Boston Red Sox Memories: Remembering the 1986 ALCS
By Drew Athans
Game Three
Game Three is kind of the forgotten game of the series. The pitching matchup was a good one, with Oil Can Boyd (16-10) going up against the Angels’ John Candelaria (10-2). Boyd was dealing in the first few innings and one thing I’d forgotten about all these years later was how demonstrative and fired up he got on the mound.
Boyd did a lot of fist pumping, talking to himself, and walking around in circles on the mound and I remember as a kid that Red Sox fans liked it while other teams thought he was showing them up. I always thought he was just trying to fire himself up more than anything else. The Red Sox struck first when Rich Gedman drove in a run in the second inning, but the Sox could’ve had more if they had paid attention to details a bit more.
Baylor was picked off of first base with two men on base right before Gedman’s hit which hampered a potential rally. There was some controversy in the fourth inning when, with two outs and two on, California’s Doug DeCinces hit a slow grounder to first base that hit the bag and bounced away from Buckner. Boyd, who had run over to cover the bag, swiped at it and knocked it back toward Buckner who picked it up and fired home.
Gedman caught the ball and tagged Wally Joyner out (Joyner unwisely didn’t slide and tried to step over Gedman’s glove). Initially called safe, the call was overturned after the umpires conferred and the inning was over. Replay from one angle made it look like he was out while another angle made it look like he was safe. Angels manager Gene Mauch argued the call and was tossed from the game, but in any event, the game went on with the Red Sox clinging to their 1-0 lead.
The Sox wasted a golden opportunity in the fifth when Gedman led off with a single and Tony Armas hit a double that just barely missed clearing the wall by a foot. Owen grounded out, but Boggs walked to load the bases with one out. Instead of capitalizing, Barrett popped up and Buckner grounded out to end the threat.
Boyd was cruising until the sixth when he gave up an RBI single to Reggie Jackson (his first hit of the series) which tied the game. In the seventh, Oil Can unraveled when he gave up a solo home run to Dick Schofield, a single to Bob Boone, and a two-run homer to Gary Pettis which made it 4-1, Angels.
Boyd’s day ended after 6.2 innings with him giving up eight hits and four runs to go along with three strikeouts and two walks. Overall, though, he pitched a pretty good game but got no run support.
The Sox tried to mount a comeback in the eighth when they scored a run with runners on second and third when Angels closer Donnie Moore balked; they added another when Gedman followed with an RBI single. However, it was too little, too late and the Angels tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the inning when Ruppert Jones drove in a run visa sacrifice fly off of Red Sox closer Calvin Schiraldi.
The 5-3 loss dropped the Red Sox behind in the series 2-1. This game doesn’t get talked about much when it comes to this series, but it was a really entertaining contest that had a little bit of everything. The defense was tightened up (only one error for Boston, none for California) and Oil Can Boyd and John Candelaria (7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 5 K, 3 BB) both pitched really well. It may be the forgotten game of the series, but it was a good one.