Page 283 - 1975 BoSox

Boston 15, Detroit 1
June 18, 1975 at Tiger Stadium
By Chuck McGill
IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 1970S, the Boston Red Sox had a pipeline of talent coming to the big-league club from the
minors. Carlton Fisk solidi ed the catcher’s position in 1972, winning the American League Rookie of the Year award. In 1973 Dwight Evans became the everyday right elder, and while his bat was still developing, his throwing arm quickly made baserun- ners think twice about taking an extra base. Cecil Cooper became a full-time player and part-time rst baseman in 1974. And in 1975, Fred Lynn and Jim Rice, tagged by the media as e Gold Dust Twins, arrived and had arguably the best pair of rookie seasons by teammates in the modern era.
June 18 was a warm, humid Wednesday night, the nal game of a three-game set with the Tigers, and the ninth game of a 13-game road trip. Over the rst eight games of the trip, the Red Sox were 6-2, giving them an overall record of 34-24 and a 11⁄2-game lead over the New York Yankees in the American League East. In the rst game of the series, Lynn, Boston’s dynamic center elder, had his 20-game hitting streak snapped. He came into the nal game of the series with a .337 average, good for fourth in the American League, with 11 home runs, tied for the third highest, and 40 runs batted in, which ranked fth in the league.
After losing his hitting streak in the Monday game, Lynn managed one hit in four at-bats in the middle game of the series. Still not quite satis ed, he was up early Wednesday morning, pacing in the hotel lobby anxious to get to Tiger Stadium for extra batting practice.
“I was expecting to see some of our men doing some extra hitting because we’re down pretty good at the moment. I look out onto the eld and there’s Fred Lynn. He goes 20 straight games with hits, gets
stopped, and he’s out on the eld taking extra batting practice,” said Bill Freehan, the Tigers catcher.1
Detroit’s starting pitcher, Joe Coleman, retired Juan Beniquez to lead o the game, but the next four batters in the Red Sox lineup hit him for the cycle: Burleson tripled, Yastrzemski doubled him home, Lynn hit a two-run homer into the upper deck in right eld, and then Rice singled. By the time the dust cleared in the top of the rst, Boston had scored four runs, and the rout was on.
In the second inning, Coleman got two quick outs, but then gave up two singles, bringing Lynn to the plate for the second time. A high, majestic drive o the façade of the roof in right eld resulted in his second home run of the game and drove in three more runs, bringing his runs batted in total to ve.
Going into the third inning, the Red Sox had a 7-1 lead, and the Detroit bullpen was called on to pitch the rest of the game. By the time Lynn batted in the inning, Bob Reynolds was on the mound, having replaced Lerrin LaGrow, one of Lynn’s favorite pitch- ers to face, who had replaced the starter, Coleman. It didn’t matter, as Lynn laced a line drive to left eld, over the head of Dan Meyer and o the top of the scoreboard for a two-run triple. If the ball had been hit three feet higher, it would have been Lynn’s third home run in as many at-bats.
Lynn’s fourth at-bat, in the fth inning, was a lineout to John Knox at second base. In the eighth inning, Lynn singled to lead o the inning, his fourth hit of the game, giving him 12 total bases to that point, along with seven runs batted in.
In the ninth inning, with one out and two runners on, Lynn came to bat for the sixth time in the game. He launched his third home run, and fth hit, of the game
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