|
THE SUMMER OF "MORGAN'S
MAGIC" ...
Roger Clemens aces the Mariners
with a three hitter
May
14, 1988 ... Roger Clemens a three-hit shutout
and struck out 10 on a day when he wasn't near his best. Clemens
(6-1) went the distance for the second straight outing, running his
string of scoreless innings to 18, with 26 strikeouts, and lowering
his earned run average to 1.78. All he needed for a cushion was Sam
Horn's second homer in two days in the second inning and a couple of
nice defensive plays, including a rare 5-6-4 double play on Harold
Reynolds' sixth-inning bunt. Clemens
allowed only one hit, a double down the left-field line by Reynolds, until the
sixth, and only two singles the rest of the way. Yet he still had to hang tough
in the ninth, when he faced old nemesis Alvin Davis with two on and none out.
It was not
one of Clemens' most overpowering performances (his five walks were his most
since last June), but it was good enough. Until Reynolds doubled with two out in
the third, Clemens had allowed only one ball out of the infield and struck out
four.
Meanwhile,
Horn, who'd hit his first homer since last August on Friday night, bashed
another off loser Scott Bankhead (0-1) with one out in the second to put Boston
ahead, 1-0. Bankhead, who'd beaten Clemens here a year ago, was taming them with
a deft hand. Besides Horn's homer, he'd conceded only a pair of singles by that
point and struck out five.
Yet
Clemens was yielding even less. He'd had a couple of wobbly moments including
consecutive four-pitch walks to Phelps and another on a full count to Mike
Kingery. But most of the time, he solved the Mariners with little difficulty.
He got
Presley to ground into a double play to end the fourth, then fanned Glenn Wilson
and Rey Quinones to close out the fifth. After Kingery dumped a single into
center to lead off the sixth, Wade Boggs turned the defensive play of the
afternoon, charging in for Reynolds' bunt and firing to Jody Reed at second to
spark a double play.
Yet he was
still walking a precarious wire while his comrades were making nothing happen.
Bankhead whiffed Brady Anderson and Ellis Burks in the fifth, then hung up two
quick outs in the sixth. Finally, Dwight Evans bounced one up the middle and
beat Quinones' throw with a headfirst slide. Greenwell followed with a blast off
The Wall in dead center to score Evans. So it was 2-0, and with Horn due up,
Seattle manager Dick Williams ordered an intentional pass and got righthander
Mike Jackson working in the bullpen.
Bankhead
promptly struck out Cerone to end the inning, but the Mariners still had to find
a way to crack Clemens, who seemed to be getting stronger as the proceedings
wore on. Clemens struck out Phelps to begin a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh, then
fanned Wilson and Quinones in the eighth before getting Kingery to fly weakly to
left on a full count.
Lee Smith
was up and working now in the Boston bullpen, but Clemens was still on the mound
in the ninth. By then, the Sox had managed another run on a four-pitch walk to
Boggs by Jackson (who'd come on after the sixth), a single by Evans and another
double by Greenwell, this one bouncing in and out of Wilson's glove in right.
Now
Clemens showed signs of wear. He was slow to cover first on Reynolds' leadoff
bunt and conceded a single. Then he walked Mickey Brantley on five pitches. That
brought Sox manager John McNamara out of the dugout for a visit but Roger stayed
in to close it out. A few moments later, the Mariners were clattering down their
runway, beaten again. And Roger Clemens, 2-3 at this point a year ago, had taken
another step toward the Land of Twenty. |
