May 17, 1985: Boston Red Sox (18-14) @ Cleveland Indians (17-16)
And away we go – ten shows in ten days, starting with three in old Cleveland town. The first of these pits our young ace Roger Clemens against their crafty old fox Bert Blyleven, who needs just two more wins for 200. Despite us both having been in the league as long as we have, Bert and I haven’t seen as much of each other as you might have thought. Our paths didn’t in fact cross until he came over to the NL for a few years with the Bucs while I was at the Cubs, and we’ve obviously had a few more matchups this past year. Overall, I’m 7-for-30 against him with two homers that, somewhat oddly, gave in consecutive games back in 1980. After that second dinger, our analytics guys tell me I grounded out seven straight times over the rest of that season, then again three more times last year wrapped round a lonely single. One might say I’m due. Let’s hope so—be nice to start this road swing off with a win.
Bill Buckner YTD stats entering the game
Game Recap
They open the scoring in the 1st with a run on two hits and then follow that up in the 3rd with a devastating attack that ends Rocket’s game way before we were hoping or expecting. After they’ve already added two more, the
coup de grāce comes in the form of a 2-run Joe Carter double that barely stays in the field of play.
We’ve got no answers at plate as Blyleven dominates our hitters, and they put us away with 4 more in the bottom 6th as Julio Franco runs rampant.
I get a consolation solo shot in the 7th – just our third hit of the game – that counts for nothing as it finishes a disastrous 9-1.
Best Performances, News & Highlights of the Day
The Real Deal
- MLB Debuts: Rocky Childress
- Transactions of Interest: the Royals trade John Morris to the Cardinals for Lonnie Smith.
- Daily Notes: IRL, the Rangers name Bobby Valentine as their new manager to replace the fired Doug Rader, under whom they had posted an MLB-worst 9-23 record.