Boston Red Sox: Ranking top 10 players from the 1980s
By Drew Athans
Bruce Hurst
While Roger Clemens rightly gets all of the accolades as the greatest Red Sox pitcher of the 1980s, the team was lucky enough to have another excellent hurler take the mound for them during the decade. Bruce Hurst spent the first nine seasons of his fourteen year career with the Red Sox, from 1980 to 1988, and quietly became their second-best pitcher over that span.
After struggling a bit at the start of his career, Hurst broke out in 1986. To that point in his career Hurst had posted a 42-46 W-L mark with a 4.59 ERA, but in 1986 he went 13-8 with a 2.99 ERA and 167 strikeouts even while missing six weeks during that summer with a groin injury. He was even better in the 1986 postseason where his exploits still live on in Red Sox lore.
In the dramatic 1986 ALCS in which the Red Sox came back from a 3-1 defecit to win the series in seven games, Hurst went 1-0 with a 2.40 ERA in his two starts. He was even better in the World Series, going 2-0 by out-dueling Ron Darling in Game One (a 1-0 Red Sox victory) and then throwing a complete game to win Game Five. What happened next is in the realm of the bizarre but has since passed into baseball history.
When the Red Sox were one strike away from winning the World Series in Game Six, Hurst was named World Series MVP by the voters. Instead, the Mets came back to win the game and forced Game Seven. Oil Can Boyd was due to pitch for the Red Sox but was so hungover on the day of the game that Hurst was pressed into service on short rest and got the start instead. He pitched admirably and only gave up one hit through the first five innings.
However, he tired in the sixth and gave up three runs to the Mets which tied the game. He was pulled and got a no-decision as the Sox went on to lose the game and series. For the rest of his time in Boston he was an excellent pitcher and went 18-6 in his final Red Sox season.
During his years in Boston, Hurst compiled an 88-73 W-L record, a 4.75 ERA, and 1043 strikeouts. While he started slowly, from the mid-1980s onward he was an excellent pitcher and was one of the best they had in the decade.