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REVERSING THE CURSE,
PART 2
PEDRO
& TEK COME TO TOWN
Darren Lewis' HR makes the difference
August 25, 1998 ... With
the schedule in their favor and the home crowd at their backs, the
Red Sox lopped another day of summer off a calendar shrinking ever
closer to a playoff date in the fall. Darren Lewis hit a tie-breaking
home run into the left-field screen in the seventh inning that lifted
the Red Sox to a 3-2 win over the Oakland Athletics.
The win went
to lefty reliever Greg Swindell, his first with the Red Sox, and was saved by
Tom Gordon, whose league-leading 37th save (34th in a row) assured the Red Sox
of gaining another game in the wild-card race on the Baltimore Orioles and Texas
Rangers, who trail by nine games with 4 1/2 weeks to play. The Red Sox, who have
won eight of nine from the A's this season and four of their last six overall,
are a season-best 25 games over .500.
Lewis, whose
big-league career began with Oakland, was hitless in 18 previous at-bats before
he connected off lefthander Kenny Rogers before a sweating crowd of 28,366 in
Fenway Park, site of 20 of the Red Sox' final 33 games. Lewis's home run was his
seventh of the year, one more than he has had in the last three seasons
combined.
Swindell,
who had been summoned into the game after Rickey Henderson banged a single off
the leg of reliever Derek Lowe and stole second base, gave up a tying single to
Jason Giambi on the first pitch he threw in the seventh.
But Swindell,
who came to the Sox in a trading-deadline deal with the Twins, picked up the win
after Lewis homered and he pitched a scoreless eighth inning, abetted by a nice
catch by left fielder Troy O'Leary. With one out in the ninth, Gordon gave up a
pinch single to Bip Roberts, who promptly stole second, but Gordon left him
there by retiring pinch hitter Ed Sprague and Rickey Henderson on ground balls.
Red Sox
starter Tim Wakefield, who as a Pirates rookie in 1992 pitched in playoff games
that meant even more, gave up only a home run to Mike Blowers in the sixth, his
last inning of work after throwing 106 pitches. Wakefield was denied his 16th
win on a night he gave up four hits, walked four, and struck out six. But he
left an Oakland runner on third base in the second when he struck out Miguel
Tejada, and left the bases loaded in the fifth when he induced Matt Stairs to
pop out to Mike Benjamin in short center field.
Rogers
spotted the Sox a 2-0 lead in the first on a bases-loaded walk to Mike Stanley
and an RBI single by O'Leary, but he also showed a knack for dodging danger,
inducing Damon Buford to ground out with the bases still loaded in the first,
and pitching out of a second- and-third, no-out situation in the second.
But Rogers
had no answer for Nomar Garciaparra, who went 4 for 4 with three singles and a
double, and he couldn't stop Lewis from lofting his 2-and-2 fastball into a
southwest breeze that dropped the ball safely into the screen.
Three times
this season, Garciaparra has had games in which he went hitless in five at-bats
(including one 0 for 6). Each time, he has followed with huge games. Three hits,
including two home runs and five RBIs, the first time. Three hits, including a
triple and two RBIs, the second time. Tonight, his third four-hit game of the
season and seventh of his career. |
