The Sensational 70s - Royal Revival Blanked by Boston Bullpen

Jim Willoughby fired two scoreless innings which allowed Boston to cling to a 4-3 lead going into the ninth, and the '75 Red Sox would tack on two more runs in the final frame to take Game 2 of their ALCS 6-3 over the '77 Kansas City Royals. The series is now even at one game apiece as the scene shifts to Fenway Park.

Boston roughed up Royals' starter Paul Splittorff for 7 hits and 4 earned runs in only 5 innings of work. Two of those runs came on mammoth solo homers by Jim Rice and Carlton Fisk as the Red Sox cruised to the sixth with a 4-1 lead.  Rice continued to be an offensive force as he is hitting .542 in these playoffs with 4 homers and 9 RBI. For Fisk, it was his third round-tripper of the playoffs

Kansas City manager Whitey Herzog called on lefty Larry Gura for the sixth, and he was masterful, tossing three scoreless frames facing only 10 batters to lower his post-season ERA to 1.59. The only hit mustered by the Red Sox was a leadoff double by Jim Rice in the eighth inning.

Red Sox starter Rick Wise would only last one more inning than Splittorff. He was solid for the first 5 innings but ran into difficulty in the sixth. Royals' DH Hal McRae ignited the rally with a leadoff double and came around to score on John Mayberry's RBI single. This was Mayberry's second RBI of the game as he drilled a solo blast to right-center field in the second inning. Mayberry is 4-8 in the ALCS with 2 homers and 5 RBI. Darrell Porter pushed a run across on a fielder's choice to close the gap to 4-3.

Wise handed the ball off to Willoughby for the seventh, and he delivered, retiring 6 Royals in order. Willoughby has now tossed 5 scoreless innings in the playoffs and was a key piece of the Red Sox playoff run logging 82.2 innings in the regular season as the setup man with a stingy 2.05 ERA. The win pushed Wise's record to (2-0) as he's won both his outings in the postseason.

Boston regained their mojo in the ninth after Gura was lifted in favor of Steve Mingori. Boston battered Mingori for two singles and a home run which accounted for 2 runs to put the game out of reach.

The Red Sox will look to Luis Tiant in Game 3 to keep their winning ways intact while the Royals intend to counter with Jim Colburn.Tiant is (1-0) in two starts in the playoffs with a microscopic 0.68 ERA. Colburn only went 5 innings in his only playoff start but was second on the Royals staff with 15 wins during the regular season.

In the National League, the NLCS will begin in Los Angeles with the '77 Dodgers taking on the '79 Montreal Expos. The Dodgers roared back in their NLDS after dropping the first game to the '76 New York Mets reeling off three consecutive wins feasting on a porous Mets' bullpen. The Dodgers scored 11 runs in those wins after the sixth inning.  

The Expos trailed Game 5 of their NLDS in Cincinnati as the '75 Reds led 4-1 going into the eighth, but the visitors tied the game on a three-run homer by Gary Carter. Andre Dawson added a three-run blast of his own in the eleventh to shock the favored Reds and seal their NLCS birth.