October 8—Kauffman Stadium
Boston 5, Kansas City 0
Boston wins championship series 4-0
The Boston starting firm of Martinez, Wood, Young, & Clemens completely dominated Kansas City on the way to a four-game sweep of Kansas City in the Rhubarb championship series. Each man threw a complete game–the Boston bullpen didn’t throw a single pill in the series. The Royals managed one run against Pedro in game one, zero runs against Smoky Joe in game two, three runs against Cy in game three, and were shutout in the fourth game by Roger in perhaps the most dominant of the four starts. Clemens walked just one, whiffed six, gave up five hits, and faced just 31 hitters as the Sox reached the end of the championship expressway.
KC starter Danny Jackson managed to keep the game tied at zero through four strong innings at the start. But in the top of the fifth, Carlton Fisk and Darrell Evans led off with consecutive walks, and series MVP Nomar Garciaparra knocked in Fisk with a single. Jackson then got Bobby Doerr on a fly-out, but Wade Boggs slapped an RBI single and Jackson’s day was done. In came Bud Black, who got two quick outs, but the first one came on a deep sac fly that plated Garciaparra and gave Boston a 3-0 lead.
That was more than enough for the Rocket on this day, but the Sox added on another two runs in the sixth inning on solo dingers from Carl Yastrzemski and Evans.
The Sox outscored the Royals 25-4 in the series. “It’s a little embarrassing,” admitted KC manager Ned Yost after the game. “Obviously we knew the Red Sox presented a tough challenge to our much younger organization, but we beat them a couple of times in the regular season, and we were confident that we could make it a close series. Unfortunately, we just didn’t swing the bats well, and you’ve got to tip your cap to four incredible pitching performances on their side.”
Nomar Garciaparra was named series MVP after the game. He batted 6-for-14 in the series with two home runs. He was the only player with at least one hit in all four games and the only player to score at least one run in all four games. In game one, Garciaparra drilled the game-winning runs with a two-run homer, then in game three had a perfect day at the plate with a walk, two singles, and a homer, and in game four knocked in the winning run with an RBI single.
“It was a hell of a season,” beamed Boston skipper Joe Cronin after the game, champagne streaming down his face. “The guys started the year gangbusters. We got out to such a big lead, then got a little banged up and tired, and flagged just a bit in August, but that quickly turned into a wake-up call and we’ve gone out there just knowing we’re going to win ever since. I’ve never seen a club like this one. The coaches and I mostly just filled out the lineup cards, sat back, and watched the winning machine go to work. Just a beautiful season.”
R H BB E BOS 000 032 000 - 5 8 5 0 KC 000 000 000 - 0 5 1 0
see below for full box scores and play by play
Continue reading “RED SOX SWEEP WAY TO LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP; Boston Starters Strangle KC Offense From Start to Finish”
Starter Appier got out of the first inning unscathed, but everything fell apart for the Royals in the bottom of the second. Carlton Fisk, Fred Lynn, and Nomar Garciaparra started it with successive hits to get Boston on the board 1-0 and load the bases with nobody out. Wade Boggs followed with an RBI walk. Appier then got Tris Speaker on a double play that scored a run and made the score 3-0. With the two outs, Appier needed to stop the bleeding right there, but Ted Williams drew a walk and Jimmie Foxx knocked in another run with a single to make it 4-0. That was it for Appier.
October 1: Houston 6, Seattle 3
September 29: Detroit 6, Chicago 5
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