September 3, 2004: Two solo homers help Red Sox run win streak to 10 in a row

Two solo home runs – and excellent pitching – helped the streaking Boston Red Sox win their 10th game in a row and 16th of their last 17, in the opener of a three-game Labor Day weekend series with the Texas Rangers.

The winning streak had started on August 24, with a 5-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. The Red Sox won the next day’s game in Toronto, and then started a 10-game homestand by sweeping four games from the Detroit Tigers and three from the Anaheim Angels. On August 15 Boston had trailed the first-place New York Yankees by 10½ games in the American League East Division, but the Red Sox had lost only once since then and cut seven games off the Yankees’ lead.

Pedro Martínez – as it happened, the only Red Sox pitcher with a loss in their last 16 games – was on the mound at Fenway Park as the Rangers came to town. He was 14-5 with a 3.69 earned-run average. Martínez’s most recent start had been on August 28, when he threw seven innings of one-run, four-hit ball against the Tigers in Boston’s 5-1 win.

In this Friday night game against the Rangers, Martínez walked a batter in the first inning – his only walk of the game, as it played out – but got the other three batters.

Right-hander John Wasdin had been with the Red Sox from 1997 into 2000 and won 19 games, working mostly in relief. Now he was starting for manager Buck Showalter’s Rangers, who were slipping in the AL West standings. They had been just a half-game out of first place as recently as August 22, but had lost four in a row and dropped to 5½ games behind the Oakland A’s.

Wasdin got outs from the first two Red Sox batters, but left fielder Manny Ramírez swung at his first pitch and connected – sending it out to deep right field. The opposite-field blast was Ramírez’s 37th home run of the season, on his way to 43 homers and 130 RBIs. The homer made it 1-0, Red Sox.

Neither team got a man on base in the second inning.

In the top of the third, Rangers right fielder Gary Matthews led off lining a single fielded by Gabe Kapler in right. Two fly balls to right field, with a force out at second base in between, closed out that frame.

In the bottom of the third, Bill Mueller swung at Wasdin’s first pitch of the inning and homered to deep center, giving Boston a 2-0 lead. Mueller’s .326 batting average had led the AL in 2003, but the Red Sox third baseman missed a big stretch of the 2004 season after knee surgery, not playing from May 19 until July 2. Mueller was hitting .262 before the surgery but came on strong and finished the season at .283.

With two outs in the fourth, Texas second baseman Alfonso Soriano singled to left-center. He reached scoring position by stealing second, but center fielder Laynce Nix grounded out to first base, unassisted.

The first two Red Sox got on base in the bottom of the fifth – shortstop Orlando Cabrera with a single, and first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz on an error by shortstop Michael Young on a force play at second base – but the inning fizzed when Wasdin induced a couple of popups and a fly ball to center.

The Rangers got a runner to third base when Eric Young Sr. led off the top of the sixth with a two-base hit to left. The other Young – Michael – grounded out to Mark Bellhorn at second base, pushing the runner to third. But Martínez stranded him there by getting third baseman Hank Blalock to strike out swinging and Mark Teixeira, the Rangers first baseman, to foul out to third base. After the game, Teixeira said, “When you’re playing playoff-caliber teams, they step it up. We need to be able to do that, too.”1

In the Boston half of the sixth, Bellhorn singled and Ramírez walked to put runners on first and second with nobody out, but Wasdin buckled down and got outs from the next three batters. His former catcher, Jason Varitek, who was behind the plate for the Red Sox in this game, said, “[Wasdin] pitched probably the best I’ve ever seen him throw.”2

Soriano swung at Pedro’s first pitch in the seventh and flied out to center field. In a nine-pitch at-bat, Nix struck out swinging, but the ball escaped (it was ruled a wild pitch) and Nix reached first base. Martínez struck out the next batter, but Matthews singled and Nix went first to third.

Andy Fox pinch-hit for catcher Gerald Laird, but never got a chance to hit since Varitek gunned down Matthews attempting to steal second base. Kevin Millar, Boston’s DH on this night, praised Varitek for the throw: “He’s throwing the ball as well as I’ve ever seen him throw the ball right now. That was a big out.”3

In the bottom of the seventh, the Red Sox again threatened to increase their lead. Mientkiewicz flied out to center, but then Wasdin walked Mueller and Kapler. Left-hander Erasmo Ramírez relieved Wasdin. On his eighth pitch to pinch-hitter Doug Mirabelli, he struck him out swinging and then saw Ken Huckaby (who had come in to replace Laird) throw out Mueller attempting to steal third base.

Mike Timlin relieved Martínez for the eighth. Timlin got two groundouts, then gave up a double to Michael Young. Alan Embree took over from Timlin and got the third out, Blalock grounding out short to first.

After Bellhorn struck out, Doug Brocail relieved Erasmo Ramírez. After a second out, Varitek singled to right. He was picked off first for what would have been the final out but there was an error at first base and the pickoff failed. Varitek wound up on second base and Millar walked, but Cabrera grounded into a force out at second base.

For the top of the ninth, Red Sox skipper Terry Francona turned to his closer, Keith Foulke, who already had 26 saves in 2004. Teixeira grounded out to first, Foulke covering. Soriano struck out. Nix reached on an infield single to shortstop. While designated hitter Kevin Mench was at bat, Nix took second on defensive indifference. Mench grounded out, second to first. The game was over, a 2-0 Red Sox win.

Foulke got save number 27 and Pedro Martínez got win number 15. He was 11-2 over his last 18 starts “and the bullpen was all but untouchable for the second straight night.”4 Both starting pitchers had allowed just four hits, but Ramírez’s and Mueller’s solo homers made the difference.

Timlin, for his work, got credit for hold number 16. Embree earned credit for his 17th hold.

The Red Sox were showing signs of increasing self-confidence. Of the team’s win, Pedro Martínez said, “I expected it. I thought we had the talent all the way to have a run like this one.”5

With this victory, the Red Sox got win number 80 and were only 2½ games behind the Yankees in the AL East, the closest Boston had been to the top spot since June 8.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Carl Riechers 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. Thanks to Steve West for assistance with Texas newspapers.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200409030.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2004/B09030BOS2004.htm

Notes

1 Evan Grant, “Offense Vanishes in Clutch,” Dallas Morning News, September 4, 2004: 8C.

2 Bob Hohler, “Perfect 10,” Boston Globe, September 4, 2004: 81, 85.

3 Hohler.

4 Hohler.

5 Associated Press, “Red Sox Win 10th in Row, Close Gap,” Washington Post, September 4, 2004: D7.