. They extended their Eastern Division lead over the idle New York Yankees to one game. Boston had scored two runs on a double, three walks, and a hit batter, all with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

The Twins’ first four batters — Puckett, Smalley, Hrbek, and Brunansky — provided much of Minnesota’s power, combining for four doubles, two home runs, and a single. Seven of the Twins’ first 10 hits went for extra bases. Boston starter Mike Brown lasted 4⅓ innings and yielded six earned runs. Joe Sambito picked up the win for Boston, pitching a three-up, three-down top of the ninth. It was his first major-league victory since 1981.5 Sullivan was playing in only his fifth game of the season. (He was plunked by a Twins pitcher the next day, too.)

The Red Sox went on to build a six-game winning streak, and they won 10 of 11 from May 17 to May 28, with the only loss coming in a payback walk-off defeat to the Rangers in Texas on May 24.

This article appeared in “The 1986 Boston Red Sox: There Was More Than Game Six” (SABR, 2016), edited by Leslie Heaphy and Bill Nowlin. Read more game stories from the book at the SABR Games Project by clicking here.

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Lisa Tuite of the Boston Globe for her assistance with obtaining sources.

Sources

Associated Press. “Red Sox Win in 9th on Pass, Hit Batter,” in New York Times, May 20, 1986.

Dupont, Kevin Paul. “Sox Leave Twins on Short End, 8-7; Ninth-Inning Rally Beats Minnesota HRs,” Boston Globe, May 20, 1986.

Shaughnessy, Dan. “Red Sox Get Second Wind; Rangers Miss Mark in 10th,” Boston Globe, May 19, 1986.

“May 18, 1986 Texas Rangers at Boston Red Sox Play By Play and Box Score,” http://baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS198605180.shtml.

“May 19, 1986 Minnesota Twins at Boston Red Sox Play By Play and Box Score,” http://baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS198605190.shtml.

“Retrosheet Boxscore: Boston Red Sox 8, Minnesota Twins 7,” http://retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1986/B05190BOS1986.htm.

“Weird, wild walkoffs,” http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1610896.

Notes

1 “Weird, wild walkoffs,” http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1610896.

2 Dan Shaughnessy, “Red Sox Get Second Wind; Rangers Miss Mark in 10th,” Boston Globe, May 19, 1986.

3 Kevin Paul Dupont, “Sox Leave Twins on Short End, 8-7; Ninth-Inning Rally Beats Minnesota HRs,” Boston Globe, May 20, 1986.

4 The Globe reported Rice fouling off four pitches; the Associated Press reported five.

5 Associated Press, “Red Sox Win in 9th on Pass, Hit Batter,” New York Times, May 20, 1986.

Wade Boggs

Boston’s 27-year-old third baseman slapped four singles and a double in six trips to the plate.  The defending American League batting champion, Boggs reached on a bunt single in Boston’s six-run first, singled in the second, doubled in the third, singled in the fifth, and reached on an error in the seventh.

Boggs’ near-perfect performance helped Boston starter Roger Clemens boost his season record to 7-0 despite an imperfect performance. The Rocket, making his eighth start of the year, surrendered nine hits over seven innings and matched his 1986 season highs by giving up two home runs and five runs. He struck out just four, though he did not walk a hitter in coasting to the win. 

“It was a tough battle for me tonight,” said Clemens. “With the guys hitting like they did tonight, you can’t complain.”1

Clemens retired the Twins in the top of the first despite Kent Hrbek’s two-out double, and then watched the Red Sox build a cushion.

Marty Barrett led off the Boston first with a ringing double and moved to third on Boggs’ first hit of the game, a bunt single down the first-base line. Dave Stapleton drew a walk from Twins starter Frank Viola, and all three moved up on a Jim Rice single, with Barrett scoring the first run of the game. Don Baylor doubled to chase in Boggs and Stapleton and Tony Armas followed with a double to score Baylor, driving Viola from the game without having recorded an out. “After Marty hit that first ball off the wall, it just seemed like everyone wanted to jump on the train,” said Clemens.2 After relief pitcher Roy Lee Jackson retired Rey Quinones and Steve Lyons on fly balls to right, catcher Marc Sullivan singled to right to score Armas with Boston’s sixth run of the inning, all charged to Viola. “I felt good when I was warming up,” said Viola, “but I just couldn’t keep it going into the game.”3

The Rocket retired the Twins in order in the second and Boggs led off the bottom half with his second hit of the game, a single to left field. Stapleton doubled and one batter later, Boggs scored on Baylor fielder’s choice to make it 7-0 at the end of two innings.

After a pair of singles and a wild pitch, Clemens surrendered a two-run single to Twins center fielder Kirby Puckett, but retired the next two hitters to escape the third inning.

The Red Sox matched the two-run outburst with a pair of their own in the bottom of the inning.  Boggs collected his third hit, a double to right, to score Sullivan, and scored the ninth Red Sox run himself when Stapleton reached on a third-strike passed ball. Keith Atherton replaced Jackson and retired Rice on a force play, but Clemens returned to the mound for the fourth with a 9-2 cushion. He surrendered a run on Gary Gaetti’s double and a single by Mark Salas, but got Puckett to hit into an inning-ending force out.

The Red Sox mustered only a single by Armas in the fourth, and Clemens coasted through the top of the fifth. In the bottom half of the inning, Boggs came to the plate for the fourth time, this time with two outs, and smacked his fourth hit, a single to center field, though he was stranded at first.

Gaetti homered in the top of the sixth to cut Boston’s lead to 9-4, but Boston blew the game open in the bottom half of the inning. Baylor and Quinones drew walks, and with two outs Juan Agosto replaced Atherton. Lyons singled to score Baylor, and Sullivan singled to score Quinones. Barrett walked, and Boggs followed with his fifth hit in five tries, driving a single to center that scored Lyons and Sullivan and boosted the Boston lead to 13-4.

Clemens survived a home run by Greg Gagne in the top of the seventh, then watched as the Red Sox expanded the lead to 17-5. Rice, Baylor, and Armas all singled to start the bottom half of the frame, with Rice scoring on an error. Quinones plated Baylor with an RBI grounder, and one out later Agosto hit Sullivan with a pitch. Ron Davis replaced Agosto, and Barrett greeted the fifth Twins pitcher with a run-scoring single. Boggs came to the plate for the sixth time, and reached on an error by first baseman Mickey Hatcher that allowed Sullivan to score. 

Boggs departed to an ovation from the Fenway crowd officially announced as 20,880, when Red Sox manager John McNamara inserted Ed Romero to pinch-run. After the inning, McNamara called on reliever Bob Stanley to replace Clemens, who departed with a 17-5 lead. Stanley surrendered a solo home run to Gaetti, his third hit and second homer of the game, a triple by Steve Lombardozzi, and a run-scoring sacrifice fly to Salas to trim the lead to 17-7, but closed the Twins out with a perfect ninth. “It didn’t matter what we were going to do tonight,” Gaetti said. “It was a horrible game. When you hit like (the Red Sox) were, you can’t score enough runs to catch up.”4

The win was the seventh straight for Clemens over eight outings. “I’m not surprised by my start,” Clemens said. “I have high expectations for myself, and I just hope it keeps going.”5 Clemens went on to win his next seven starts and run his record to 14-0 before finally absorbing a loss against Toronto on July 2. He finished the season 24-4 with a 2.48 earned-run average, and didn’t surrender more than five earned runs in a game.

