Brewers 1982

Covering the Milwaukee Brewers throughout the 1982 season, in real-time, as it would have happpened.

Glenn Hoffman

Extra Innings Again, but Boston Prevails

Red Sox 4, Brewers 3 (10)
Brewers now 90-61 (1st by 2.0 games)
Box Score | Season Schedule

Paul Molitor
Paul Molitor's eighth inning home run forced extra innings.

MILWAUKEE — For the second consecutive day, the Brewers mounted a late rally to push the Red Sox to extra innings. Unlike yesterday, however, the Brewers couldn’t pull out the win for the home crowd.

With two outs and a runner on third in the 10th inning, reliever Dwight Bernard walked Dwight Evans on four pitches. His first two pitches to Jim Rice were also out of the strike zone.

“With the count 2-0, you have to figure he’s looking for a pitch to jerk,” Bernard said of his approach.

Rice hit a bouncing ball up the middle for a hit to score Glenn Hoffman for the eventual winning run.

“I am a ground ball pitcher,” continued Bernard. “I got a ground ball out of Remy. I got a ground ball out of Rice. He just hit it in the wrong place, no one was there to catch it.”

After Paul Molitor hit a home run to tie it in the eighth, the second dramatic late-inning home run to tie a game in as many days, it seemed the Brewers would pull out another big win. But they stranded two runners in the ninth and couldn’t get a runner past first in the 10th.

The good news is that the second place Baltimore Orioles also lost to remain two games out. Of course, the bad news is also that the Baltimore Orioles lost. The Brewers missed an opportunity to finally gain a game.

The other bad news is that embattled reliever Rollie Fingers still isn’t progressing from his forearm injury. He participated in his third throwing session in five days today, and was able to throw 30 pitches before his arm stiffened instead of 20. But there’s still no timetable for his return.

“It’s the same as the other day,” said manager Harvey Kuenn, “so we will wait and see what develops. If he can come back and pitch it’s a bonus. At this point, you have to figure that you won’t be able to use him for the rest of the year.”

Not what we were wanting to hear, Harvey. Hopefully there’s a miracle left in that arm.

Harvey’s Wallbangers 1, Green Monster 0

Brewers 9, Red Sox 3
Brewers now 38-30 (2nd)
Box Score | Season Schedule

Green Monster
The Brewers won their first showdown with the Red Sox and the Green Monster of Fenway Park.

BOSTON — This four-game series pits first against second in the American League East. Most importantly, it’s billed as Harvey’s Wallbangers vs. The Wall, the famed Green Monster of Fenway. After one game, the wall took a beating. As did the Red Sox.

The Brewers scored nine runs on 16 hits, several of which went either into or over the Green Monster. While the Monster gets all of the attention, the Brewers made sure to spray the ball around the field. The action started in the first inning when Cecil Cooper, who complained of blurred vision due to a migraine, clanged a two-run homer off of the right field foul pole.

Gorman Thomas‘ two-run homer over the Monster in the sixth gave the Brewers the lead for good, and the Crew tacked on four more runs in the seventh on six singles for good measure, one of which was a Ben Oglivie smash off of the big wall.

But the key moment in this game may not have involved the wall or the Brewers’ bats. The Red Sox opened the fifth with three consecutive singles, scoring a run to pull to within one of the Brewers. Jim Slaton relieved Randy Lerch and walked Tony Perez on five pitches to load the bases. He then disposed of Dave Stapleton, Glenn Hoffman and Carl Yastrzemski on consecutive infield pop-ups to get out of the jam.

While that may have been the turning point, it was also the story of the game for the Red Sox. Boston’s mashers reached on 15 hits, but 13 were for singles. When it counted, they failed, going 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position and leaving 13 runners on base overall.

While Boston may have come into this game as the favorite, they certainly played the role of the underdog. And the Brewers simply pounded away.

One down, three to go. The Brewers are now to within four games.

Game Notes: The Brewers are now 15-6 under manager Harvey Kuenn … Jim Gantner‘s sore shoulder is still bothering him, and he may go on the DL. He could not throw without pain, so Ed Romero started in his place at second and had two hits while playing flawless defense … The Red Sox placed third baseman Carney Lansford on the DL with torn ankle ligaments and called up Ed Jurak from Pawtucket.