Boston Red Sox history: 4 greatest performances in a losing effort
By Kevin Henry
Jim Rice was an eight-time All-Star, and his first All-Star selection came during the 1977 season, a year when he would eventually finish fourth in the MVP balloting after leading the American League with 382 total bases.
One of his best games during that season, however, came in a loss to the Oakland A’s.
The time Jim Rice smashed three home runs, but the Boston Red Sox lost to the Oakland A’s
On August 29, 1977, in the first game of a two-game series in Boston against the A’s, Rice (batting behind Carl Yastrzemski, we’ll talk more about him next) went 4-for-5 with a single and three home runs (totaling 13 bases) and four RBI. However, Oakland would score a run in the eighth to tie the game and Mitchell Page’s solo homer (his second of the game) off Bill Campbell in the top of the ninth would give the visitors an 8-7 win.
Interesting note: In the game, Rice would hit his first homer of the night off Oakland starter Joe Coleman to lead off the second inning, then take Coleman deep again the very next inning.
This would be one of just two games in Rice’s career where he hit three home runs.