Tiant got the ball in the top of the first inning and Mickey Rivers singled to center to start. Denny Doyle flied out to right and Bobby Valentine moved Rivers to second with a grounder to third. Bob Oliver popped up to left to end the inning. Singer got the ball in the bottom of the first and Rick Miller struck out swinging to start. Doug Griffin walked and Cecil Cooper drilled a base hit to right to move Griffin to third. Carl Yastrzemski hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Griffin and Dwight Evans took strike three to end the inning with the Sox up 1-0.
The Angels struck back in the top of the second as Winston Llenas flied out to right. Old pal Joe Lahoud grounded out to second but Tommy McCraw hit a home run all the way to Edmonton to tie the game. Ellie Rodriguez grounded out to third to end the inning with the game tied 1-1.
The Sox beat the ball in the dirt in the bottom of the second as Bernie Carbo grounded out to short to start. Dick McAuliffe grounded back to the mound and Carlton Fisk grounded out to short to end the inning.
The Angels struck again in the top of the third as Dave Chalk grounded out to second to begin. Rivers ripped a base hit to left and promptly stole second. Doyle hit one up the elevator shaft but Valentine got a base hit to center. Rivers came around to score and Valentine took second on the throw home, but Oliver struck out swinging to end the inning with the Angels ahead 2-1.
Morris Nettles came in for Lahoud for the bottom of the third and Mario Guerrero got a base hit to left to start. Miller forced Guerrero at second before moving to second himself on the grounder to third by Griffin. Cooper struck out swinging to end the inning.
The Angels got another one in the top of the fourth as Llenas got a base hit to center to start. Nettles popped up a bunt to Fisk but McCraw doubled to left. Rodriguez was intentionally walked to load the bases and Chalk scored Llenas with a sac fly to center. Rivers popped up to third to end the inning with the Angels up 3-1.
Yaz walked to start the bottom of the fourth but Evans took strike three. Carbo struck out swinging but McAuliffe doubled to left. Fisk popped up to center to end the inning.
Doyle flied out to left to open the top of the fifth before Valentine grounded out to short. Oliver grounded back to the mound to end the inning. Guerrero flied out to right to start the bottom of the fifth before Miller flied out to center. Griffin grounded out to short to end the inning.
The Angels got another run in the top of the sixth as Richie Scheinblum pinch hit for Llenas only to pop up to short. Nettles singled in the hole at short and immediatley stole second. McCraw doubled to right to score Nettles and Rodriguez flied out to center. Chalk tripled into the left field corner to score McCraw and Rivers flied out to center to end the inning with California on top 5-1.
The Sox failed to respond in the bottom of the sixth as Cooper grounded back to the mound to start. Yaz and Evans both struck out swinging to end the inning.
Doyle popped up to center to begin the top of the seventh and Valentine grounded out to short. Oliver walked but Scheinblum flied out to center to end the inning. Carbo grounded out to second to start the bottom of the seventh before McAuliffe flied out to left. Fisk walked and Guerrero singled to center to load the bases, but Miller grounded out to second to end the inning.
The Angels finished off Tiant in the top of the eighth as Nettles beat out a roller to short to start. McCraw then hit his second home run of the game to put it on ice. Rodriguez grounded out to short but Chalk tripled into the left field corner. Chalk tried to go for the inside the park home run but was thrown out at home. Rivers lined out to first to end the inning with the Angels up 7-1.
The Sox did fight back in the bottom of the eighth as Griffin popped up to short to start. Cooper walked and Yaz got a base hit off the first base bag, but Evans popped up to first. Carbo singled to left to score Cooper. McAuliffe grounded out to second to end the inning with the Sox down 7-2.
Lance Clemons came in to pitch the top of the ninth and Doyle grounded out to second to start. Valentine flied out to center and Oliver flied out to right to end the inning. Singer returned to finish the job in the bottom of the ninth and Fisk popped up a bunt to the catcher to begin. Guerrero popped up to left but Miller got a base hit down the third base line. Griffin forced Miller at second to end the game. The Angels had won it 7-2.
Jackass of the Night is Luis Tiant. He got lit up for 12 hits and 7 runs in 8 innings of work.
The Good:
Cecil Cooper was 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored.
Carl Yastrzemski was 1 for 2 with a walk and an rbi.
Mario Guerrero was 2 for 4.
Lance Clemons tossed a scoreless ninth inning.
The Bad:
Dwight Evans was 0 for 4 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts.
The Ugly:
Rick Miller was just 1 for 5 with a strikeout.
Doug Griffin was 0 for 4 but walked and scored.
Bernie Carbo was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout but drove in a run.
Dick McAuliffe was just 1 for 4.
Carlton Fisk was 0 for 3 but walked.
Final Thoughts:
Tiant was god awful in this game but so were the Red Sox with runners in scoring position. They could have had a few more runs if they could get a hit when it counted. Still, Tiant getting dominated by Tom McCraw was not on my bingo card as he was a one man gang for the most part. Carlton Fisk doesn't look right but then again, no one has. The bottom of the order is still struggling and even with Sox manager Darrell Johnson juggling the lineup, they're still not generating much offense. Carl Yastrzemski is off to a hot start but everyone around him has been mediocre or worse. Hopefully things turn around because they're not going to last very long in the pennant race the more games they lose. Hopefully Tiant can shake off this bad month and dominate from here on in or else it could be time to look elsewhere for an ace. The Sox play their final game of the month of April tomorrow night when Reggie Cleveland (1-2) faces Angels ace Nolan Ryan. The game begins at 10:30 PM Eastern time at Anaheim Stadium.
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