The Twins, who dropped to 14-25, losing for the ninth time in 10 games, finished with seven runs on 11 hits, but made five costly errors. Boggs collected five of Boston’s 20 hits to raise his average to .383 and scored three of the 17 Red Sox runs. Armas (4), Sullivan (3), and Barrett, Rice, and Baylor (2 apiece) also collected multiple hits as the Red Sox raised their record to an AL-best 25-13.

“’I hope it keeps snowballing into something, and the team keeps rolling, too,” Clemens said. “It’s a nice feeling,” Boggs said, “But it’s like climbing Mount Everest: We have a long way to go.”6

After serving up five hits to Boggs on May 20, Minnesota manager Ray Miller employed a “moving shift” the next night, and the Twins held Boggs hitless, though the Red Sox prevailed by a 3-2 score. 

When the teams met later in the month, Minnesota shifted again when Boggs batted. “The shift was illegal,” Boggs said. “The umpire told me that and said he was going to get them to stop it. Maybe he didn’t correct it completely but he got the Twins to do it within the boundaries of the rules.” Miller countered by saying, “I’m not saying it will work forever, but it’s worth continuing until he solves it.”7

Boggs solved the shift the next time the two teams met, collecting three hits in five at-bats on May 30 at the Metrodome, and the next night, after Miller scrapped the shift, Boggs slapped out five hits for the second time in 11 days. Again he collected four singles and a double, and raised his average to .402 for the season. He would finish the season at .357, winning his third of five AL batting titles.

He managed the feat just one more time, smacking five hits for the Red Sox at Fenway Park against Oakland on July 31, 1991. 

This article originally appeared in “The 1986 Boston Red Sox: There Was More Than Game Six” (SABR, 2016), edited by Leslie Heaphy and Bill Nowlin. Read more game stories from the book at the SABR Games Project by clicking here.

Sources

In addition to the sources in the notes, the author also consulted:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS198605200.shtml

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1986/B05200BOS1986.htm

Boston Globe, May 21, 1986.

Goodwin, Doris Kearns. “Batting Champ Wade Boggs Hits With a Cool Eye, a Hot Hand and a Resolve to Help His Sister Overcome Illness,” People, June 16, 1986.

Madden, Michael. “Protected by His Cocoon, a Regimented Routine Helps Bosox Star Tune Out All Distractions,” The Sporting News, July 14, 1986.

Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 21, 1986.

New York Times, May 21, 1986.

Notes

1 Ed Burns, “American League Roundup,” United Press International, May 21, 1986.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

7 Pat Reusse, “It Was Shifty Business,” The Sporting News, June 16, 1986: 16.

The Indians had entered May in the midst of a 10-game winning streak, from April 26 through May 7, but then dropped nine of their next 10 games. The Red Sox had been more consistent. Though as far behind as four games at one point, they claimed first place for good on May 14 and never fell behind again all season. They entered this game having won eight of their last nine games, including a 5-3 win over Cleveland in the series opener the day before.

Cleveland manager Pat Corrales – in this fourth year at the helm – started left-hander Neal Heaton, who was his fifth season with the team. Heaton had booked 34 career wins but lost 44; he was 2-3 (5.05 ERA) so far in 1986.

Red Sox manager John McNamara was in his second year with Boston. The team had been 81-81 in 1985, which was the same record he’d had managing the California Angels in 1984. McNamara started right-hander Mike Brown, back in the rotation after spending most of the 1984 season and almost all of the 1985 season with Triple-A Pawtucket. Brown had a 2-1 record in 1986; his ERA had ballooned to 5.40 after he allowed 11 earned runs in his two previous starts.

The first four batters to face Heaton all reached base, and he found himself in a 2-0 hole before getting the first out. Leading off was second baseman Marty Barrett, who grounded the first pitch to Indians shortstop Julio Franco. The ball glanced off Franco’s glove and he was charged with an error. Next up was .371-hitting third baseman Wade Boggs, who worked a walk. Bill Buckner, Boston’s first baseman, lined a single into right field and drove in Barrett.

Left fielder Jim Rice singled as well, blooping the ball into right field, making it 2-0 as Boggs scored from third base. Rice was thrown out when he tried to take second base, and the potential big inning fizzled out once third baseman Brook Jacoby fielded Don Baylor’s grounder and threw to catcher Andy Allanson, who tagged Buckner at the plate. Right fielder Dwight Evans grounded out, second to first.

In the bottom of the first, Cleveland’s leadoff batter, center fielder Brett Butler, grounded out short to first, Rey Quiñones throwing to Buckner. Tony Bernazard singled, but Franco hit into a 6-4-3 double play.

Heaton struck out center fielder Tony Armas to start the second, then saw both catcher Marc Sullivan and Quiñones fly out to center field. First up for Cleveland in the bottom of the inning was right fielder Joe Carter, who singled. The DH, Mel Hall, flied out deep but hauled in by Armas against the center-field wall.2 With first baseman Pat Tabler at the plate, Carter stole second base. He advanced to third when Tabler grounded out, 6-3. Brown struck out Jacoby to keep the Indians scoreless.

Boggs singled with one out in the top of the third, the ball glancing off Heaton’s glove, but got no farther as both Buckner and Rice hit fly balls to center.

After Brown got outs from the first two Indians in the bottom of the third, Butler bunted for a single and Bernazard singled to right-center, putting runners on first and third. Franco, however, grounded to shortstop for a force at second base.

Heaton retired the Red Sox in order in the top of the fourth on a fly ball, groundout, and fly ball. Brown retired the Indians in order on three infield grounders –to short, second, and short.

Quiñones singled with one out in the fifth, but Heaton picked him off first. Barrett then flied out to center. Jacoby led off the bottom of the fifth with a single past Barrett and into center field, but Allanson hit into a 5-4-3 double play. Left fielder Otis Nixon walked, but Brown finished his fifth straight scoreless inning by getting Butler to ground to Buckner, who made the play unassisted.

In the sixth, Heaton got outs from Boggs, Buckner, and Rice. Brown walked Bernazard to bring the potential tying run to the plate in the bottom of the inning. By then, heavy fog had rolled in off Lake Erie. It was 9:18 P.M.

Evans came in from right field and told second-base umpire Rocky Roe that he couldn’t see the ball. The crew chief, Larry Barnett, joined the discussion and heard Evans’ complaint. As all huddled, Indians hitting coach Bobby Bonds came out with a fungo bat and hit a pair of balls out to Evans from a spot on the first-base line.

Evans saw and caught the first one, but said he didn’t see the second – which was hit higher and landed in the seats in right field.3 Evans didn’t make a move on that one, saying he hadn’t seen it since it was hit higher than the first one. Corrales claimed he had seen it. Plate umpire John Hirschbeck had to separate umpire Barnett and manager Corrales.

Second-base umpire Roe said later that it was “like a jet shooting through the clouds. You saw it, and then you didn’t see it. I saw it when it left the bat, but I didn’t see it go over the fence.”4

Fans began chanting, “Let’s play ball! Let’s play ball!” Barnett made the call to resume play at 9:33 P.M.5

After the quarter-hour delay, Franco singled off Boggs’ glove and Cleveland had runners on first and second – the potential tying runs – and nobody out. McNamara brought in a reliever from the bullpen – veteran righty Steve Crawford. He had appeared in 10 games in 1986, without a win or a loss, but with an earned run average of 2.13. He hadn’t pitched since May 19.

