May 27, 1986: Eerie fog off Lake Erie gives Red Sox weather-shortened win in Cleveland

It was relatively early in the 1986 season, but when the Boston Red Sox (29-14) faced the Cleveland Indians at Cleveland Stadium on the night of May 27, 1986, they led the American League East Division and held a seven-game lead over the sixth-place Indians – who nonetheless owned a winning record (22-21).1

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.