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Message #: 31934
The Red Sox and Orioles split a four-game series of seesaw battles at Fenway.
Game 1: BOA 7, BAA 5
This game featured two starters, Baltimore’s Greg Swindell and Boston’s Aaron Sele, who each sported ERA’s a full three runs higher than their real-world stats. In the 2nd, Keith Lockhart hit a two-run homer and Mike Pagliarulo added an RBI double to put Baltimore on the board, but Mike Greenwell singled in a run to make it 3-1. One inning later, Boston’s James Mouton tripled and scored on a Jose Lind single to make it a one-run game, but the Orioles bailed Swindell out of a bases-loaded jam with a double. Swindell ran out of luck in the 5th, heading to the showers with runners on the corners and two out. When Mo Vaughn stole second (his first steal of the year), the Orioles manager had reliever Mike Oquist walk Jose Canseco to load the bases. You can guess what happened next: John Valentin, roll 2-9 (HR 1-4, flyout 5-20), split card 2, grand slam. Oquist then gave up a single to Greenwell and an RBI triple to Tony Eusebio* to put Boston on top 7-3. Sele left with the bases loaded and two out in the top of the 7th; Cal Ripken greeted reliever Rich Garces with a two-run single to cut the Red Sox lead in half, but they got no closer as Stan Belinda notched his 20th save.
Game 2: BAA 5, BOA 4 (11)
Baltimore’s All-Star Craig Biggio had a rough game. He grounded into a double play in the 1st and made an error in the second that led to two unearned runs when rookie Rick Krivda, making his first SMILEY start, issued two bases-loaded walks. Back-to-back doubles by Mouton and Greenwell made it 3-0 in the 3rd, and Valentin singled in another run in the 6th. Boston starter Vaughn Eshelman was outstanding, giving up just three hits in seven shutout innings. Reliever Mike Maddux, not so much – in the 8th, he gave up four straight singles and a sac fly to cut Boston’s lead to 4-3. In the top of the 9th, after Baltimore’s Craig Grebeck doubled off Maddux, Belinda came in and gave up a game-tying single to Lockhart, although with two on and one out, Biggio grounded into another critical double play. Lockhart came through again in the 11th with a go-ahead single. The rally ended when Biggio struck out with runners on the corners and two out. It took three pitchers for the Orioles to survive the bottom of the inning and end a six-game losing streak. The less-than-stellar Orioles bullpen had one of their best games of the season, combining for six scoreless innings.
Game 3: BAA 8, BOA 6
With aces Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina on the mound, you’d expect a low-scoring game, but no. Boston had plenty of opportunities against Mussina, but the Orioles defense got a big double play in the 1st, Brady Anderson threw Canseco out at home in the 2nd, and Mussina struck Vaughn out to survive a bases-loaded 3rd inning jam. Rafael Palmeiro took Clemens deep in the 4th for the game’s first run, and after Clemens walked Ripken, Lockhart hit another one out to give the O’s a 3-0 lead. In the 5th, a wild pitch on strike three put Palmeiro on first, and another wild pitch brought him home from 3rd to make it 4-0. It happened again in the top of the 6th as Anderson scored on another wild pitch. The Red Sox cut it to 5-2 in the bottom of the 6th, thanks to a Vaughn homer and an RBI groundout. Mussina left with two on in the 7th, and the Orioles bullpen reverted to form: Mark Lee gave up a single to Mo Vaughn to load the bases. Newcomer Johnny Ruffin walked in a run and gave up a bases-loaded single to Eusebio, but when Vaughn tried to score from second, the Baltimore defense bailed Mussina out one last time when Jeffrey Hammonds threw Vaughn out to preserve a shaky 5-4 lead. In the 8th, the Red Sox tied the game on, fittingly, a wild pitch and took the lead on a sac fly by Vaughn. Fleet-footed pinch-hitter Curtis Goodwin led off the top of the 9th with a single and stole second. When Palmeiro singled, Goodwin’s speed forced Troy O’Leary into a bad throw home that tied the game and put Palmeiro on third, where Ripken singled him in to retake the lead. Ripken then beat a throw to the plate on a Hammonds double to make it 8-6. Randy Myers gave up a single – Eusebio’s fifth of the game – before recording his 17th save.
Weird moment from HAL #1: In the Red Sox eighth, Jose Oquendo (speed 9) was pulled for a pinch-runner. But instead of Alvaro Espinosa (speed 12), who ultimately took over for Oquendo at 2B, HAL chose Jorge Fabregas (speed 8) as the pinch-runner. Fabregas still scored on Vaughn’s sac fly.
Game 4: BOA 7, BAA 6 (13)
Boston took a one-run lead in the first on a single by Tim Naehring. Doubles by Naehring and O’Leary made it 2-0 in the 3rd. In the 4th, the Orioles got two hits and two walks but could only muster on run on a sac fly by Ripken. In the 6th, Fabregas turned a hit-and-run into an RBI double to extend the Red Sox lead to 3-1. After a two-base error in the top of the 8th, the appearance of Palmeiro as a pinch-hitter was enough to make HAL bring in Belinda for a potential five-out save, which became his second blown save of the series when Palmeiro went yard and tied it up…. briefly. With the speedy Mouton on 3rd in the bottom of the 8th, the Red Sox went for the go-ahead squeeze play and Fabregas made it work. But that lead was also short-lived, as Ripken put the Orioles back on top in the 9th with a two-run double and Darren Lewis doubled Ripken home for an insurance run…. which meant that when the fatigued Myers gave up a two-run homer to Naehring, it wasn’t a walk-off. The last man in the Orioles bullpen, Jeff Juden, pitched three hitless innings before he finally wore out in the 13th, giving up a walk and a game-ending double by Naehring.
Weird moment from HAL #2: The walk in the 13th inning was by Oquendo (again, speed 9.) This time HAL used Espinosa to pinch-run for him – but only AFTER Oquendo stole second.
* (who had one triple in the entire 1995 season)
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