First up was Carter, and Crawford struck him out. Hall hit a fly ball deep to Armas in center field for the second out. Armas had guessed correctly. He had seen the ball come off the bat and ran to where he thought it might come down: “I didn’t see the ball go up. But I saw it coming out of the fog.”6

At this point, the game was halted again – for an hour and 35 minutes, ultimately called at 11:19 due to the fog. This time Corrales did not object.

The scene was described by the Toledo Blade: “Thick fingers of fog curled over the outfield stands at Cleveland Stadium last night like some monster out of a science-fiction movie. Finally, the fog gathered in a huge gray mass and settled on the floor of the old park. Ceiling zero.”7

Barnett said afterward, “A game shouldn’t be decided in conditions like this.”8 He added, “This was an act of God and I’m not going to argue with him.”9

Corrales himself finally agreed it was the correct call.

Mike Brown said, “I was beginning to wonder where I was. It was 70 degrees and I could see my breath.”10 A reporter from Canton, Ohio, covering the game wrote, “It was an absolutely ‘Eerie’ evening.”11

This was the game about which Red Sox pitcher Oil Can Boyd uttered his famous line, “When you build a building on an ocean, what do you expect?”12

The game had lasted 1 hour and 54 minutes with only the one error back in the first inning. Some 6,661 fans had come to Cleveland Stadium, and it is perhaps safe to assume that most of the 50 percent or so who waited out the delay were leaving disappointed.

For the Red Sox, they had now won 15 of their last 19 games.

“It’s not the way we like to win ballgames,” Dwight Evans said. “We don’t want anything handed to us.” Corrales countered, “Yea, but if they can win it this way, they’ll take it.”13

The Red Sox went on to win the AL East and then beat the Angels in a seven-game AL Championship Series. The World Series also ran a full seven games, with the New York Mets prevailing. It was another 18 years before Red Sox fans would enjoy a World Series win. As of 2025, Cleveland fans are still waiting, as they have been since 1948. The Indians finished fifth in 1986, 11½ games behind Boston.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Victoria Monte and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE198605270.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1986/B05270CLE1986.htm

Photo credit: Jim Rice, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 The only member of the AL East without a winning record at this point in the season was the Toronto Blue Jays at 20-25.

2 Hall was starting at DH because the Indians’ regular at that position, veteran Andre Thornton, was batting .187 and Corrales wanted to give him time off to regroup. Paul Hoynes, “Thornton Benched; DH Hitting Only .187,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 28, 1986: 3-E.

3 Plain Dealer sportswriter Paul Hoynes dubbed it “the first significant home run hit by an Indian in over a month.” Paul Hoynes, “Tribe Lost in a Fog, 2-0,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 28, 1986: 1-E.

4 Hoynes.

5 In his autobiography, Evans allowed, “I had a little Hollywood in me that day. … I could see the balls fine. I just acted like I couldn’t.” Dwight Evans with Erik Sherman, Dewey – Behind the Gold Glove (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2024), 160-1.

6 Larry Whiteside, “Sox Leave Indians in an Erie Fog,” Boston Globe, May 28, 1986: 25, 29.

7 Jim Taylor, “Cleveland Left in a fog as Bosox Post Victory,” Toledo Blade, May 28, 1986: 26. Taylor added, “You couldn’t see second base from the upper deck for a while.”

8 Hoynes.

9 Joe Giuliotti, “Red Sox Weather Indians,” Boston Herald, May 28, 1986: 92.

10 Whiteside.

11 Scott Cocanower, “Indians’ Loss Shrouded in Controversy,” Canton (Ohio) Repository, May 28, 1986: 25.

12 Nick Cafardo, “Red Sox Count Fog as a Friend,” Quincy (Massachusetts) Patriot Ledger, May 28, 1986: 31.

13 Cocanower.

On July 10, 1986, the Red Sox were eight games ahead of the New York Yankees. But it had been a chaotic day in Boston. On this day, the highly emotional and unpredictable Red Sox pitcher Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd, in the midst of a strong season with an 11-6 record, became furious that Royals manager Dick Howser had left him off the American League All-Star team. Boyd threw an expletive-filled tirade in the Red Sox clubhouse as players and manager John McNamara attempted to calm him down. But it didn’t help. Boyd stormed out, yelling at the media, “Get the (bleep) out of my face,”1 and headed for his home in Chelsea, Massachusetts.

The buzz around Fenway Park concerned the whereabouts of Oil Can as the Red Sox-Angels game got under way. Talk of Boyd came in the midst of an almost playoff-like atmosphere as both teams were leading their divisions.

An unearned run by the Angels in the top of the second inning was matched by the Red Sox in the bottom of the inning as Rich Gedman doubled home Dwight Evans. The Angels countered with two runs in the top of the third inning as Gary Pettis doubled home Dick Schofield, and then scored on a Wally Joyner single. Angels pitcher Ron Romanick carried a 3-1 lead into the sixth inning.

Meanwhile, Oil Can Boyd was parked in his gray Olds Cutlass on a hill in Chelsea, Massachusetts, watching the sunset over the Boston skyline. Some fans pulled up in their car, and surprised to see Boyd sitting there, asked why he wasn’t at the ballpark. Others offered to give him a ride to Fenway. Boyd would have none of it. “They screwed me, man, they really screwed me … I should have been on it (All-Star team), and I should have been on it last year, too. I want my reward and I want it today. Roger Clemens didn’t get there by himself, you know … I don’t know when they’ll see me again.”2

Boyd’s tirade continued as he talked about going back to Mississippi or pitching in Japan. He was convinced he deserved an all-star selection based on his good record while pitching at Fenway. Eventually though, as Oil Can always did, he calmed down and started to see things more clearly. “I just hope my teammates and the management will understand,” he said contritely. “I’ll just try to take this thing in stride, but tomorrow I’ll be back in the clubhouse bright and early, ready to go.”3

Across the river, the Red Sox had to play catch-up against the Angels. In the bottom of the sixth inning Bill Buckner hit a two-run homer and Jim Rice followed with a triple to center. Rice later scored on a Dwight Evans single and the Red Sox now had a 4-3 lead.

Red Sox starting pitcher Al Nipper surrendered the lead in the top of the eighth inning as Wally Joyner doubled and scored on a Brian Downing single. The game was tied 4-4 and would stay that way until the top of the 12th inning.

With two outs in the top of the 12th inning Mike Brown relieved Steve Crawford, who left the game with shoulder pain. Wally Joyner tripled to center as Ed Romero stumbled in the outfield. Romero, a utility infielder, was making his first and only appearance of the season in the outfield because Kevin Romine, who had started in place of an injured Tony Armas, had been lifted for a pinch-hitter. Ironically, Romero had made a great game-saving catch in the 11th-inning. Joyner scored on a wild pitch followed by walks to Brian Downing and George Hendrick. RBI hits by Rick Burleson and Bobby Grich gave the Angels a 7-4 lead going into the bottom of the twelfth.

Marty Barrett led off against Mike Cook and hit what was ruled an infield single but actually was a line drive dropped by Bobby Grich. With two out Jim Rice homered into the screen in left field to cut the lead to 7-6. Cook got Don Baylor to hit a foul popup to third base in what should have been the final out, but the wind blew the ball back fair and it was dropped by Rick Burleson. The Red Sox still had life. Dwight Evans walked, and then Rich Gedman fouled off five straight 1-and-2 pitches before reaching on a broken-bat single to right field, scoring Baylor with the tying run and sending Evans to third.

