Twenty-one-year-old left-hander Greg Swindell makes his Major League debut, but he takes the loss on a tough day at Cleveland Stadium as the Indians are routed by the Boston Red Sox, 24-5.

The young lefty, the second overall pick of the 1986 draft, had just started his third week in the Indians organization when he got the call to start against the first place Red Sox. After he retired the top of the order on three groundouts, Tony Bernazard homered off of Oil Can Boyd to give Swindell and the Tribe an early 1-0 lead. It would not last long.

The Red Sox put two on in the second, but could not score. The same could not be said in the third, when Jim Rice drove in a run with a two-out single. Swindell’s third walk of the inning loaded the bases and a balk while facing Dwight Evans forced in a run. Evans followed with a two-run single and the Sox had a 4-1 lead. Two more unearned runs would cross in the fourth and Swindell’s outing ended with five more batters faced and just two retired in the frame.

Things took a turn for the worse in the sixth with the Indians down, 6-1. A single by Marty Barrett scored one run. A bases loaded walk to Bill Buckner by Dickie Noles forced in the eighth run of the game and the next batter, Tony Armas, took new reliever Jose Roman deep for a grand slam. A walk, a single, and another walk followed and Roman was lifted for Bryan Oelkers. The fourth pitcher of the day fared no better as five straight reached on a double, a single, a walk, a single, and another single to make it an 18-1 blowout in a 12-run inning.

The Sox would add a solo run in the seventh and five more in the eighth. Chris Bando singled in a run in the seventh while Bernazard and Carmelo Castillo combined to drive in three on singles in the ninth. Indians pitching combined to allow 24 runs on 24 hits with nine walks, three homers allowed, and just two strikeouts in the lopsided final.