The Perfect Schedule - Games 111-120

The Sox stay hot running their record to 120-0 with ten great victories here.  This stretch features some huge run totals and a near no-hitter.

Game 111 - Sox 5 at Tigers 4 - 1980 - Making his first start since May of 2019 Mark Fidrych pitched 8 innings allowing 11 hits and 5 runs.  Fred Lynn and Tony Perez had three hits apiece and Jim Dwyer hit a solo home run off the Bird in the 8th to make a winner of BIll Campbell.
Game 112 - Rangers 7 at Sox 8 - 2005 - The Sox jumped out early and led 7-2 before Mike Remlinger’s Red Sox debut went poorly (2 hits, 1 walk, 4 runs, no outs recorded) and the Rangers tied it up. In a year where there weren’t a lot of great moments for him Edgar Renteria had one here delivering a walk off single to plate Bill Mueller in the 10th.
Game 113 - Sox 17 at Rangers 1 - 1997 - Led by rookie Nomar Garciaparra’s 4 hits and Wilfredo Cordero’s 3 the Sox pounded Ranger pitching.  Someone named Jesus Tavarez played center for the Sox on this day (and 41 other games that year, I don’t remember him at all) and went 0 for 6.  Due to a bunch of positional changes the Rangers gave up the DH which led to Bobby Witt pinch hitting for John Wetteland in the ninth (he whiffed).
Game 114 - Sox 10 at Orioles 8 - 1989 - The clubs played 13 innings to settle this one.  Nick Esasky homered and drove in four while Lee Smith and Bob Stanley combined on 5.2 shutout innings of relief before Gedman and Evans had RBI hits in the 13th.
Game 115 - Sox 15 at Astros 10 - 2013 - I remember this one well.  Facing a terrible Astro team Steven Wright and Brandon Workman put the Sox in an early hole. Workman battled through 4.2 innings of relief and the Sox bats exploded with Jacoby Ellsbury and Shane Victorino both scored four runs while Jonny Gomes added a homer to Ellsbury’s and the Sox raced away from the hapless Astros.
Game 116 - Tigers 4 at Sox 16 - 1988 - More fireworks for you.  Going to the bottom of the sixth the Sox trailed 4-3 the bats came alive with three in the sixth and three more in the seventh for a 9-4 lead.  Then in the eighth they put it away as the first eight men reached highlighted by Dwight Evans, in a career best 7 RBI game, tripled home three.
Game 117 - Royals 4 at Sox 5 - 2019 - This was a weird one, not the game itself but how it ended.  The clubs were tied going to the bottom of the tenth when the rains came.  They picked it up a couple weeks later and a one out double by Vazquez and after an intentional pass to Sam Travis (really?) Brock Holt delivered a walk off hit.  Given that the club had made the day about the Jimmy Fund having Holt who was so involved with that organization get the walk off hit was appropriate.
Game 118 - Blue Jays 4 at Sox 5 - 2004 - I’m pretty sure I’ve got this one right.  After Pedro Martinez and Ted Lilly struggled early (4-4 after 4) things settled down until the tenth when Orlando Cabrera doubled home Johnny Damon.  My recollection is that Cabrera’s double took a wild bounce off the top of the scoreboard giving Damon time to race around with the winner.
Game 119 - Other Sox 0 at Sox 5 - 1993 - This is the kind of game that made me want to do this series.  Taking place on my 23rd birthday two friends and I were in the bleachers as Danny Darwin dazzled the ChiSox.  For 7 2/3 he held the Southsiders hitless when Dan Pasqua slammed one to center and despite his best effort the ball eluded the 5’9” Billy Hatcher’s leap and went for a triple and the only hit Dr. Death would surrender.  My friends and I, determined to stick to tradition and wouldn’t discuss the no hitter but instead kept discussing the “complete game shutout,” something we do to this day when such a thing is taking place.  This game is one of my fondest memories of a day at Fenway with good friends.
Game 120 - Rangers 17 at Sox 19 - 2008 - Knuckleballer Charlie Zink made his MLB debut and the Sox presented him with a 10-0 lead after one.  My boss was sitting in my seats with his three children and would see a humdinger as Zink couldn’t get through the fifth.  A Youkilis homer made it 14-10 Sox after five but David Aardsma and Manny Delcarmen couldn’t make it stand pushing it to 15-14 Texas.  Trailing 16-15 in the 8th and RBI double by Pedroia as part of a career best five hit day (he’s done it five times) set the stage for another Youk dinger and a 19-16 lead.  Jonathan Papelbon struggled a bit in the ninth but got Chris Davis to bloop one to Pedroia to finally end one of the wildest games in history.  This is one of only six games (and the most recent) where a team scored 17 runs and failed to win.