1986 World Series
Game 1 of the 1986 World Series pitted lefty Bruce Hurst going for the Red Sox against righty Ron Darling for the Mets. Both pitchers were very good. The Red Sox scored the only run of the game on an error by Tim Teufel in the top of the seventh. Hurst and reliever Calvin Schiraldi combined for a five-hit shutout. Of the error by Teufel, Ron Darling said, “That run may have been the only run in the game, but that’s not what beat us. There hasn’t been a team yet that has been shut out and won a game.” Well said, Ron Darling, well said.
The second game of the series was expected to resemble the pitchers’ duel that fans saw in the first game. It was Roger Clemens versus Dwight Gooden. Clemens was the 1986 AL Cy Young Award winner and AL MVP who had gone 24-4; Gooden had won the NL Cy Young Award the previous year, also with a 24-4 record.
The pitcher’s duel never materialized. Clemens couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning and Gooden struggled through five. The Red Sox won the game 9-3 behind an 18-hit attack. The Red Sox were up two-games-to-none and heading back to Boston looking to clinch the series at home.
The Mets came out slugging in Game 3 when Lenny Dykstra homered to spark the team in the top of the first. He had four hits in the game. Keith Hernandez also had two hits and Gary Carter had two hits and three RBI. The Mets won easily, 7-1.
Down in the series, the Mets brought Ron Darling back on three day’s rest for Game 4. The Red Sox chose to go with Al Nipper instead of having Bruce Hurst pitch on three day’s rest. Darling kept the Red Sox off the board for seven innings as the Mets took a 6-0 lead on their way to a 6-2 victory. The series was now all tied up, two games to two, and the visiting team had won every game.
Fully-rested, Bruce Hurst started Game 5 for the Red Sox against Dwight Gooden. Gooden had struggled in his first start and would struggle again in this one. He left the game in the fifth inning and was charged with four runs, three of them earned. That was enough for Hurst. He pitched a complete game and allowed just two runs in the Red Sox’ 4-2 victory. The Red Sox were one win away from their first World Series championship in 67 years.
The Red Sox sent Roger Clemens out against Bobby Ojeda in Game 6. The Sox took a 2-0 lead after two innings. The Mets tied it in the fifth. The Red Sox went ahead again in the top of the seventh, but the Mets came right back again to tie it in the bottom of the eighth. The game stayed tied through nine innings.
Postseason hero Dave Henderson added another chapter to his book with a solo home run to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead in the top of the 10th and once again did a joyful little dance out of the batter’s box. Later in the inning, Marty Barrett singled in Wade Boggs to make it 5-3. The Red Sox threat ended on a fly ball to right by Jim Rice with two runners on, but they had a two-run lead heading into the bottom of the 10th.
Needing just three outs to win their first World Series championship since 1918, the Red Sox stuck with Schiraldi to start the bottom of the tenth. He got Wally Backman to fly to left and Keith Hernandez to fly to deep center field. The Red Sox were one out away. Gary Carter then stepped up and singled to short left field to keep the Mets’ hopes alive. Kevin Mitchell followed with a pinch-hit single to put runners on first and second. Schiraldi was about to face his 16th batter of the game, something he had never done during the regular season. His tank was running on fumes and Ray Knight took advantage with a single to center to make it 5-4. Kevin Mitchell advanced to third.
That was it for Schiraldi. Veteran Bob Stanley was brought on to face Mookie Wilson. On a 2-2 count, Stanley threw a wild pitch that allowed Mitchell to score the tying run. Then Mookie hit the most famous slowly rolling ground ball to first base in the history of the game. It got through Buckner and Ray Knight came around to score from second base to give the Mets the victory and the Red Sox an agonizing defeat.
Game 6 of the 1986 World Series has been talked about so much over the years that Game 7 is largely forgotten. It’s easy to forget that the Red Sox had a lead in Game 7. They jumped on Mets’ starter Ron Darling for three runs in the top of the second inning, but Bruce Hurst gave the runs back in the bottom of the sixth. The Mets scored three more in the bottom of the seventh to take a 6-3 lead.
The Red Sox weren’t dead yet, though. Singles by Buckner and Rice put runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the eighth. Dwight Evans followed with a two-run double to make it 6-5. McDowell was removed and Jesse Orosco came into the game. He got the lefty Rich Gedman on a lineout, then struck out Dave Henderson and got pinch-hitter Don Baylor to ground out to short.
Down by just a run heading into the bottom of the eighth, the Red Sox still had hopes for a comeback, but reliever Al Nipper came in and nipped those hopes in the bud. He gave up a home run to Darryl Strawberry and an RBI-single to pitcher Jesse Orosco. Yes, PITCHER Jesse Orosco, he of the 10 career hits. Orosco got the Red Sox in order in the top of the ninth, then threw his glove in the air to celebrate the victory.
The Mets come-from-behind victories in Games 6 and 7 were the culmination of an incredible MLB postseason. The Astros lost multiple leads in their NLCS loss to the Mets and the Angels did the same in the ALCS. The Red Sox seemingly had the series won with a two-run lead and two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the tenth inning of Game 6, but couldn’t get that final out. It was an MLB postseason in which the final out was ever elusive.