June 17, 1985: Boston Red Sox (36-24) @ Detroit Tigers (32-26)
And so onto Detroit now, who have sole possession of second place in our div and sit 3 GB us. To get things underway, Al Nipper takes on the tricky Dan Petry – winner of 37 games the past two seasons, who I’ve had some success against, going 2-for-7 with a dinger and 3 ribbies. A real chance for us to put some serious distance between ourselves and the pack. Certainly, the locals see the significance with in excess of 40000 jammed into Tiger Stadium – on a Monday night, no less!
Yesterday's bug with Nipper erroneously starting might have some ramifications here with him now listed as 14% - exhausted for this game. We shall see.
Bill Buckner YTD stats entering the game
Game Recap
A run on 3 hits including a single to Billy Buck gets us in the frame in the 1st but they reply immediately with one of their own on a single by Darrell Evans. We keep at Petry with gusto in the next, posting a 4-spot on 5 more hits and they again keep their half of the board ticking along with a solo homer by Johnny Grubb making it 5-2.
Nipper is already done for the night by this point and they come at us in the next against sparsely-used Charlie Mitchell, closing to within a run, but Dewey Evans gives us some breathing-room in the 5th with a 2-run big fly.
A solo shot by Parrish in the 7th makes it 7-5 and keeps them close enough to make us nervous until Boggsy puts another one in the seats with a man on in the top 9th and Clear closes it out for a really tough win by the boys.
Best Performances, News & Highlights of the Day
(click link for BBRef boxscore)
- MLB Debuts: Darrin Jackson
- Daily Notes: On this day in 1960, Ted Williams hits his 500th career home run in a 3-1 win at Cleveland, becoming the fourth player to reach that mark after Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx and Mel Ott.