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In ALCS Game Four, on October 11, Boston held a 3-0 lead before the Angels tied it and won in 11 innings. The following day the Red Sox scored four times in the top of the ninth in Game Five, and eventually won in 11 innings. It happened a third time, on October 15, when the Astros blew a 3-0 lead in Game Six of the National League Championship Series, as the Mets came back to win the game , 7-6 in 16 innings. Bob Boone led off the third inning with a solo home run down by the left-field corner. With two outs in the sixth, Doug DeCinces ripped a double into the gap in right-center. Bobby Grich, who had struck out in his two earlier at-bats, drove a 1-and-2 pitch to deep left-center.
Unlike the expected pitcher’s duel that never materialized in Game One, we were treated to one in Game Four. 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. Instead of capitalizing, Barrett popped up and Buckner grounded out to end the threat. Gedman caught the ball and tagged Wally Joyner out (Joyner unwisely didn’t slide and tried to step over Gedman’s glove).
Summary of 197 Home Runs
Like Roger Clemens in Game Four, Hurst would be starting on three days’ rest. The Red Sox faced Mike Witt, who had gone the distance in California’s Game One win. Henderson is best remembered for the two-out, two-strike home run he hit in the top of the ninth inning in Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS. At the time, the California Angels were playing at home and had a 3-1 series lead. They had a 5-2 lead going into the ninth and were three outs away from their first-ever trip to the World Series, but Boston closed the gap to 5-4 on a two-run home run by former Angel Don Baylor. Henderson played in 575 regular-season games during that span, hitting .275 with 84 homers, 123 doubles and 322 RBIs.
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 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. Up to the sixth inning, Witt had been dealing and was no hitting the Red Sox.
Dave Henderson
The Red Sox suffered a crushing loss in Game Four and were down to their very last strike in Game Five and yet somehow they came back to win the series. Clemens looked like the pitcher who cruised in Game Four and not the one who was overexcited and overthrew in Game One. He handled the Angels with ease whereas the Red Sox hitters could smell blood when it came to Angels starter John Candelaria. After the Red Sox dominated in Game Six, the final game of the series featured two teams heading in opposite directions. Even though Gene Mauch spoke with confidence in the pregame interview, his Angels team looked like dead men walking when the game started. They’d also been playing without rookie sensation Wally Joyner since Game Three which couldn’t have made them feel better.
After Evans singled and Gedman bunted for a hit, the Sox had the bases loaded. Henderson hit a sac fly to drive in Baylor which gave the Red Sox a 7-6 lead. Grich hit a long fly ball that Dave Henderson chased down and leapt for in front of the wall.
Dave Henderson World Series Stats
It was enough to cause him to miss the final series of the regular season, but he was in the starting lineup for every game of the postseason. Moore made Henderson look foolish, getting two quick strikes on him while just missing on a couple of the following pitches. With a 2-2 count, Henderson fouled off the next two pitches and the crowd was on their feet and were loud. You could hear how loud and crazy they were even watching it all these years later. Henderson was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the first round of the 1977 Major League Baseball draft.
The Red Sox kept the same lineup and batting order for the entire series whereas the Angels used a different lineup and order in every game. The Angels loved to try and steal bases, but I had forgotten how great a defensive catcher Rich Gedman was . He threw out four of the five steals the Angels attempted in the series and had thrown out 50% of base stealers during the 1986 regular season. It was even pointed out multiple times by Jim Palmer that Clemens “only” threw ten complete games that season in his 33 starts. Contrast that with, for example, Chris Sale who has only thrown 16 complete games in his entire career. Even all these years later, it’s one of the most shocking comebacks in baseball history.
For the first month of the season Henderson was the Royals' regular right fielder, however he only hit 9-for-47 (.191) with 2 home runs and 8 RBIs. Over the coming months he appeared more as DH and was not an everyday player. Through late July he was hitting .247 with 5 home runs at 31 RBIs, having appeared in only 56 of the team's 103 games. In 1989 Henderson was again the team's primary center fielder, playing 134 complete games, and appearing in a total of 152 games during the season. His hitting wasn't as good as the prior year, as he batted .250 (down from .304) and had 131 strikeouts . The Athletics had a 99–63 record to win the AL West again, finishing 7 games ahead of the Kansas City Royals.
Left-hander Gary Lucas came in to face Rich Gedman, but hit him with a pitch, bringing Dave Henderson to the plate representing the go-ahead run. Angels manager Gene Mauch called for closer Donnie Moore to face Henderson, who was hitting .189 in the ALCS. Moore got two strikes on Henderson, who then launched a two-run homer to left field to give the Sox a 6-5 lead. Former major league outfielder Dave Henderson, who hit one of the most famous home runs in postseason history, died Sunday after suffering a heart attack. With the Angels one strike away from winning the pennant, Henderson — a backup outfielder obtained from the Seattle Mariners in mid-August — crushed a home run that gave Boston a 6-5 lead.
He struggled at the plate throughout the season; at the end of April, he was batting .135, which improved only slightly to .172 at the end of May. After then going 1-for-10 at the start of June, he was sent back down to Spokane in Class AAA. Henderson hit 4-for-13 (.308) with two home runs and four RBIs during the series. For the 1989 postseason his batting average was .281 (9-for-32) with three home runs and nine RBIs, and he played center field throughout. Henderson joined the 1986 Red Sox on August 19, and appeared in 36 games over the remainder of the regular season, with just 7 complete games . Most of his appearances were as a late-game defensive replacement in center field, or as a pinch hitter – he had only 51 at bats, collecting 10 hits (.196 average) with one home run and three RBIs.
It looked like it affected Owen in particular as even after his error, most of his throws were off the mark and only saved by Buckner stretching and jumping to catch them. Clemens gave up another run in the eighth before being lifted and replaced with Joe Sambito who loaded the bases and gave up a two-RBI single to Downing. Clemens cruised through the first inning but ran into trouble in the second. He struck out the first two batters he faced but then walked two, gave up an RBI single to Ruppert Jones, an RBI double to rookie phenom Wally Joyner, and another single to Brian Downing.
I didn’t really pay attention growing up because that’s just the way it was, but going back and watching older games and comparing to these days, it’s like night and day. Boyd settled down after the first and was dealing, throwing seven strong innings, only giving up a subsequent solo home run to Brian Downing in the seventh. Meanwhile, the Red Sox knocked McCaskill out of the game in the third inning when they put up five runs. They scored another in the fifth to go up 8-2 and even though Downing hit his solo homer in the seventh and the Angels got another in the eighth, they looked defeated.
The Red Sox intentionally walked Brian Downing, setting up a force at any base. With both the infield and outfield playing in, DeCinces flied out to short right field, too shallow for Wilfong to tag up. Bobby Grich then lined a pitch right back to the mound, which Crawford speared easily in his follow-through.
With the football team, which won championships in 1975 and 1976, he played tight end, running back, and strong safety. One of his baseball teammates was future College World Series MVP Stan Holmes. Henderson's uniform numbers—42 in football, 22 in baseball—were both retired by the Dos Palos Broncos, which inducted him into the school's Hall of Fame in 2012 and named their baseball field in his honor.
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