The Red Sox then went West with stops in Oakland and Seattle. Boston split a 4 game set with the '78 A's, and then took 2 of 3 from the lowly '78 Mariners. After a day off for travel, Boston would touch down at Yankee Stadium and attempt to pare down the advantage of the front running Yankees. Boston's efforts have been far from subtle in the first two contests as they have taken the Bronx Bombers out behind the woodshed in two lopsided wins.
In the opener, Boston trotted out Rick Wise who had been riding a hot streak as of late. However, on this occasion, he couldn't really develop any consistency. In the first inning, he was victim of some aggressive, heads up play on the base paths by the Yankees. After intentionally walking Yankees. right fielder Reggie Jackson to load the bases with one out, a ground ball was scooped up by Sox second sacker Denny Doyle. In attempting the twin killing, Jackson spilled shortstop Rick Burleson with a vicious takeout slide. Upon seeing this, Yankees' Willie Randolph took off from second and rounded third without breaking stride to count for the second New York run of the inning.
Burleson then began exacting his revenge. in the fifth, he drilled a solo homer to left to bring the Sawx back from a 2-1 deficient. The lead changed hands both the 6th and 7th, and when the dust cleared Boston held a 4-3 advantage. Once again, Burleson was in the thick of things as be lined a single to right. This pushed Carlrton Fisk to third as forced a walked that chased Yankee starter Catfish Hunter from the game. Fisk would score on a pinch hit single by Bernie Carbo, and after Yankee left fielder Lou Pinella booted the ball, Burleson scampered to third and then scored the go-ahead run on a Cecil Cooper sac fly. Finally, Burleson would be the trigger man in a 4 run fourth to put the game away. After drilled a leadoff double to right center, "The Rooster" scored on a throwing error by Yankee shortstop Bucky Dent. How sweet is that, huh? Toss in a single by Denny Doyle, a passed ball and doubles by Cooper and Yastrzemski and that wrapped this one up.
The Boston bullpen really stepped up in this victory as well. Notably, the 2 inning relief effort by Boston stopper Dick Drago and the clutch pitching of Jim Burton. Burton came on in a very tough spot to notch the win. After New York took a 3-2 lead in the sixth, they had runners on the corners with only one out, and Burton was asked to put out the fire against power hitting third baseman Craig Nettles. Burton got Nettles to ground into an inning ending double play. Highlights below.
The second game saw Bill Lee get the nod against Yankees' back end guy Dick Tidrow. Lee was coming off a complete game three hit shutout in Seattle and he continued his winning ways. Boston and New York traded runs early on, but the Red Sox had their second four run inning in as many games in the sixth.
Cecil Cooper lead things off with a single, and New York simply could not figure out how to stop him. Cooper would go 5-5, score two runs and register 1 RBI. Lynn followed Cooper with a single of his own and New York reliever Ken Clay then walked Carl Yastrzemski. Clay got the double play ball he needed off the bat of Jim Rice. Even though Cooper scored on the Rice grounder, it looked as though New York's Ken Clay may get out of the inning with minimal damage done. However, Dwight Evans and Carlton Fisk would strike for back to back jacks with Evans' shot being of the two run variety to dispel any slight of hand act by Clay.
The Red Sox will go for the sweep with Reggie Cleveland facing Yankee ace Ron Guidry. Below are the "Hot Sox" as of the past 10 games along with the highlights from game two in New York.
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