Red Sox Defeat Angels, Face Mets in Series

The California Angels’ dream of reaching the World Series ended Wednesday night when the Boston Red Sox scored seven unearned runs and won the American League pennant, 8-1, at Fenway Park in Boston.

The victory in the seventh game of the American League championship series put the Red Sox in the World Series against the New York Mets, who outlasted the Houston Astros, 7-6, in 16 innings--the longest game in postseason history--in Game 6 of the National League playoffs at Houston’s Astrodome.

Game 1 of the World Series will be played Saturday at Shea Stadium in New York.

The Red Sox, who have not won a World Series since 1918, completed a comeback from a 3-games-to-1 deficit to win their first pennant in 11 years.

Collapse Early

The Angels collapsed early, allowing three unearned runs in the second inning and four in the third on errors by Dick Schofield and Gary Pettis. Jim Rice hit a three-run homer and Dwight Evans added a solo homer for the Red Sox.

The defeat was the latest in a string of near-misses for Angel Manager Gene Mauch, who has not won a pennant in 25 years as a major league manager.

Boston second baseman Marty Barrett, who hit .367 with a team-high 11 hits, was selected as the AL series’ most valuable player.

The Mets erased a 3-0 deficit against the Astros with three runs in the ninth inning. New York went ahead with a run in the 14th, only to have Houston’s Billy Hatcher tie the game, 4-4, with a one-out homer in the bottom of the inning.

New York scored three times in the 16th, but the Astros scored twice and had the tying and winning runs on base in the bottom of the inning when Met reliever Jesse Orosco struck out Kevin Bass to end the game.