Gedman recalled, “I was behind in the count, but I kept swinging until I finally got a pitch I could hit. We were down three runs going into the inning. But nobody on our bench gave up.”4

Dwight Evans said of Gedman’s at-bat, “It was one heavenly hit. Geddy battled him. But it was more like a war. Pitcher against hitter. I’m happy for the folks who stayed around. They saw something special.”5

The relay throw from Ruppert Jones on Gedman’s hit was muffed by Wally Joyner and runners were now on second and third. Angels manager Gene Mauch made a pitching change, bringing in rookie Todd Fischer. Fischer stared into catcher Bob Boone for the sign. The Fenway faithful, anxiously awaiting the pitch to Rey Quinones, were thrown into confusion as play was suddenly halted.

Immediately catcher Bob Boone jumped up and started screaming at home plate umpire Joe Brinkman. As Brinkman waved Dwight Evans home, fans erupted in celebrated at the realization Brinkman had called a balk on Fischer, and the game was over in a wild finish.

“He started his right hand and then stepped off. I just saw it and I called it,” Brinkman commented after the game.6

Angels manager Gene Mauch agreed it was a balk, but said “Even if he (Fischer) did, the umpire had no business calling it because nobody in the ballpark knew it but him.”7

“I can’t believe he called a game on something like that,” Bobby Grich said about the call by Brinkman. “Not on a balk. Make him get a hit or give us another chance. You don’t lose a game because a guy moves his hands one inch apart.”8

Naturally, Red Sox manager John McNamara had a different interpretation of the finish. “I’ve never seen a wilder inning with two out. I’m very proud of these players. They had a tough day and showed a lot of character.”9

Jim Rice summarized well this game and the 1986 Red Sox season to that point. “We made mistakes and they took advantage of it. They made mistakes and we took advantage of it. This is not like the 1978 team that won with home runs. This club has found a lot of different ways to win games.”10

For a day which began in a surreal environment, it was fitting that it would conclude with a four-hour, 27-minute game which Mike Penner of the Los Angeles Times said “set new standards of the bizarre, stretching reality to the brink of science fiction.”11

Red Sox fans could catch their collective breath – this was the season of destiny. The Red Sox could overcome mistakes…late inning deficits…and AWOL pitchers, while finding extraordinary ways to win.

This article appeared in “The 1986 Boston Red Sox: There Was More Than Game Six” (SABR, 2016), edited by Leslie Heaphy and Bill Nowlin. Read more game stories from the book at the SABR Games Project by clicking here.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the text, the author also used baseball-reference.com and retrosheet.org.

Notes

Once upon a time, Seaver was like Cruise’s character – full of impressive power, raw instinct, and superior skill.

By the mid-1980s, he had become the baseball version of Skerritt’s character – the seasoned pro who could immediately identify a batter’s quirks that would take rookies days to decipher. Seaver was best known for his stints with the Mets (1967-1977, 1983), which included a Rookie of the Year Award, three Cy Young Awards, and a World Series ring. But he also had great moments with other teams: a no-hitter with the Reds in 1978, his 300th career victory with the White Sox in 1985.

On August 18, 1986, the 41-year-old right-hander wore a Boston Red Sox uniform in his last career victory – the 311th entry in the win column for the pitcher whose delivery concluded with his right knee touching the dirt on the pitching mound.

Stamina was evident in the 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins; Seaver went 8⅔ innings, allowed three hits, walked four, and struck out seven. It kicked off a road trip against the Twins, Indians, and Rangers; Fenway Park’s sentinels brought a 5-5 record back to New England.

Seaver’s run support began early when Boston shortstop Ed Romero started the game with a single off southpaw ace Frank Viola, followed by second baseman Marty Barrett doubling him home. Viola – who led the 1986 AL in games started with 37 – then retired the heart of Boston’s batting order: Jim Rice on a groundout to third; Don Baylor with a strikeout; and Dwight Evans with another groundout, this one to second baseman Steve Lombardozzi.

The Twins had a significant opportunity with two men on base in the bottom of the first. Minnesota’s legendary center fielder Kirby Puckett – who made his first of 10 straight All-Star Game appearances in 1986 – led off with a single against Seaver and waited there as designated hitter Roy Smalley flied out to Tony Armas in center field.

Kent Hrbek got to first base safely on a groundball fielded by Bill Buckner, who tossed the ball to Lombardozzi to force Puckett at second base.

Seaver’s walk to Twins cleanup hitter Gary Gaetti put runners on first and second, prompting hopes of Randy Bush either advancing the runners or enhancing his RBI total. But Minnesota’s rally ended as Seaver got his first strikeout of the afternoon.

The Twins notched their first run in the third inning; Smalley knocked a solo home run with two outs. After the game, Smalley praised Seaver: “He made only two bad pitches – the one to me and one Randy Bush hit for a double in the ninth inning. And when he needed a fastball, he was able to rear back and throw it.”1

In the bottom of the fourth, Bush whiffed for the second time in the game. Smalley, too, struck out twice; Seaver’s other entries in the game’s “K” column were Lombardozzi, Gaetti, and Greg Gagne.

The Red Sox looked poised to score in the top of the fifth when Armas led off with a triple. But he remained at third base when Hrbek fielded Rich Gedman’s grounder to first for an unassisted out. Dave Stapleton attempted a sacrifice bunt down the first-base line, which resulted in Hrbek tossing to Lombardozzi covering first base. There wasn’t enough time for Armas to score. Romero’s grounder to Gagne ended the half-inning.

In the top of the eighth, a Boston rally percolated. Barrett drew a one-out walk; Rice’s grounder to Gaetti forced Barrett out at second. Rice advanced when Viola plunked Baylor; Evans entered the batter’s box with a fantastic opportunity and a recent stretch of prominence: 11-for-30 (.367) in his past 10 games.2 Minnesotans breathed a collective sigh across the Land of 10,000 Lakes when the slugger struck out.

The teams stayed at 1-1 until the top of the ninth; Armas singled and Gedman’s two-run bash brought the score to 3-1.

Seaver had limited the Twins to two hits until the bottom of the ninth. Looking for a complete-game victory, the veteran hurler fielded Hrbek’s grounder and struck out Gaetti. After Bush doubled, Red Sox skipper John McNamara sent in righty Bob Stanley to preserve the two-run lead. Tom Brunansky pinch-hit for left fielder and future “Moneyball” proponent Billy Beane; Stanley struck him out looking.

After the game, Viola praised his counterpart: “He comes up with a new pitch every time I see him. That’s what craftiness is.”3

Viola allowed eight hits and struck out two Boston players, Baylor in the first inning; Evans in the eighth.

Buckner was the busiest Boston player in the field other than Seaver. The first baseman had 13 putouts, nearly half of the team’s 27. At the plate, Armas was the most effective: 3-for-4 with one run scored.

Seaver’s three-hit performance was impressive, more so considering that he was in the waning years of an exemplary career. Former Mets teammate Jerry Koosman – who won two games in the Mets’ 1969 World Series victory against the Baltimore Orioles – noted the performance. “He is not the overpowering pitcher anymore that he was,” said the Minnesota native. “But he can pitch to spots and make the ball do something and keep hitters off stride. He was always a good student of the game.”4

Minnesota’s loss began a six-game homestand ending in a 2-4 record. It reflected the team’s subpar performance throughout the season, which finished with a 71-91 won-lost tally.

