September 3, 1990
This past week started out on a high note for the Red Sox, as they finally snapped their 10 game losing streak by taking 3 out of 4 in Cleveland against the equally hapless Indians. However, the weekend wasn’t nearly as positive, with the Yankees sweeping a 3 game series at Fenway Park. Outfielder Mike Greenwell missed the majority of the week with the dead arm he began to experience in Toronto last weekend, but made his return to the lineup over the weekend against the Yankees.
With rosters expanding to 40 over the weekend, the Red Sox promoted 5 players to their Major League club. Outfielder Rick Lancellotti was added to the roster on the same day that he was named the International League Player of the Month for August. In the month, he hit .357 with 9 home runs and 23 RBI. For the season, Lancellotti is second in the league with 26 home runs.
The Red Sox also added three pitchers to their bullpen; Jeff Plympton, Kevin Ritz and Steve Howe. Ritz struggled mightily with his control while with Boston early in the season, but has recently pitched much better for Pawtucket. Plympton also struggled with the Major League club to the tune of a 6.65 ERA over 16 appearances. The lefty Howe was signed by the Red Sox in July after being out of baseball for the last two seasons. He has not pitched well while at either Elmira or New Britain since being signed by the organization, but will be given an opportunity to prove himself in Boston over the next month.
Infielder Luis Rivera, who opened the season with Boston before being optioned AAA, has battled a sprained thumb for most of the second half of the season. He hit .231 with 9 home runs for Pawtucket, and figures to add some depth to the Red Sox infield.
Jack Brady indicated that the team would likely make some additional roster moves as the various minor leagues wrap up their seasons. They would prefer to have some of their top prospects continue to get regular at bats in the minors for as long as possible. Once New Britain finishes up on September 10th, all eyes will be on Jeff Bagwell and Phil Plantier who have each had outstanding seasons and figure to be major pieces of the team’s future. It is widely anticipated that they will both make their debuts this month. Plantier was just named the Eastern League Player of the Month for August, hitting .387 with 12 home runs and 35 RBI, which has him at .355 with 22 home runs for the season.
In minor league playoff action, the Red Sox of the Gulf Coast League are squaring off against the Mets in a best of 7 series for the league crown. After building a 2-0 lead with road wins in games 1 and 2, the Red Sox lost 3 straight at home and now face elimination in tonight’s game 6.
In the Single A Carolina League, the Lynchburg Red Sox finished at 81-59 and won the North division. They will take on the Peninsula Pilots of the Mariners organization for the league championship in a best of 7 series beginning on Wednesday.
Around the League
Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics was named AL Player of the Month with an August performance that saw him hit .406 with 7 home runs and 24 RBI. He may have established himself as a clear cut front runner for the MVP award this season, as he’s hitting .332 with 38 home runs, 113 RBI, and 41 stolen bases. Unfortunately, it wasn’t all good news out of Oakland this week, as they had yet another starting pitcher go down with a major injury. Bob Welch suffered a torn UCL and will require Tommy John surgery. Welch was 15-9 with a 3.31 ERA at the time of the injury. He will miss the rest of this season, and likely all of next season as well.
In the NL, Pittsburgh’s Bobby Bonilla hit .340 with 6 home runs and 29 RBI in the month of August to earn Player of the Month honors.
On the pitching side, Jose DeLeon of the St. Louis Cardinals was the Pitcher of the Month in August for the second consecutive month. He went 5-0 with a 1.13 ERA over 6 starts. He struck out 49 batters in 47.2 innings. DeLeon is now 19-6 with a 2.19 ERA and 205 strikeouts to lead the National League. Seattle’s Brian Holman was named AL Pitcher of the Month, going 5-1 with a 2.47 ERA during August. He is now 17-8 on the season.
Milwaukee’s Shawn Boskie was the AL Rookie of the Month, going 4-0 in 5 starts. Frank Castillo of the Chicago Cubs earned the award in the NL by going 3-2 and holding opponents to a .191 batting average with 40 strikeouts in 47.2 innings pitched.
Earlier today, Detroit’s Jack Morris was named AL Player of the Week, after winning both of his starts last week without allowing a run and just 5 hits over 17.1 innings. In the National League, Atlanta outfielder Ron Gant earned the award after going .440 with 5 home runs and 12 RBI.
Elsewhere in the league, Cincinnati outfielder Eric Davis had his 30 game hitting streak snapped yesterday in Chicago against Mike Harkey. It was the longest streak in the majors this season. Cincinnati is now 4-6 in its last 10 games, and San Diego sits just a game back in the NL West. Those teams will play each other in 6 of their last 9 games this season.
Week in Review
The Red Sox finally broke their losing streak in a wild 9-8 win tonight at Cleveland Stadium against the Indians. Both starters pitched well with John Dopson firing 6 strong innings for the Red Sox, and Charles Nagy lasting 7 for Cleveland. With the score tied at 3, all hell broke loose in a wild 8th inning. The Red Sox scored 6 runs against Indians reliever Neal Heaton in the top of the 8th. Cleveland answered back with 5 in the bottom of the inning against Pedro Borbon, who did not retire a batter. With the tying run at 3rd base, Todd Worrell struck out Jeff Manto to end the threat. A 1-2-3 9th inning earned Jeff Reardon his 6th save. Kevin Romine hit his second home run of the season, and Carlos Quintana added 3 hits as part of Boston's 16 hit attack.
Boston won back to back games with a 5-4 win tonight against the Indians. With the score tied at 4 entering the 9th, the Red Sox mounted a rally that was kickstarted by an error at third base by Jim Thome. With two outs and the Red Sox yet to push a run across, a Tim Naehring single drove in Marty Barrett with the go ahead run. Jeff Reardon was unavailable after working in consecutive games, so it was up to Jeff Gray who made quick work of the Indians to earn the save. Red Sox starter Dana Kiecker pitched 6 innings, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits, but he walked 5. The Red Sox jumped out to an early lead with a 3 run homer by Mo Vaughn off Willie Blair in the 1st inning. Jody Reed and Wade Boggs each had 3 hits for the Red Sox, who now have 30 hits in the last two games.
Tom Candiotti tossed a complete game and the Indians beat the Red Sox by a score of 11-1. Tom Bolton started for the Red Sox and was hung out to dry in an effort for him to eat innings. He was left in to surrendered 10 earned runs in 3+ innings. He allowed 7 hits and walked 4. Outfielder Alan Cockrell went 3-for-4 and drove in 3 runs for Cleveland, while Candy Maldonado drove in 4 runs in the blowout win. Cleveland will now look for a split of the 4 game series tomorrow.
The Red Sox put up 5 runs in the 12th inning to earn an 8-3 win over the Cleveland Indians and take 3 out of 4 in this series at Cleveland Stadium. The bullpen pitched very well for Boston in this game, allowing 1 run on 5 hits over 7 innings in relief of Wes Gardner. Gardner, who started for the Red Sox, allowed 2 runs on 5 hits in 5 innings of work. Pinch hitter Marty Barrett had a two run single to give Boston a 5-3 lead, and Tim Naehring followed with a 3 run home run to break the game open. Mo Vaughn hit his 18th home run of the season earlier in the game off Indians starter Rick Reed. Reed lasted 7.1 innings and allowed 3 runs on 6 hits while striking out 3.