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ON THIS DATE (July 31, 1991)
... Jack Clark lived up to his billing and more by
bashing three homers, scoring four runs and driving in six, capped by
a 14th-inning blast off A's reliever Steve Chitren that gave the Sox
an 11-10 win. This was Fenway-ball, featuring comebacks upon comebacks, that
was as inspired a Red Sox win as you will witness. Up, 4-1. Down, 5-4. Down,
10-9. Tied, 10-10. And then won on the last at-bat with Clark's homer, his 17th,
came on a 2-2 count that went over everything, ending a game that lasted 5 hours
1 minute. There were 18 extra-base hits, 11 by the Red Sox. The Red Sox were
good and they were lucky, too.
Clark's second grand slam of the season and the ninth of his
career had wiped out Rickey Henderson's game-opening shot off starter, Dana
Kiecker.
The A's, who scored a lone run in the fourth on a Brook Jacoby
RBI double, scored three in the fifth to take a 5-4 lead. The Sox got it back in
the bottom of the fifth when Clark singled, Greenwell doubled and Carlos
Quintana tied the game with a run-scoring ground out.
Kiecker allowed a leadoff sixth-inning single to weak-hitting
Mark McGwire and then hit Mike Gallego with a pitch. The only long man Joe
Morgan could go to at that point, Daryl Irvine, got the call. He walked Rickey
Henderson, and Dave Henderson hit a ground-rule double to the right-field
bleachers, making it 7-5.
Canseco then hit a ball to short. Luis Rivera, part of a
drawn-in infield, fielded it cleanly and looked to the plate, where he seemed to
have Rickey dead. But it appeared someone advised Rivera to go to first. He did.
And the A's had an 8-5 lead.
Back-to-back doubles by Wade Boggs and Jody Reed, in the
bottom of the sixth, chased Dave Stewart and launched the Sox' most exhilarating
comeback of the season. The Sox came to bat in the eighth trailing, 10-6.
In the bottom of the eighth, Boggs singled. He rode home on
Jody Reed's two-run homer, and with two outs, Clark added a solo blast. Ellis
Burks entered the picture and tripled to the right-center-field gap to start the
ninth off Honeycutt. After Luis Rivera failed to get him in and Tony Pena
walked, Boggs (5 for 7) slapped a single to left, tying the game. It was the
14th runner he'd knocked in from third in 17 attempts. It was his fifth straight
hit of the game. |