Seaver had come to New England in a June trade that some questioned, others scorned. The White Sox sent the veteran in exchange for Steve Lyons, a 26-year-old outfielder in his second major-league season; Seaver was 2-6 at the time of the trade. It was more a preventive measure than a strategic addition to Boston’s pitching roster. Red Sox manager John McNamara explained, “The big thing is that the Yankees didn’t get him.”5

Seaver even wondered about the trade, noting his subpar record and 4.38 ERA to date.6

Adding the veteran right-hander was a blessing. Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd’s three-week suspension and Bruce Hurst’s two-month benching with a groin injury plagued the team’s pitching. Though not the hurler of years past, Seaver served a purpose to fill the void. He went 5-5 in July and August.

Torn cartilage in the right knee ended Seaver’s career, with his last appearance coming on September 19, 1986 – a 6-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. Seaver gave up three runs in four innings before leaving the game.

Boston vaulted to the AL East championship with a 5½-game lead over the second-place Yankees. They won the AL title in an epic seven-game ALCS against the Angels and faced the Mets in the World Series.

It was bittersweet for Mets fans to see their Tom Terrific at Shea Stadium wearing the opposing team’s uniform; a knee injury prevented the legend from taking the mound. The Red Sox lost in seven games; Seaver returned to the Mets the following spring for the third time, hoping to make the ’87 squad.

Despite the August performance against the Twins and the strength of sentiment, Mets fans said goodbye in June. “I would have loved to help this team win another world’s championship, but when I realized I couldn’t do a thing to help them, I didn’t want to create a logjam if they had to go out and get another pitcher,” said Seaver.7

Sources

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1986/B08180MIN1986.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN198608180.shtml

Notes

1 Sid Hartman Column, Minneapolis Star and Tribune, August 19, 1986: 2D.

2 Dwight Evans 1986 Game By Game Batting Logs, August 9-17, 1986, https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/hittinglogs.php?p=evansdw01&y=1986.

3 Mike Nadel (Associated Press), “Tom Terrific Ices Twins,” St. Cloud (Minnesota) Daily Times, August 19, 1986: 1C.

4 Sid Hartman Column, Minneapolis Star and Tribune, August 19, 1986: 2D.

5 Larry Whiteside, “Seaver Finally Changes His Sox,” Boston Globe, June 30, 1986: 29.

6 Bill Madden, Tom Seaver: A Terrific Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2020), 245.

7 Jack Lang, “Seaver’s Retirement Bittersweet,” New York Daily News, June 23, 1987: 52.

Through the 2014 season the Red Sox have played in only four games in which they scored at least two dozen runs. The 29-4 game on June 8, 1950, ranks first. There was a 25-8 game in 2003, and then there were two 24-run games – one in 1940 and this game in 1986.

The Sox were in first place, 5½ games ahead of the Yankees, visiting the sixth-place Cleveland Indians, who still had a winning record at 62-59. The August 21 7:30 P.M. matchup pitted 21-year-old Indians southpaw starter Greg Swindell against Boston’s Oil Can Boyd.  It was Swindell’s big-league debut. Though he won 123 games over 17 years, this was not one of them. He started well, though, inducing three infield grounders in the top of the first and then seeing Cleveland’s leadoff batter, Tony Bernazard, homer into the right-field seats to give him an early lead.

It was in the top of the third that Swindell started to get in trouble, walking two batters and then seeing Jim Rice single in Spike Owen to tie the score. He walked the bases loaded then, and balked – bringing another run home. Dwight Evans singled in two more and it was 4-1, Red Sox.

A single, error, and two more singles saw the Sox up their lead to 6-1 in the fourth. The third single was off reliever Dickie Noles.

Boyd was pitching well, and it was still 6-1 after five. Then the Boston batters went to town. Most of the damage was done with two outs. The Sox scored once, and had runners on first and second. Marty Barrett took third on Don Baylor‘s fly ball to center, the second out. Evans walked to load the bases. Then Bill Buckner walked, and Noles was excused, replaced by Jose Roman. The first batter Roman faced was Tony Armas, who “jumped on his second pitch and lined a cannon shot over the fence in left center.”1

It was a large crowd – 26,316 – and they had come hoping to see a good game. Indeed, Bob Dolgan of the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote, “The crowd, out for a good time, refused to be deterred. When the Red Sox pounded Swindell’s successors for 12 runs in the sixth inning, to take a ridiculous 18-1 lead, the people, bless ’em, began cheering wildly for Boston to pour it on and score more runs.”2

After Armas’s grand slam, Roman promptly loaded the bases again with a walk, a single, and another walk. Enough, concluded Indians manager Pat Corrales, who called on Bryan Oelkers to take over from Roman. The hapless Roman had faced four batters and seen them all score, three on hits off Oelkers by Barrett and Rice. Oelkers loaded the bases again with a walk to Baylor, followed that with a pitch Evans smacked for two more runs, and then saw Buckner single in the 12th run of the frame. Tony Armas flied out to end the torture. Seventeen Boston batters had come to the plate. Eleven straight batters reached base, one short of the American League record, according to the Boston Globe. Eleven of the 12 runs in the inning had scored after two outs.

It was indeed 18-1. In the seventh, Spike Owen hit a solo home run to make it 19-1. Three singles off Oil Can in the bottom of the seventh narrowed the gap just a bit: It was 19-2 in Boston’s favor.

Mike Greenwell and a couple of others were brought into the game; Greenie doubled to lead off the eighth. There were two outs made.  Then Buckner singled Greenwell in. Then Tony Armas hit his second homer of the game, scoring Buckner ahead of him. Oelkers then hit Marc Sullivan, and Owen singled. Dave Stapleton pinch-hit for Wade Boggs (!) and singled in Sullivan. Ed Romero, who’d subbed in for Barrett, singled in Owen.  Ten men had come to the plate, and five runs had scored – again, every one of them after there were two outs. Now the score was 24-2.

Bob Stanley pitched the eighth. Nothing happened of note. Joe Sambito pitched the bottom of the ninth, and he had some difficulty, giving up three runs on four hits – but there was a lot of room for a few runs. The Indians had scored first, and they had scored last, but the final score was Boston 24 to Cleveland 5. Boyd’s record improved to 12-9, with a 3.94 ERA.

All but two of the Red Sox runs were earned; two of the six runs scored off Swindell were unearned.

Oddly, three Red Sox batters had gone hitless. Boggs was 0-for-5, though he scored one run. Baylor was 0-for-5, though he scored two runs. And Marc Sullivan was 0-for-4, and he scored two runs.

The number-nine batter, Spike Owen, scored six runs in the game. The only American Leaguer who had done so previously was another Red Sox player – Johnny Pesky, on May 8, 1946. It was only Owen’s third game for the Red Sox. One of the runs he scored came on his homer, the first homer he’d hit in 424 at-bats. Owen hit 46 in the course of his career.

Tony Armas had six RBIs. The grand slam was the sixth of his career.

Larry Whiteside of the Boston Globe concluded, “Nothing on Shock Theater or the late night movie on HBO comes close to the havoc and devastation that was the sum total of Boston’s 24-5 crushing of the Cleveland Indians last night.”3

Master of understatement, Red Sox manager John McNamara said, “It was a good night.”  In the other clubhouse, Corrales was quoted: “Twenty-four to 5,” he kept muttering after the game. “Twenty- four to 5.”4  To be fair to McNamara, he did add, “But I like to think some of the tough games we won on the last homestand after the West Coast trip had more impact than this one.

