Dwight Evans' slapped a grounder just under the outstretched glove of New York second baseman Willie Randolph to bring home the winning run in the eighth as the 1975 Boston Red Sox defeated the 1978 New York Yankees 3-2 in Game 3 of their American League Divisional Series. With this series sweep, Boston now has won 4 consecutive playoff games going back to their wildcard win against the '79 Baltimore Orioles.
Boston never led in this game until Evans' game-winning RBI single as New York twice held one run leads.
The Yankees jumped out to their first lead in the top of the first on an unearned run. Denny Doyle botched a ground ball off the bat of Mickey Rivers, and after a stolen base and a wild pitch moved him to third, Craig Nettles RBI sacrifice fly put New York ahead 1-0.
The Yankees jumped out to their first lead in the top of the first on an unearned run. Denny Doyle botched a ground ball off the bat of Mickey Rivers, and after a stolen base and a wild pitch moved him to third, Craig Nettles RBI sacrifice fly put New York ahead 1-0.
Cecil Cooper delivered the counter-punch with a solo shot in the bottom half of the first off Yankee starter Ed Figueroa to tie the game, but Bucky Dent composed a painful 1978 flashback driving a ball over the Green Monster off Boston starter Luis Tiant in the third for a 2-1 Yankee advantage.
In the fourth, Carlton Fisk lead off with a single and came around to third as Rico Petrocelli followed him with a single of his own. Rick Burleson then grounded into a double play, but Fisk ambled home to make the score 2-2.
Neither Tiant nor Figueroa figured into the decision as both went 7 stellar innings leaving the game tied 2-2. With the exception of Game 1, New York never found their stride offensively as Boston pitching held the mighty Yankees to only 3 earned runs in the final two games of the series. Going one step further, both Boston starters of those games, Rick Wise and Luis Tiant, allowed only 2 earned runs in 14.2 innings of work.
It was the Yankee bullpen that fell victim to its second loss of the series, and just as in Game 1, the eighth inning spelled their doom. Jim Rice drilled a short hopper to the base of the Green Monster in left center for a one-out double off Yankee reliever Dave Rajsich. This was Rice's 7th hit of the series and third for extra bases. Including the wildcard game against Baltimore, Rice is 9-16 with 2 homers, 2 doubles and 6 RBI in the playoffs. After Carl Yastrzemski was issued a walk by Rajsich, Evans smacked a 0-1 Rajsich fastball past the diving Willie Randolph to score Rice for a lead they never relinquished.
Jim Willoughby had come on in the top of the eighth and was left in for the ninth by manager Darrell Johnson. Willoughby picked up his second win of the series firing two scoreless innings. The Boston bullpen was huge in this ALDS going 2-0 with 2 saves in the series. The bullpen accounted for 6.1 innings allowing only one run on three hits.
Man, I was super pumped after casting the Yankees aside in three straight games. What was even sweeter was eliminating them with an RBI single by my favorite all-time Sawx player! I've been playing most of the other playoff games so it might take me some time to get back to starting the ALCS. I've also been playing all the games in the National League series, and I have been posting results in my Twitter feed tagged #classicbaseball. I'm attempting to perform 2 upsets using the '79 Expos and '76 Mets.
Boston now awaits the winner of the ALDS series between the 1977 Texas Rangers and the 1977 Kansas City Royals. In the National League, both NLDS series are tied at 1-1. The 1975 Cincinnati Reds and the 1979 Montreal Expos series shifts to Olympic Stadium while the 1977 Los Angeles Dodgers travel to New York to continue their series against the 1976 New York Mets.
In the fourth, Carlton Fisk lead off with a single and came around to third as Rico Petrocelli followed him with a single of his own. Rick Burleson then grounded into a double play, but Fisk ambled home to make the score 2-2.
Neither Tiant nor Figueroa figured into the decision as both went 7 stellar innings leaving the game tied 2-2. With the exception of Game 1, New York never found their stride offensively as Boston pitching held the mighty Yankees to only 3 earned runs in the final two games of the series. Going one step further, both Boston starters of those games, Rick Wise and Luis Tiant, allowed only 2 earned runs in 14.2 innings of work.
It was the Yankee bullpen that fell victim to its second loss of the series, and just as in Game 1, the eighth inning spelled their doom. Jim Rice drilled a short hopper to the base of the Green Monster in left center for a one-out double off Yankee reliever Dave Rajsich. This was Rice's 7th hit of the series and third for extra bases. Including the wildcard game against Baltimore, Rice is 9-16 with 2 homers, 2 doubles and 6 RBI in the playoffs. After Carl Yastrzemski was issued a walk by Rajsich, Evans smacked a 0-1 Rajsich fastball past the diving Willie Randolph to score Rice for a lead they never relinquished.
Jim Willoughby had come on in the top of the eighth and was left in for the ninth by manager Darrell Johnson. Willoughby picked up his second win of the series firing two scoreless innings. The Boston bullpen was huge in this ALDS going 2-0 with 2 saves in the series. The bullpen accounted for 6.1 innings allowing only one run on three hits.
Man, I was super pumped after casting the Yankees aside in three straight games. What was even sweeter was eliminating them with an RBI single by my favorite all-time Sawx player! I've been playing most of the other playoff games so it might take me some time to get back to starting the ALCS. I've also been playing all the games in the National League series, and I have been posting results in my Twitter feed tagged #classicbaseball. I'm attempting to perform 2 upsets using the '79 Expos and '76 Mets.
Boston now awaits the winner of the ALDS series between the 1977 Texas Rangers and the 1977 Kansas City Royals. In the National League, both NLDS series are tied at 1-1. The 1975 Cincinnati Reds and the 1979 Montreal Expos series shifts to Olympic Stadium while the 1977 Los Angeles Dodgers travel to New York to continue their series against the 1976 New York Mets.
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