The Sensational 70s - Boston has Liftoff in Houston

Plenty of offense was on display at Minute Maid Park as Boston scored 20 runs in the three game series, taking two out of three from the '79 Astros who had featured their three top starters. Dwight Evans, Jim Rice, Fred Lynn and Carlton Fisk led the power surge for Boston as each player drilled a pair of homers in the series. Some fine defensive play was also mixed in, most notably in the outfield, for both clubs.

Boston's Rick Wise went up against the Astros Bob Forsch to kick things off. Coming into this contest, Forsch was third best the Majors in ERA with a sparkling 2.00, but it didn't take long for the Boston bats to mar this mark. Houston gave Forsch out to a brief 1-0 lead after one inning. Astros right fielder Jose Cruz blooped what looked to be a harmless single into left center field but Sawx center fielder Fred Lynn lost track of the ball which allowed the first Houston run to score and Cruz to take second base. Lynn would later pay restitution for his blunder, but not before Dwight Evans took matters into his own hands to ignite the comeback. 

With two out in the first and Cruz at second, Bob Watson drilled a single into right field. Evans charged the ball hard and gunned out Cruz at the plate to end the inning. Evans promptly evened the score in the top of the second blasting a solo shot to left to tie things up.

Boston kept their foot on the gas in the following inning, plating 5 runs off a beleaguered Forsch in the third. Rico Petrocelli and Rick Burleson hit back to back singles and were sacrificed to third and second respectively by Denny Doyle. Cecil Cooper followed by slapping a single to right to scored both. Fred Lynn then made good driving a two run homer into the right field bullpen, and Jim Rice capped the five run inning cranking a solo shot to center. Forsch would get through one more inning leaving with a line of 6 runs on 6 hits with no walks and one strikeout. Lynn later drove a 2 run double into the right center field gap and earned player of the game honors. Freddie remains one of the Red Sox hottest hitters as was noted in my last post. Boston starter Rick Wise went 7 innings giving up 4 hits and only one run to even his record at 9-9.

Terry Puhl's lead off homer in the second game off Boston's Reggie Cleveland was a harbinger of the fireworks that would ensue. In the top of the second, Boston roared right back as Carl Yastrzemski started things off with a single and Jim Rice crushed a two run shot to give Boston a 2-1 advantage. This lead was also short-lived as Art Howe matched Rice with a two run blast of his own which followed an Enos Cabell single enabling Houston to regain their one run lead at 3-2. The very next inning, Cabell was in the middle of things again lacing an RBI single to score Jose Cruz to push the lead to 4-2.

Houston starter Vern Ruhle then  became the second victim of a vaunted Red Sox offense as Boston clubbed lead-off homers in the fourth and fifth inning by Fred Lynn and Carlton Fisk to tie the game at 4. Ruhle faired a bit better than teammate Bob Forsch as he hung on for 6 innings but left without factoring in the decision.

In the seventh inning, Bo McLaughlin came on for Ruhle and hung a slider high in the zone to Dwight Evans. He took it the other way, ripping into the right field seats for the fourth lead-off homer of the game. Evans would be the only batter McLaughlin would face as he was quickly lifted for Rick Williams  In the ninth, Boston tacked on another run as Evans score on a Rick Burleson sacrifice fly to make the score 6-4.

Reggie Cleveland's roller coaster start lasted 6 innings, and Dick Drago was called on for the rare 3 inning save. Drago was within one out of doing just that until the unthinkable occurred. Art Howe drove a two out double to left and was plated by a Jeffery Leonard single.  As Boston attempted to throw Howe out, Leonard took second, and that was a huge play. Rafael Landestoy hit a pinch hit double to score Leonard to tie the game 6-6. Drago did preserve the tie by knocking down a grounder back up the middle by Craig Reynolds to get Boston back to the dugout forcing extra innings.

Both bullpens went toe to toe in four bonus frames. For Boston, they relied on the tandem of Diego Segui and Dick Pole. While Segui's two innings were uneventful, Pole had to escape two jams. In the twelfth, Pole gave a one out free pass to Terry Puhl, and he advanced to second on a Craig Reynolds grounder. Pole was able to wiggle out of trouble by striking out Cesar Cedeno. 

This gave way to Carlton Fisk who drilled a solo shot in the top of the thirteenth off Pete Ladd restoring Boston's lead to 7-6. Ladd was unable to follow up on Joe Sambito's efforts who was razor sharp in 2.1 innings of relief. Again in the bottom half of the inning, Pole found himself in a fix. Jose Cruz belted a lead off double into center, and the Astros had the meat of the order coming up. Pole was able to miss the bats of Bob Watson and Enos Cabell just enough for two fly outs to center, and Dave Bergman popped out to Carl Yastrzemski to leave Cruz on second and preserve the win.

Boston went right after Houston fireballer J.R. Richard in the final game putting up fence posts in each of the first three innings to jump ahead 3-0. Boston would collect 12 hits in total off Richard, chasing him from the game after only 5.2 innings. However, Richard left with the lead as Boston starter Roger Moret was pounded for a pair two run homers by Enos Cabell and Alan Ashby. Toss in a Terry Puhl sacrifice fly and Houston was up 5-3 after five innings. Moret pretty much punched his ticket back to the bullpen in this one as he saw his ERA inflate to 6.03 and was pulled after the fifth.

The story in this game would be the defensive outfield play of the Astros as Boston had chances to add on runs in the sixth. After Fisk and Petrocelli hit one out singles, Rick Burleson drilled a double into right center. Houston's Terry Puhl quickly retrieved the ball hit the cutoff man Art Howe. He rifled it back into catcher Alan Ashby to cut down Petrocelli. This kept the score at 5-4. With Burleson on second and two out, Cecil Cooper slashed a single into right field. Astros' Jose Cruz came up throwing and Cesar Cedeno relayed to nail Burleson and the score would remain 5-4.


Cedeno homered in the eighth and this proved to be the winning run. The Red Sox again had a chance in the eighth.  Rick Burleson singled with two outs, and after consecutive wild pitches by Astros' reliever Bert Roberge, he ended up on third. Cecil Cooper popped out to second ending the threat. Boston attempted a ninth inning comeback of their own picking up a run off an Enos Cabell error, but it wasn't enough as Houston held on to win 6-5 preventing the sweep.