April 23, 2012

April 17, 1984 - Hall of Fame Hurlers

Game #132 - Texas Rangers, 2 @ Boston Red Sox, 11

In the real 1984 Dennis Eckersley struggled in his third of a season with Boston, prior to his trade to Chicago, but you sure couldn't tell with this game.

The Rangers did strike first when Pete O'Brien hit a fly out far enough from home plate for Gary Ward to score from third on the tag.  It stayed 1-0 in favor of the Rangers until Frank Tanana ran into issues in the third.  Two Red Sox had already scored when Tony Armas sent one flying over the Green Monster for two more.  Just like that Boston was up 4-1.  It got even uglier in the sixth when Boston plated seven more runs. 

Meanwhile Eckersley cruised into the ninth having only given up four hits.  Gary Ward reached on a Wade Boggs error and moved to third on a Buddy Bell single.  Pete O'Brien hit into a double play to score Ward but Eck eventually struck out Bobby Jones to win the game.

Winning Pitcher - Dennis Eckersley
Losing Pitcher - Frank Tanana
Player of the Game - Eck, CG, 1ER, 6H's, 7K's
Hall of Famers in the Game - Wade Boggs, Jim Rice, Dennis Eckersley

Game #133 - Chicago White Sox, 2 @ Milwaukee Brewers, 5

Don Sutton toed the rubber for Milwaukee but was treated unkindly by Ron Kittle in the second inning.  Having walked Greg Luzinski he gave up a two run homer to Kittle.  Funny enough, he struck out the other three batters in the same inning (Greg Walker, Vance Law, Marc Hill). 

The Brew Crew started chipping back in support of their permed, Hall of Fame starting pitcher.  Roy Howell hit an RBI single to score Doug Loman in the third.  A Vance Law error in the fourth gave Milwaukee a 3-2 lead and the Brewers added two more before it was all said and done.

Winning Pitcher - Don Sutton
Losing Pitcher - Richard Dotson
Save - Rollie Fingers
Player of the Game - Sutton, 8IP, 4H's, 8K's
Hall of Famers in the Game - Paul Molitor, Robin Yount, Don Sutton, Rollie Fingers

***It was a nice change of pace to have two HOF pitchers perform so well in back to back games!

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