Red Sox Youngsters Trigger 3-0 Victory

The 1997 Boston Red Sox are in last place in the AL East, 15 1/2 games behind Baltimore and chasing seven other teams in the wild-card “race.”

So let’s take a look at the Red Sox of tomorrow.

Rookie shortstop Nomar Garciaparra doubled, tripled and homered to back the pitching of 22-year-old Jeff Suppan on Thursday night and lead Boston to a 3-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

On the same day the Red Sox brought up their next pitching phenom, 21-year-old Brian Rose--scheduling him to make his major league debut today against the Angels--Suppan held the Athletics to four hits over 7 2/3 innings, matching the longest outing of his career.

“We as a team don’t care who contributes. But if it’s the young players, that makes it that much more impressive,” Manager Jimy Williams said. “They’re going to be here for their whole careers. To be able to produce like that is a big lift for our ballclub.”

In the fifth, Jeff Frye doubled in one run and Garciaparra followed with a triple to give Suppan all the support he needed. One day after his 24th birthday, Garciaparra also doubled in the third inning and hit a leadoff homer in the eighth to raise his average since the All-Star break to .348.

Suppan lost a chance at his first career shutout after giving up a two-out single to pinch-hitter Brent Mayne in the eighth.