YANKS 4TH STRAIGHT ‘W’ IS SEESAW 14-INNING AFFAIR
Rivers Drives Home Randolph with Game-Winner
NEW YORK, July 25 (AP) – The New York Yankees won their fourth consecutive
game with a wild, back-and-forth 14-inning 6-5 decision over the Boston Red Sox
before a crowd of nearly 54,000 at Yankee Stadium. New York fell behind
early and rallied late to take a lead only to see it disappear in the ninth
inning. Both clubs scored in the 10th and the Yankees finally pushed
across the winning run in the bottom of the 14th.
New York drew first blood, scoring a run in the bottom of the first
inning against Red Sox starter Rick Wise when Mickey Rivers led off with a
triple and crossed the plate on Roy White’s ground out.
But Boston roared back with three runs in the top of the second off Yankees
starter Ken Holtzman. Carl Yastrzemski tied the game with a lead-off home
run, a towering shot that just missed the facing of the upper deck down the
right field line. Jim Rice then gave the Red Sox the lead when he drove a
Holtzman offering over the wall in straight away left field. Dwight Evans
lined to center for the first out but Bobby Darwin followed with a single to
center and Doug Griffin’s double to left-center gave Boston runners on second
and third with one out. A Bob Heise grounder scored Darwin to make it 3-1
and Rick Burleson tapped back to the mound to finally end the inning.
The score remained 3-1 until the seventh, though both teams blew good scoring
opportunities earlier. In the top of the fifth, Burleson led off with a
double and was sacrificed to third by Carlton Fisk but Holtzman induced a ground
ball off Fred Lynn’s bat to a drawn-in Jim Mason at shortstop and then got
Yastrzemski on another grounder to end the inning. In the bottom of the
sixth, Rivers led off with a two-bagger and advanced to third on White’s
ground out, but Wise retired Thurman Munson on a shallow fly to left and avoided
damage when Chris Chambliss flied to right to end the threat.
The Yankees finally inched to within a run in the bottom of the seventh.
Wise hit Carlos May with a pitch to open the frame but then retired Graig
Nettles on a fly to right and struck out Oscar Gamble. Randolph, however,
roped a double into the left field corner and May beat the relay throw to the
plate to cut the Boston lead to 3-2.
In the eighth, Wise retired Rivers and White on ground balls to open the inning
but Munson rolled a two-out single into left field. Red Sox manager John
McNamara called on left-hander Tom House to face Chambliss but the Yankees first
baseman foiled the strategy when he drilled a 1-1 pitch into the right field
bleachers to give his team its first lead of the game, 4-3.
New York reliever Dick Tidrow, who had come on to bail Holtzman out of a jam in
the top of the eighth, then tried to close out the game but yielded a lead-off
double to pinch hitter Rick Miller. A Munson passed ball moved the tying
run to third with none out, but Tidrow struck out Heise. Burleson,
however, followed with a base hit to center, scoring Miller with the tying run.
In the top of the tenth, Yastrzemski led off with his second home run of the
contest, giving the Red Sox a 5-4 lead.
Right-hander Jim Willoughby came on for Boston in the bottom of the inning and
swiftly retired pinch hitter Lou Piniella and Rivers. But, after getting
ahead of White 0-2, Willoughby missed with a couple of pitches, then tried to
fire a 2-2 fastball past the switch-hitting outfielder. White was ready
and lined the pitch into the right field grandstand for his ninth home run of
the season and a tie ball game.
Sparky Lyle came on for the Yankees in the 11th and he and Willoughby pitched
through the 12th with no further scoring. Lyle tossed a perfect top of the
13th and Reggie Cleveland entered the game for the Red Sox in the bottom half of
the inning and ran into immediate trouble. With one out, Munson drew a
walk, but was thrown out trying to steal second. Chambliss dropped a
two-out single into right field and advanced to second when May followed by
slapping a single to left. Nettles then rolled a single between short and
third but Rice gunned Chambliss down at the plate to keep the score tied and
move the game into the 14th inning. Four straight Yankees had reached base
safely without generating a run.
