BOSOX SCORE 7 IN 3RD INNING, EKE OUT OPENING DAY 'W'
9 Straight Red Sox Reach Base
BOSTON, Apr. 13 (AP) - The Red Sox scored seven times in the third inning,
erasing a 5-0 deficit, then squeezed out a 9-8 victory over the Cleveland
Indians in Boston's home opener before a sellout crowd at Fenway Park.
During the big inning, the Red Sox had nine consecutive batters reach base.
Cleveland ran out to a 5-0 lead against Boston starter Bill Lee. The
Indians scored once in the first, when Buddy Bell's single drove in Rick Manning
who had singled earlier, and four times in the third. Manning, Duane
Kuiper and Bell all singled to open the inning, loading the bases and, after
George Hendrick flied to shallow center, Rico Carty belted a grand slam over the
Green Monster in left.
But the Red Sox overcame that deficit in one huge inning--the third, and did all
their damage with two outs. After Rico Petrocelli and Rick Burleson were
retired, Bernie Carbo's home run off Chuck Dobson put Boston on the board.
Denny Doyle singled and Fred Lynn doubled him to third. Jim Rice then
crushed the team's second home run of the inning. The drive landed in the
net above the left field wall and brought the Red Sox to within 5-4. Carl
Yastrzemski followed with a double and Carlton Fisk walked. Dwight Evans'
double to left scored Yastrzemski, tying the contest, advanced Fisk to third and
drove Dobson from the game. He was replaced on the mound by Tom Buskey,
but the hit parade continued when Petrocelli singled to center, scoring both
runners and giving the Red Sox a 7-5 lead. Burleson singled Petrocelli to
second before Carbo struck out to finally end the inning.
Ray Fosse's RBI single in the fifth cut the Cleveland deficit to 7-6, but later
in the inning Charlie Spikes was thrown out trying to score from third when a
pitch got away from Fisk.
Doyle's double play grounder scored Burleson in the bottom of the sixth to
restore Boston's two-run lead, and the Red Sox took their 8-6 advantage into the
ninth inning. Jim Willoughy, who had come into the game in the eighth
inning tried to close out the game for the Red Sox, but Boog Powell reached on a
one-out error committed by second baseman Doyle, bringing the tying run to the
plate, and Hendrick singled Powell to second. Carty popped out but Spikes
singled down the left field line, scoring Powell and moving Hendrick,
representing the tying run, to third. Fosse then singled to right, scoring
Hendrick to tie the game before Larvell Blanks grounded out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, Fred Lynn drove a 1-0 offering from Don Hood into
the right-center field gap for a lead-off triple. On the very first pitch
to Rick Miller, Hood fired a fastball in the dirt that escaped Fosse for a wild
pitch, scoring Lynn with the winning run.
4/13/1976, Cle76-Bos76, Fenway Park 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1976 Indians 1 0 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 8 14 0 10 2 1976 Red Sox 0 0 7 0 0 1 0 0 1 9 15 1 6 0 Indians AB R H BI AVG Red Sox AB R H BI AVG Manning cf 5 2 2 0 .375 Carbo dh 5 1 2 1 .400 Kuiper 2b 4 1 2 0 .429 Doyle 2b 5 1 2 0 .400 Bell,B 3b 5 1 2 1 .429 Lynn cf 5 2 2 0 .400 Powell 1b 4 1 0 1 .000 Rice lf 4 1 2 3 .278 Hendrick rf 4 2 2 0 .429 Miller,R pr 0 0 0 0 .000 Carty dh 4 1 1 3 .125 Yastrzemski 1b 4 1 2 0 .400 Spikes lf 5 0 3 1 .667 Fisk c 2 1 0 0 .333 Fosse c 5 0 2 2 .400 Evans,Dw rf 4 1 1 1 .211 Duffy ss 2 0 0 0 .167 Petrocelli 3b 4 0 2 2 .200 Lowenstein ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Dillard pr 0 0 0 0 .000 Blanks ss 1 0 0 0 .000 Burleson ss 3 1 2 0 .294 40 8 14 8 36 9 15 7 Indians INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Dobson 2.2 8 7 7 1 0 61 42 23.63 Buskey 3.1 4 1 1 1 2 46 28 2.70 Kern 2.0 2 0 0 0 2 28 17 0.00 Hood L 0-1 0.0 1 1 1 0 0 3 1 99.00 8.0 15 9 9 2 4 138 88 Red Sox INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Lee,B 4.2 11 6 6 2 2 83 50 11.57 Jones,Ri 2.1 0 0 0 1 1 35 24 0.00 Willoughby BS 1, W 2-0 2.0 3 2 0 0 0 36 26 0.00 9.0 14 8 6 3 3 154 100 Cle: Lowenstein batted for Duffy in the 8th Blanks inserted at ss in the 8th Bos: Miller,R ran for Rice in the 7th Miller,R moved to lf in the 8th Dillard ran for Petrocelli in the 8th Dillard moved to 3b in the 9th E-Doyle. 2B-Lynn(2), Yastrzemski(1), Evans,Dw(4), Petrocelli(1), Burleson(1). 3B-Lynn(1). HR-Carty(1), Carbo(1), Rice(1). RBI-Bell,B(2), Powell(1), Carty 3(3), Spikes(1), Fosse 2(2), Carbo(1), Rice 3(4), Evans,Dw(1), Petrocelli 2(2). K-Manning 2, Powell, Carbo 2, Fisk, Evans,Dw. BB-Hendrick, Carty, Duffy, Fisk 2. SH-Kuiper, Burleson. SF-Powell. WP-Hood, Lee,B. Temperature: 53, Sky: cloudy, Wind: out to right at 23 MPH. Attendance: 33,247 Game Time: 2:31