Fenway Flashback: 1986 — April, Week 3: Two Steps Forward, Three Back

April 21–27, 1986 · Week 3 of 4 · Record at close: 9–8

Four straight victories had carried Boston into the third week of April with a 7–5 record and a convincing run of starting pitching. The next five games complicated that promising picture. Detroit took two of three at Fenway, Kansas City shut the Sox out, and an offense capable of a three-homer afternoon also managed one run across two consecutive defeats.

Boston finished the week 9–8 after Al Nipper stopped the slide in Kansas City. It was a 2–3 stretch that resisted a neat description. Roger Clemens kept winning, Nipper delivered another complete game, and several established hitters produced useful individual afternoons. Yet the team could not turn those performances into a sustained run. April was still a collection of competing signals.

The Tigers won the series opener 5–4. Boston received three hits apiece from Jim Rice and Rich Gedman, along with home runs from Rice and Wade Boggs. Gedman drove in two runs. There was sufficient activity in the lineup to make the game close, but not enough to erase all of Detroit’s advantage.

Nipper allowed five runs and nine hits in seven innings, striking out seven without issuing a walk. Steve Crawford followed with two scoreless frames. Those are revealing details: Nipper’s problem was not a procession of free passes, and the relief work did not allow the game to escape. Detroit converted its hits into just enough runs, then protected the result.

Lou Whitaker drove in two for the Tigers, and Darnell Coles homered. Boston’s four-game winning streak ended in a familiar fashion, with a single run separating competitive work from a victory. It was the third one-run loss to Detroit already, following the two 6–5 defeats that opened the season. The matchup was becoming…