Tonight’s game was the first game after the All-Star break. Detroit has been hot and Cleveland has been hanging in. It would be important to Detroit and Cleveland to get off to a good second-half start, and would be damaging to the Sox to come out struggling. Detroit and Cleveland already won tonight, so this was an important game.
The Royals had bases-loaded, one out, in the bottom of the 11th. I said at the time you have to squeeze, because you probably won’t score if you don’t, and if you don’t, the Sox are almost guaranteed to score due to the momentum change. The Royals don’t squeeze, don’t score, and the Sox score in the top of the 12th to take an 8-7 lead. The Royals did tie it in the 12th, but the Sox won in 14.
So, once again, the failure to squeeze cost a team a game, and gave the Sox an important game. Steve Stone, Sox announcer, called it “a huge win.”