“The hitting was nice to see. And so was the pitching of Boyd. After the second inning, he showed us the way he is capable of pitching. I’m glad for the team and I’m glad for Oil Can. I hope this helps restore his confidence in himself.”5 It was Can’s first win since July 8. And Boyd did go 4-1 for the rest of the regular season, lowering his earned run average to 3.78.

The Yankees were rained out, so the Red Sox gained a half-game in the standings. They had held first place since May 14 and never relinquished the lead.

This article originally appeared in “The 1986 Boston Red Sox: There Was More Than Game Six” (SABR, 2016), edited by Leslie Heaphy and Bill Nowlin. Read more game stories from the book at the SABR Games Project by clicking here.

Sources

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE198608210.shtml

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1986/B08210CLE1986.htm

Notes

1  Joe Giuliotti, Boston Herald, August 22, 1986.

2 Bob Dolgan, Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 22, 1986.

3 Larry Whiteside, Boston Globe, August 22, 1986.

4  Ibid.

5  &nbs

So it was with the September 4, 1986, exhibition game played between the first-place New York Mets of the National League East and the first-place Boston Red Sox of the American League East. Billed as a possible World Series preview, the game captured the public’s attention and drew a near-sellout crowd of 33,057 to Fenway Park despite having no bearing on the standings. In the days before interleague play, it was a chance for players and fans of both clubs to see each other up close, savor the moment, and dream of a Boston-vs.-New York showdown in October.1

This was a contest 19 months in the waiting. The Red Sox and Mets announced in February 1985 that they would play a pair of charity exhibition games the next two seasons, first at Fenway and then at Shea Stadium. The Boston game in ’86 would benefit the Jimmy Fund of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which had been the Red Sox’s official charity for more than 30 years; the Flushing Meadows contest in ’87 would support amateur baseball in New York.

When the announcement was made, the Mets were a team on the rise and the Red Sox one in a rebuilding mode. By the time the 1986 game came to fruition, however, both clubs were genuine championship contenders.

New York was well on its way to a 100-win season, with a 20-game lead in its division and a star-studded lineup that included five-tool outfielder Darryl Strawberry, slick-fielding, clutch-hitting first-baseman Keith Hernandez, future Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter, and 20-year-old pitching ace and reigning Cy Young Award winner Dwight Gooden. Boston had two future Hall of Famers in third baseman Wade Boggs (en route to his third batting title) and left fielder Jim Rice (homing in on his eighth 20-homer, 100-RBI campaign), as well as an ace pitcher in Roger Clemens (20-4 on the day of the game) who would win his first of seven Cy Young Awards that year. Complementing them were top veterans like Gold Glove right fielder Dwight Evans, gritty first baseman Bill Buckner, and DH Don Baylor (like Rice, a former AL MVP).2

Before the game the entire roster of players on both clubs were introduced to the crowd, as if it were a postseason game. Even the travel accommodations for the visitors had a playoff feel. The Mets had flown their entire team into Boston on a chartered plane that day, along with assorted wives, club executives, and staff members — nearly 100 people in all. Red Sox fans likely got a chuckle when they heard that the Mets players’ bus broke down between Logan Airport and the Sumner Tunnel, and that 10 taxicabs and additional private cars were needed to get the New York squad to Fenway. In fact, the day’s MVP might have been Mets equipment manager Charlie Samuels, who flagged down an airport limousine to transport the club’s 70 bags of bats and other gear to the ballpark.

Once they finally got there, New York players expressed excitement at seeing the ballpark and taking a crack at the Green Monster left-field wall. “It’s awesome,” said Mets reliever Roger McDowell. He spent much of the pregame snapping photos of the Monster, and said later of the 37-foot-high fence, “It’s the ninth wonder of the world. I stood out there and threw balls against the wall, as though I were Carl Yastrzemski waiting for the rebound.”3

Red Sox rookie reliever Calvin Schiraldi, a former hotshot Mets prospect who failed to live up to his promise in New York and was traded to Boston the previous November, took the high road when asked his feelings about the game. “This is good for me,” said Schiraldi, who had shined as Boston’s closer since a midseason call-up. “I didn’t perform to my ability with the Mets. I stunk it up with them. That’s why I’m glad the Red Sox gave me a chance.”4

Some Mets were also more than willing to state for the record that they hoped to be back at Fenway again soon in contests that counted. “I’m pulling for the Red Sox,” said New York third baseman Ray Knight. “I’d love to be playing the big games here. In this atmosphere.” 5 Mets manager Davey Johnson, one of the few on his team with a history against the Red Sox — having spent eight seasons battling them as an Orioles second baseman from 1965 to 1972 — hoped New York might have a psychological edge in the exhibition contest because its own regular-season race was all but over.

“There’s been less griping about this game than any exhibition I can remember,” Johnson told reporters. “First, it’s against the Red Sox, the team with the best record in the American League. Second, we have a 20-game lead. A 20-game lead makes a lot of things easier. I’m sure we feel a lot better about this game than the Red Sox do.”6

During batting practice the centers of attention had been Gooden and Clemens, as the two premier young pitchers in the game posed for cameramen behind the cage. Mets utilityman Howard Johnson fondly recalled hitting a home run off Clemens a couple years earlier while with the Tigers, but he wouldn’t get a chance for a return act on this night. The starters were rookie Jeff Sellers for the Red Sox — just up from minor-league Pawtucket — and swingman Rick Aguilera for New York. The home club took a 2-0 lead in the third on singles by Tony Armas and Boggs, a walk to Marty Barrett, and a two-run hit by Buckner. This was nothing new, as the first baseman was one of Boston’s top run producers all year and in the midst of a hot spell that would result in 8 homers and 22 RBIs during his last 26 regular-season games.

In the top of the fourth inning, Wally Backman walked for New York, Lee Mazzilli hit a groundball that Pat Dodson booted for an error.7 Carter, serving as DH on this night, made Boston pay for the gaffe with a sacrifice fly to center that cut the lead to 2-1. The Red Sox went back up by two in the home half of the fourth on a walk to Evans and singles by Armas and Spike Owen.

The lead held until the eighth, when the Mets jumped on Boston reliever Joe Sambito. Tim Teufel and Mazzilli started it off with singles, Ray Knight had a pinch-hit double to make it 3-2, and then, after two outs, New York scored five more runs on an error by third baseman Ed Romero, an RBI single by John Gibbons, a walk to Kevin Elster, and a two-run hit by Kevin Mitchell. That was it for the scoring, as the Mets won 7-3.8

Afterward, as before the first pitch, nobody really wanted to dwell much on this game; the focus was on whether there would be four to seven more games between Boston and New York in October. Boston Globe columnist Leigh Montville called the night, coming near the end of a fantastic regular season by the Red Sox, “a chance to dream … a sneak preview of the dessert that possibly could follow this satisfying best of all possible main courses that is almost finished.”9

And while Davey Johnson may have hoped that the one-game diversion would stall Boston’s momentum, this wasn’t the case. The Red Sox, whose AL East lead at the time was 4½ games over second-place Toronto entering the night, came into the exhibition with a five-game winning streak; after it, they won six more in a row to stretch their division advantage to 8½ games. As expected, the Red Sox and Mets each clinched their respective divisions by September’s end.10

The stage was indeed being set for a return engagement.

This article is included in the book “The 1986 New York Mets: There Was More Than Game Six” (SABR, 2016), edited by Leslie Heaphy and Bill Nowlin.

