As in the first game of this series, Boston fell behind early and came up one run short as the '78 Yankees took the AL East title by the score of 5-4. The last game of this series and the season will basically be a chance for the Red Sox to regroup before they face the '79 Orioles in the American League wildcard game.
New York jumped out on Boston starter Reggie Cleveland to open a 4-0 cushion coming into the home half of the third inning. Included in the scoring was a clutch two-out two-run double by Craig Nettles. Rico Petrocelli took a low fastball from Ron Guidry and deposited it on the center field batting eye to get Boston on the board.
The Red Sox inched closer in the fourth on a two-out RBI single by Jim Rice Rice was in on the scoring again in the sixth scoring on another two-out single by Cecil Cooper. Despite these two-out heroics, Boaton went 2-12 with RISP as they just couldn't seem to deliver a kill shot which allowed Guidry to hang around for 7 innings for his 21st win of the season.
After Dick Pole tossed two innings of shutout baseball for Boston, Jim Burton came on in the seventh, and even though he was touched for two singles, he got Craig Nettles swinging to escape the inning.
There would be no hiding in the eighth, however, as Yankees' Chris Chambliss took a hanging curveball over the right field fence to make the score 5-3. Chambliss repeated his flare for the dramatic as he hit a series winning homer against the Kansas City Royals in the 1976 ALCS. Boston picked up another run in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a Nettles' fielding error, but with runners on first and second, Dwight Evans grounded into a fielder's choice. As he did in the opener, Rich Gossage came on to register the save - his league leading 51st.
Boston will now hold Luis Tiant back for the series finale so he can start in the wildcard game. Roger Moret will face New York's Jim Beattie to close out the regular schedule.
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