Boston's woes continue, as they drop to 1-6 on the trip after a 3-2 loss to the California Angels on Friday night. Both starters Chuck Finley and Tom Bolton pitched well, but it was Finley who came out with the win. Finley struck out 8 over 8 innings before giving way to closer Bryan Harvey who tallied his 7th save. With the Red Sox leading 2-0 in the 5th inning, Devon White and Chili Davis hit back to back home runs to tie the game. After California took the lead, Wade Boggs was thrown out at the plate attempting to score the tying run in the 8th. Center fielder Ellis Burks was forced to leave the game with an elbow injury, but the Red Sox don't anticipate this being a significant injury.
Roger Clemens was purely dominant tonight against the California Angels, as he tossed a complete game shutout, allowing just 5 hits while striking out 10 without walking a batter. This was one of the best starts in all of the Major Leagues thus far this season. Ellis Burks sat this one out with an elbow injury and Tim Naehring was forced from the game after tweaking his hamstring, but the Red Sox had plenty of offense in support of Clemens tonight. The Red Sox pounded out 13 hits, including 3 for leadoff hitter Jody Reed. Dwight Evans hit his third home run of the season, a two run shot in the 3rd inning.
Just as it seemed the Red Sox were starting to play some better baseball, they had a setback today at Anaheim Stadium. Left handed starter Jim Abbott threw a 2 hit shutout for the Angels in a 7-0 win. Both of the Red Sox' hits came from Jody Reed. Mike Boddicker made it through 5.1 innings, but was largely ineffective allowing 6 runs on 9 hits. The Red Sox now head to Kansas City for a 3 game series against the 17-19 Royals to close out this 12 game road trip.