Sources

In addition to the sources in the notes, the author also consulted:

Associated Press. “Red Sox and Mets Plan Charity Series,” New York Times, February 17, 1985.

“In ’86 Mets-Red Sox Exhibition, a Sign of Things to Come,” New York Times, May 21, 2009.

Notes

After second-place finishes in the AL West in 1984 and 1985, the California Angels came out on top with 92 wins, five games ahead of the Texas Rangers. The Angels and Red Sox played a best-of-seven American League Championship Series, only the second postseason since the ALCS had been extended from a best-of-five. The year before, the Kansas City Royals rallied to win the pennant over the Toronto Blue Jays after being down 1-3 in the inaugural best-of-seven series.

Red Sox fans were giddy with anticipation of the ALCS because of their ace: Roger Clemens, who won 24 games during the regular season, and led the AL with a 2.48 ERA and 0.97 WHIP. He ended up winning both the AL Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards. Clemens was a hard-working ace who could potentially start three times in a best-of-seven series — a huge advantage. The fans’ excitement was tempered with some caution, however, after Clemens was hit on the right (throwing) elbow by a line drive in his last regular-season start. However, Clemens brushed aside those concerns and pronounced himself ready for battle.

Like Boston manager John McNamara (who had managed the Angels in 1983 and 1984), California skipper Gene Mauch was able to set his rotation as he wished. He chose Mike Witt (18-10, 2.84) for Game One, at Fenway Park. Witt had been extremely durable and reliable, pitching into the seventh inning in 32 of his 34 starts. He threw 269 innings, only 2⅓ innings behind league leader Bert Blyleven of the Twins.

In the early innings against the Angels, Clemens was shaky — possibly because he had pitched only 1⅔ innings over the last 11 days. He struck out Ruppert Jones to start the game, but gave up a double to Wally Joyner and a two-out walk to Reggie Jackson. Clemens stranded both runners when Doug DeCinces flied out to deep center, with Tony Armas catching the fly ball two steps from the wall.

In the second inning, Clemens struck out the first two batters before his control deserted him and he began missing up and away. His fourth pitch to Bob Boone was perhaps the key to the entire inning. “At 2-and-1 he made a real tough pitch away that just missed,” Boone said. “It was a slider or a cut fastball and I couldn’t have done anything with it if it was a strike. I just had to watch it. It was real tough, real close.”1

Home-plate umpire Larry Barnett called it ball three — thereby earning himself a little more enmity from Red Sox fans, who would never forget his refusal to call interference against the Cincinnati Reds on a 10th-inning bunt in Game Three of the 1975 World Series, a game won by the Reds three batters later.

Boone: “He missed and tried to hump up a little and then he missed again.”2 Boone walked. Clemens then walked Gary Pettis as well. “His fastball was rising and he may have been a little excited out there,” Pettis said.3 Clemens was annoyed at himself: “You can’t walk the last two batters in the order. It’s not characteristic of me.”4

Jones lined a single to center and Boone scored. Joyner followed with his second double in as many innings, an opposite-field shot into the left-field corner, and Pettis scored. As Sammy Stewart began warming up in the Red Sox bullpen, Brian Downing lined a single to the base of the left-field wall for two more runs. The Angels led 4-0.

Clemens’s 1-and-2 pitch to Downing was also very close. When Barnett called it a ball, Downing knew he had caught a break. “The 1-and-2 pitch was a pitch that, to be honest, was too tough to take,” Downing said. “I took the same pitch the first time, and the umpire called it a ball. I figured he might call it a ball again.”5

Clemens battled Reggie Jackson for nine pitches, finally striking him out and ending the inning. Clemens threw 45 pitches in the inning, 37 of them after he had two outs. “The velocity was there,” Clemens said. “I was frustrated because I wasn’t that far off [with my control].”6 Boston catcher Rich Gedman maintained that Clemens “was right around the plate all the time,” a dubious claim. ⁷

In the third, a throwing error by Boston shortstop Spike Owen and singles from Boone and Pettis produced an unearned run for the Angels.

Mike Witt had not received much run support during his regular-season starts. He said his teammates’ unexpected gift of a five-run lead “calmed me down a little to where I could gain control of myself and get into a nice little groove.”8

Wade Boggs worked a nine-pitch walk to start the home half of the first, but Marty Barrett — after two bunt attempts — grounded into a double play. Witt set down the next 16 Boston batters without breaking a sweat. (The Red Sox lineup came into the game with a collective .178 batting average against the Angels’ starter.) Witt walked Owen with two outs in the sixth. Boggs recorded the first Red Sox hit of the night on a high chopper to third; DeCinces made an excellent pick on the short hop, but couldn’t get off a throw. Barrett followed with a single to right, scoring Owen. Bill Buckner ended the inning with a fly to short left.

Witt’s 5⅔ no-hit innings were the second-longest no-hit stretch from the start of an LCS game, two outs shy of the 6⅓ innings posted by Baltimore’s Mike Cuellar and Ross Grimsley in Game Four of the 1974 ALCS against Oakland.

Despite facing 19 batters (and throwing 84 pitches) in three innings and allowing five runs, Clemens stayed in the game. He had calmed down, retiring 14 of 15 Angels after Pettis’s RBI single in the third. But the Angels battered him in the eighth — and, again, it was the bottom of the lineup that did the damage. (The last two spots in California’s order reached base six times in eight appearances against Clemens.) Dick Schofield singled to right with one out. He stole second without a throw and scored on Boone’s bloop single to right. After Pettis singled, McNamara went to his bullpen, calling on lefty Joe Sambito — who got a popup and issued a walk, loading the bases. Bob Stanley came in and gave up a two-run single to Downing. California led 8-1.

Don Baylor doubled with one out in the Boston seventh, but was stranded there. Owen and Barrett singled in the eighth, but Witt retired Buckner on a fly to left. (Buckner’s four at-bats ended the first, third, sixth, and eighth innings.) Witt set down the Red Sox in order in the bottom of the ninth, finishing his complete game on 116 pitches.

Clemens threw 143 pitches in 7⅓ innings and was charged with all eight runs. (His runs-allowed high during the regular season was only six.) He allowed 10 hits and walked three, and had five strikeouts.

The Angels were happy with their victory, but were adamant about not getting ahead of themselves. “We haven’t forgotten our experience in Milwaukee in 1982,” Downing said. “We were up in the [best-of-five] series, 2-0, and had to win only one of three in Milwaukee. We didn’t.”9

TV Note:  Although ABC showed a pregame segment — “The Frustrations of the Red Sox in the ’70s” — detailing the franchise’s “agonies of the not-so-distant past,” announcers Al Michaels and Jim Palmer made only one mention of Boston not having won a World Series title since 1918. That bit of information came from Michaels with two outs in the top of the ninth inning! In 1986, it had not yet become a media mantra.

This article appeared in “The 1986 Boston Red Sox: There Was More Than Game Six” (SABR, 2016), edited by Leslie Heaphy and Bill Nowlin. Read more game stories from the book at the SABR Games Project by clicking here.

