Sox Beat Rangers in Rain (4/24/92)

Sometimes Mother Nature works in your favor and tonight it did for the Boston Red Sox against the Texas Rangers. The Red Sox pounced on Texas starter Jose Guzman for 3 runs in the bottom of the third to give the team the lead. Frank Viola (1-2, 4.18 ERA) ended up tossing six innings while only allowing a single run on a Brian Downing home run. Then the rains came to wipe out the rest of the game. Mo Vaughn and Phil Plantier knocked in the only runs the Sox needed as they took a 6 inning, rain shortened game 3-1 at Fenway Park.

                                                      Bodhi approves of the win

Viola got the ball in the top of the first inning and Brian Downing flied out to left to start. Rafael Palmeiro lined out to left but Ruben Sierra singled in the hole at short. Juan Gonzalez flied out to left to end the inning. Guzman got the ball in the bottom of the first and Wade Boggs grounded out to second to start. Jody Reed lined out to short but Mike Greenwell blooped a single to center. Dickie Thon booted a grounder by Ellis Burks for an error but Phil Plantier flied out to right to end the inning.

Julio Franco grounded out to second to start the top of the second before Dean Palmer walked. Jack Daugherty hit a routine grounder to Boggs who threw himself on the ball and pretended to be dead for an error. Thon beat out a double play ball and Ivan Rodriguez grounded out to second to end the inning. Jack Clark struck out swinging to start the bottom of the second but Mo Vaughn ripped a base hit to right. Tony Pena took strike three but Rivera doubled off the Monster. Boggs lined out to center to end the inning.

Downing walked to open the top of the third but Palmeiro flied out to center. Sierra popped up to short but Gonzalez singled up the middle to move Downing to third. Franco struck out swinging to end the inning. The Sox attacked in the bottom of the third a Reed walked to start. Greenwell popped up to third in foul territory but Burks walked before both runners moved over on a wild pitch by Guzman. Plantier doubled to left to score both runners and Clark singled in the hole at third to move Phil to third. Vaughn hit a sac fly to right to score Plantier to increase the lead but Pena grounded out to first to end the inning with the Sox ahead 3-0.

                                                                 Plantier drives in two

Palmer flied out to left to start the top of the fourth and Daugherty struck out looking. Thon grounded out to short to end the inning. Rivera struck out swinging to start the bottom of the fourth but Boggs singled to left. Reed grounded out to third to move Boggs to second but Greenwell grounded out to second to end the inning.

The Rangers struck back in the top of the fifth as Rodriguez popped up back to Viola to start, but Downing hit a home run all the way to Sorrento, Italy to cut the lead. Palmeiro grounded out to second and Sierra lined out to center to end the inning. Burks hit a roller to third to begin the bottom of the fifth but was thrown out trying to steal second. Plantier struck out swinging and Clark took strike three to end the inning.

Gonzalez lined out to left to start the top of the sixth and Franco grounded out to second. Palmer walked and Daugherty struck out swinging to end the inning. Technically this was a complete game for Viola who allowed just 1 run, 3 hits and 3 walks. Guzman returned in a pouring rain in the bottom of the sixth and Vaughn got a base hit to left before the umpires called the game. If Vaughn ever gets 3,000 hits this one just before the rain stopped the game could be important. As it was, the Sox had won it 3-1 in 6 innings.

Hero of the Night is Frank Viola by default. He tossed a 6 inning complete game by allowing 1 run off 3 hits.

                                                      The rain shortened Hero

The Good:

Ellis Burks was 1 for 2 with a walk and a run scored.

Phil Plantier was 1 for 3 with 2 rbis and a run scored.

Jack Clark was 1 for 3.

Mo Vaughn was 2 for 2 with an rbi.

Luis Rivera was 1 for 2.

The Bad:

Tony Pena was 0 for 2 with a strikeout.

The Ugly:

Wade Boggs was 1 for 3 but made an error.

Jody Reed was 0 for 2 but walked and scored a run.

Final Thoughts:

That was somewhat of a gift win but Viola was pitching great before the game was called. Had he gone one more inning I wouldn't expect Greg Harris and Jeff Reardon to cough up the lead. Still, 6 innings is 6 innings and its a cheap win. Plantier drove in a few runs and Vaughn drove in one as well to pace the offense. The Sox only scored three runs in this one but they only had six inning so this shouldn't really count in the grand scheme of things. It was cheap but Viola earned his first win in a Sox uniform and hopefully more are on the way. There's really not much else to say in a game this short so we'll leave it at that. If the Sox end up playing tomorrow night even though its raining like crazy, Matt Young (0-1) goes for the Sox up against Bobby Witt of the Rangers. The game begins at 7:05 PM at Fenway Park....we hope.