Grant Jackson took over for New York in the top of the 14th and set the Red Sox
down in order. In the bottom of the inning, Gamble grounded out leading
off the inning but Randolph worked the count full before drawing a walk.
Sandy Alomar, who had entered as a defensive replacement in the 11th, followed
by blooping an 0-2 pitch into left-center field for a base hit. Randolph
got a great read on the ball and scampered all the way around to third on the
play. Boston brought the infield in but Rivers grounded Cleveland’s
offering into right field, scoring Randolph with the game-winning run.
7/25/1976, Bos76-NYA76, Yankee Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1976 Red Sox 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1976 Yankees 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 0 13 14 R H E LOB DP 1976 Red Sox 0 0 5 13 0 10 0 1976 Yankees 0 1 6 15 2 9 0 Red Sox AB R H BI AVG Yankees AB R H BI AVG Burleson ss 7 0 3 1 .315 Rivers cf 7 1 3 1 .259 Fisk c 6 0 1 0 .266 White,R lf 6 1 1 2 .277 Lynn cf 7 0 0 0 .308 Munson c 5 1 1 0 .298 Yastrzemski 1b 6 2 2 2 .278 Chambliss 1b 6 1 2 2 .295 Rice lf 5 1 2 1 .315 May,C dh 5 1 1 0 .219 Evans,Dw rf 5 0 0 0 .249 Nettles 3b 6 0 3 0 .261 Darwin dh 6 1 1 0 .191 Gamble rf 6 0 0 0 .156 Griffin,D 2b 3 0 2 0 .190 Randolph 2b 5 1 2 1 .311 Miller,R ph 1 1 1 0 .352 Mason ss 2 0 1 0 .148 Doyle 2b 2 0 1 0 .249 Hendricks ph 1 0 0 0 .206 Heise 3b 4 0 0 1 .185 Stanley,F ss 0 0 0 0 .336 Dillard ph 2 0 0 0 .216 Piniella ph 1 0 0 0 .289 54 5 13 5 Alomar ss 2 0 1 0 .208 52 6 15 6 Red Sox INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Wise 7.2 6 3 3 0 2 93 66 2.87 House BS 6 1.1 2 1 1 0 1 21 14 2.08 Willoughby BS 3 3.0 2 1 1 0 1 44 29 2.84 Cleveland L 3-4 1.1 5 1 1 2 0 34 18 3.88 13.1 15 6 6 2 4 192 127 Yankees INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Holtzman 7.2 9 3 3 1 5 112 71 2.84 Tidrow 2.1 3 2 1 1 2 49 33 3.52 Lyle 3.0 1 0 0 0 3 37 22 2.91 Jackson,G W 2-1 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 14 7 1.22 14.0 13 5 4 2 10 212 133 Bos: Miller,R batted for Griffin,D in the 9th Doyle inserted at 2b in the 9th Dillard batted for Heise in the 11th Dillard moved to 3b in the 11th NYA: Hendricks batted for Mason in the 7th Stanley,F inserted at ss in the 8th Piniella batted for Stanley,F in the 10th Alomar inserted at ss in the 11th E-White,R, Mason. 2B-Burleson 2(23), Griffin,D(4), Miller,R(10), Rivers(20), Randolph(9). 3B-Rivers(8). HR-Yastrzemski 2(15), Rice(13), White,R(9), Chambliss(11). RBI-Burleson(30), Yastrzemski 2(62), Rice(60), Heise(4), Rivers(31), White,R 2(49), Chambliss 2(58), Randolph(30). SB-Rice(6), Rivers(31). CS-Evans,Dw, Munson, Randolph. K-Fisk, Lynn, Rice 2, Evans,Dw, Darwin 2, Heise 2, Dillard, Chambliss, Nettles, Gamble, Hendricks. BB-Rice, Evans,Dw, Munson, Randolph. SH-Fisk. HBP-May,C. PB-Munson 2. HB-Wise. GWRBI: Rivers Temperature: 75, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 7 MPH. Attendance: 53,959 Game Time: 3:52