Sources

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS198610070.shtml

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1986/B10070BOS1986.htm

Notes

1 Michael Madden. “Clemens Walks on the Wild Side,” Boston Globe, October 8, 1986: 81.

2 Ibid.

3  Ibid.

4  Leigh Montville. “Sure Bet Became Uncertain,” Boston Globe, October 8, 1986: 1.

5 Larry Whiteside. “Roger — Down and Out, 8-1,” Boston Globe, October 8, 1986: 81.

6  Leigh Montville.

7 Ibid.

8 Dan Shaughnessy. “Witt a Big Hit,” Boston Globe, October 8, 1986: 81.

9  Larry Whiteside.

Boston right fielder Dwight Evans — a veteran of Fenway Park‘s sun and wind patterns since 1972 — knew the day would be trouble before the game began at 3:00 P.M. “It’s going to be rough. … The sun is going to be in your eyes and the wind is going to make fly balls dance.” Evans added: “It’s going to be to our advantage.”1

Angels manager Gene Mauch went with a different lineup against Hurst, with Rick Burleson leading off as the DH, George Hendrick in right field, and Bobby Grich at second base. The Red Sox used the same lineup as in Game One.

Boston began its revenge against the Angels for their Game One rout right away, scoring single runs in each of the first two innings off California starter Kirk McCaskill. Wade Boggs opened the first with a triple high off the wall in left-center. Gary Pettis misplayed the carom and Hendrick overthrew the cutoff man as Boggs slid safely into third.

Pettis said the ball took a “kangaroo bounce,” adding, “What could I do? I thought I was in the right place. Strange.”2 Boggs: “The warning track is like concrete. I knew that ball was going to bounce if it hit the track.”3

Marty Barrett worked a full count, then doubled down the right-field line. Boggs scored easily. After Bill Buckner lined to center, Jim Rice grounded to shortstop. Barrett was caught off the bag and tagged by Angels shortstop Dick Schofield. Don Baylor lined a single off the scoreboard and Rice sprinted to third. Both runners were stranded when Dwight Evans flied to center for the third out.

Rich Gedman opened the second inning with a single to left-center. After Tony Armas struck out, Spike Owen reached first when his high chopper to shortstop took a bad hop over Schofield’s head (it may have hit the spot where the infield grass meets the dirt). Boggs then chopped an 0-and-2 pitch to McCaskill, who misplayed the ball. It hit off his chest and dropped to the ground, and the Red Sox had the bases loaded.

“I’ve never lost a groundball in the sun before,” McCaskill said. “It was unbelievable. I knew exactly where it was going to be. I went to make the play and then I lost it in the sun. I had to try and make a blind stab at it and I missed.”4

Barrett lined a single to left, scoring Gedman. Buckner, who ended four different innings in Game One, ended this rally by grounding into a 3-6-1 double play.

The Angels tied the game against Hurst with single runs in the fourth and fifth. Leadoff singles from Brian Downing and Doug DeCinces and a one-out fielding error by Boggs loaded the bases for California in the fourth. Schofield grounded a pitch to the right of shortstop Spike Owen, who tried getting a force at third, but had trouble getting the ball out of his glove. His toss to Boggs was late, and Downing scored. Hurst rebounded, however, retiring Bob Boone on an infield popup and Gary Pettis on a liner to short center.

Wally Joyner homered to right-center with one down in the fifth, tying the game at 2-2. It was the first time a rookie had hit a home run in an ALCS.

Boston broke the tie in its half of the fifth. Buckner singled with one out and Baylor walked with two out. Dwight Evans was credited with a double on a popup that fell beyond Grich’s reach in short right field. Buckner scored, giving Boston a 3-2 lead.

“I look up and the first thing I see is sun,” Grich said. “So I’m blinded momentarily, I fire my glasses up, I look down momentarily and when I look up again, the ball is drifting back. So I went back on it, but by then the ball was in the wind, drifting back, and I could not get to it in time.”5

Evans: “It was one of those balls that you don’t know really where it was going to wind up. They played it right and waited until it came out of the sun. But the wind caught it. When I saw them look at each other, I knew it was trouble.”6

In the sixth inning, the Angels stroked three straight singles off Hurst, but did not score. With Grich on second and Schofield on first and one out, Boone grounded a hard single into left. Jim Rice charged the ball. Grich rounded third and glanced at third-base coach Moose Stubing, who did not give a sign one way or the other. Grich instinctively put on the brakes and tried to scamper back to the base. Boggs leapt to cut off Rice’s throw to the plate and tossed the ball quickly to Owen, who tagged out Grich. Grich was furious. He slammed his helmet to the ground and threw his arms up in the air. Grich continued yelling in the dugout as Hurst fanned Pettis for the third out. The misplay erased any momentum the Angels might have had. They would not threaten at all in the final three innings.

Grich: “I’m running as hard as I can and everything in my mind is to score a run. Now I’ve got to rely on my third-base coach. I didn’t see his hands in the air, I took my three or four strides beyond third and then I realize he’s telling me to hold up. So I tried to stop, lost my footing and I could not get back.”7

Stubing took full responsibility for the play, admitting he “waited too long to commit.”8  Stubing said he did not see Boggs in position to cut off Rice’s throw. “I thought the throw was going all the way to home.”9 Stubing said he was yelling at Grich, but was late in putting up his arms to stop the runner.

Grich: “That’s not the first time I’ve thrown my helmet. It was not a class act, it was just an emotional act, and I wasn’t thinking. … I just snapped. … I didn’t mean to show [Stubing] up, that’s not professionalism. The first thing I said to him was, ‘Moose, I’m sorry I showed you up, my man, but Moose, I’ve got to see some hands on that play.’ “10

The Red Sox put the game away with three runs in both the seventh and eighth innings. Hurst went the distance, pitching what he described as a “nifty 11-hitter.”11 Hurst had missed nearly two months of the season with a groin pull, but returned in August in top form. He went 5-0 in September with two shutouts and a 1.07 ERA. On this afternoon, the Globe called Hurst “an island of sanity in a roiling whirlpool of silliness.”12

Evans: “It was one of the toughest days I’ve ever seen here. … The sun was very bright and low. My sunglasses were so little help I took them off … after I lost Rick Burleson’s pop fly in the seventh.” ¹³

Bob Boone said it was the toughest game he’d ever played in the sun.14 “It seems like any time a team comes in here and isn’t used to this place, miscommunications happen.”15

This article appeared in “The 1986 Boston Red Sox: There Was More Than Game Six” (SABR, 2016), edited by Leslie Heaphy and Bill Nowlin. Read more game stories from the book at the SABR Games Project by clicking here.

Sources

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS198610080.shtml

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1986/B10080BOS1986.htm

Notes

1 Leigh Montville, “Last Laugh in Comedy Of Errors,” Boston Globe, October 9, 1986: 1.

2 Ibid.

3  Ibid.

4  George Kimball, “The Sunny Side of the Park,” Boston Herald, October 9, 1986: 96.

5 Michael Madden, “For Grich and Angels, This Was a Lost Cause,” Boston Globe, October 9, 1986: 49.

6  Larry Whiteside, “Hurst, Sun Shine for Sox; Lefty Stifles Angels; Misplays Do Rest, 9-2,” Boston Globe, October 9, 1986: 49.

7 Michael Madden.

8 Charles Pierce, “Moose Stubs Toe At Third,” Boston Herald, October 9, 1986: 98.

9  Michael Madden.

10 Ibid.

11  John Powers, “An Island in the Storm; Hurst’s Composure Keeps Red Sox on an Even Keel,” Boston Globe, October 9, 1986: 50.

12 Ibid.

13 Tim Horgan. “Wind and Sun Add Up to Wackiness,” Boston Herald, October 9, 1986: 97.

14 Leigh Montville.

15 Lesley Visser. “Evans Shines on a Bright Day,” Boston Globe, October 9, 1986: 55.