which boston red sox pitcher in the last 40 years allowed the most
runs while pitching a complete game?

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Clarification of Question by jwells-ga on 20 Jan 2004 12:21 PST

i believe reggie cleveland is the answer but i am not sure. hewould be
a good starting place.

I'm not certain that this is the answer, but if it isn't, it's still
amazing: Tim Wakefield gave up eight runs in a 162(!)-pitch loss to
the White Sox (8-2) on June 10, 1996.

"June 1996 - Monday June 10th"
BaseballLibrary.com
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/chronology/1996JUNE.stm#day10

My immediate guess when I saw your question was Tim Wakefield.  He can
pitch all day -- typically well, but sometimes not -- because he
throws a knuckleball.  But we'll see if another researcher can find a
9+ run complete game, by Wakefield or someone else.

i do not believe it was wakefield. i think it was reggie cleveland and
i believe he allowed over 15 runs but was compelled to complete the
game over his protestations.....not sure but i think  i have it right
. i want to be sure. please let me know

From what I have found, Reggie Cleveland never gave up more than 8
runs in any game, so while I can't verify that Tim Wakefield is the
answer, I don't think it is Reggie Cleveland.

What you may be thinking of about Cleveland is a game he pitched at
the end of the season in 1975.  On September 25, 1975 the Red Sox beat
the Tigers 12-5 and Reggie Cleveland earned the win.  What was really
crazy about the game was:

"Detroit pounds out 18 hits against Boston's Reggie Cleveland, but
they still lose 12?5. Carlton Fisk, Butch Hobson and Carl Yastrzemski
all homer for Boston, giving the Sox a total of 210."
From http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/teams/1977redsox.stm#daybyday

I couldn't find a box score from the game to verify that he did pitch
a complete game, but he certainly gave up a lot of hits.  And with
only a week to go in a season where they were out of first by 3 games
(to the Yankees of course), I could imagine them leaving a pitcher in
to withstand a beating.  It was his last game of record that season
(and potentially the last time he pitched that season).

I know this doesn't answer your question, but I hope it helps.

A good source for old box scores is Retrosheet:
http://www.retrosheet.org/

Reggie Cleveland did pitch a complete game on Sept. 25, 1977 in that
win (but certainly 5 runs is not the most ever given up).

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

I did pitch that 18 hit complete game. I threw 157 pitches and was
done by the 7th inning, but Zim kept saying he needed to rest the pen
and if I could at least start the next inning he'd get someone in if
the game got close. I kept giving up singles and they kept hitting
into double plays. As far as giving up the most in any one game loss,
I don't remember anything out of the ordinary. Most starter will give
up runs will be knocked out early or will have a big lead and win the
game. I remember one game against the Brewers were we scored 5 runs in
the first and I didn't get out of the second. We lost 14-12 but I only
gave up 5 of them.