46 Years Ago (July 8-10, 1975), Red Sox Won Three Straight Games Via Walkoff Hits

Forty-six years ago, the Red Sox won the first of three consecutive games via a walkoff hit.

The 1975 Red Sox began a 10-game winning streak (which increased its AL East lead from 1 GA to 6.5 GA) on July 7, with a 6-3 win over the Twins. Then . . .

July 8: Boston led 5-1, but the Twins scored twice in the seventh and twice in the eighth. In the bottom of the ninth, Jim Rice singled and was bunted to second by Cecil Cooper. Carlton Fisk was intentionally walked and Rick Burleson was unintentionally walked, loading the bases. Rookie Fred Lynn (batting .324, .982 OPS) pinch-hit for Doug Griffin and singled to right field to win the game. Red Sox 6, Twins 5. [Lynn won both the AL MVP and Rookie of the Year in 1975. Twins starter Bill Campbell, who actually started only nine of the 700 games in which he appeared, would later sign with the Red Sox as a free agent after the 1976 season.]

July 9: The Twins scored seven times in the third inning (shelling Rogelio Moret) and led 8-4 in the middle of the eighth. That's when the Red Sox got to work. Denny Doyle led off the home half of the eighth with a triple. With one out, Rice doubled and – after a pitching change – Lynn hit a two-run homer. Cooper led off the bottom of the ninth with a game-tying home run, the Red Sox's fourth dong of the game. Tom Burgmeier came in and retired pinch-hitter Rico Petrocelli, gave up a single to  pinch-hitter Griffin, and got Carl Yastrzemski to fly to right. With two outs, Rice doubled to left and Griffin scored the winning run. Red Sox 9, Twins 8. [Burgmeier also later pitched for the Red Sox (1978-82).]

July 10: Texas came to Fenway Park and the Red Sox feasted on Gaylord Perry's pitches, leading 7-2 lead after four innings. Texas scored single runs in the fifth and eighth innings. Red Sox reliever Reggie Cleveland got the first two outs in the top of the ninth, but gave up two singles to Toby Harrah and Jim Spencer before Jeff Burroughs hit a three-run homer, tying the game at 7-7. With two outs and no one on in the bottom of the ninth, Doyle singled and took second on a passed ball. Cooper singled, Doyle scored, and the Red Sox walked off winners once again. Red Sox 8, Rangers 7. [Perry pitched a complete game (8.2-9-8-2-6 (4 of the 8 runs were unearned)). Lynn went 3-for-4 with 4 RBI.]

Lynn was 7-for-9, with 7 RBI, in those three games!

July 8: 1-for-1, RBI
July 9: 3-for-4, double, home run, 2 runs scored, 2 RBI

July 10:  3-for-4, double, home run, 2 runs scored, 4 RBI

Lynn also drove in two runs on July 11 and four runs on July 13, giving him 13 RBI in a six-game span.

The 1975 Red Sox won three other games via walkoff hits in a span of five days on July 28, July 31 (G1), and August 1. That last game: Boston led the Tigers 6-3, but Detroit scored four in the top of the ninth. The Red Sox got two in the bottom half and won 8-7The game-winning run scored on a bunt by Jim Rice, who had homered earlier and finished the day 4-for-5.

Returning to 2021, the Red Sox lead all teams with 28 outfield assists, almost twice as many as the #2 AL team (Rays, 15). The Tigers and Angels have only six each. The NL leader is the Marlins, with 19.

The Red Sox have also used the fewest outfielders of any team this year (7). The Angels have used the most (15).

Tampa Bay pitchers Collin McHugh, Josh Fleming, Diego Castillo, Matt Wisler and Pete Fairbanks combined to record a no-hitter on Tuesday night.

It was also the third game this season in which Cleveland did not record a hit.

First 30 seasons (1901-1930)    4

Next 30 seasons  (1931-1960)    3

Next 30 seasons  (1961-1990)    3

Next 30 seasons  (1991-2020)    3

This season!     (2021)         3

Like Madison Bumgarner's April 25 no-hitter, the Rays' no-no was achieved during a doubleheader, so MLB will not count it as official. Nevertheless, as MLB has defined the game's rules for 2021, it was a genuine no-hitter.

MLB has (a) decreed that doubleheader games are officially seven innings in length and also (b) refuses to acknowledge that a no-hitter pitched in one of those games is official. In other words, for a no-hitter in a doubleheader game to be considered official, that game has to be extended into at least two extra innings.

It's beyond absurd. These seven-inning no-hitters will instead be referred to as "notable achievements". What a fucking joke. MLB cannot do anything right.

In Miami last night, before the Marlins walked off against the Dodgers, they scored exactly one run in six of the first eight innings:

Dodgers - 005 000 010 - 6 10  2

Marlins - 111 011 013 - 9  9  0

A lot of Doug Kern's baseball factoid tweets are variations on this example: "Juan Soto: Second player in Nats/Expos history with 2 hits, 2 walks, 3 runs scored, and 3 RBI against the Padres. Vladimir Guerrero, May 7 2003 (W 12-9)." or "Luis Urias: First Brewers batter to homer in both games of a doubleheader since Elian Herrera at CIN, Sep 5 2015."

Which are okay – and Kern posts a shitton of these every night, it's a crazy amount of work – but I find myself scrolling past those in search of more interesting or rarer items, such as:

July 4

Red Sox: First 1-0 win where the run scored on a double play since Lefty Grove grounded into one, also against the A's – 85 years ago to the day! [July 4, 1936]

July 5

White Sox: First game in franchise history (1901) where four different pitchers uncorked a wild pitch.

Rafael Devers: Also had 3 hits & 3 RBI on Thu vs KC.  Also had 3 hits & 3 RBI last Sunday vs NYY.  Last Sox batter with 3 such games in 9 days was David Ortiz in August 2015.

July 6 

Shohei Ohtani: First pitcher in at least 75 years to hit a game-tying double in the 1st inning.

Bryan Reynolds: Second batter in Pirates history to have BOTH the RBIs in a game the Pirates won 2-X, but also not have a hit in the game. Kiki Cuyler vs BKN, Jul 27 1927 (a groundout and what would have been a sac fly if those had existed).

Phillies: Second road game in team history where three different players had 4 RBI each.  The other is none other than The 23-22 Game, also at Wrigley, May 17 1979.

Nate Eovaldi: Also gave up 9 hits but struck out 9 batters on Apr 19 vs CHW (he won that one, 11-4).  First Red Sox pitcher to have two such games in the same season since Roger Clemens in 1991.

Diamondbacks: First team to begin a game by hitting four straight doubles since the White Sox did it against Boston on Jun 17 2003. [NOTE: The 2003 was played in Chicago, so the White Sox did not begin the game with four doubles. They began the bottom of the first with four doubles.]

July 7

Nick Nelson: First starter in Yankees history to walk 3, hit a batter, throw a wild pitch, and not finish the 1st inning.  Last for any team: MIN Joe Mays at TB, Aug 10 2000 (L 4-10).