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Bruce Vee Hurst (born March 24, 1958) is an American former Major League Baseball left-handed starting pitcher. He is best remembered for his performance for the Boston Red Sox in the postseason, where he won two games while allowing only two runs total. Prior to the miraculous Game 6 comeback by the New York Mets, he was the presumed World Series MVP. Two days later, in Game 7, Hurst was sent out to pitch the decisive game for the Sox, but he left with a no-decision when Boston saw a three run lead turn into a tie in the sixth with Hurst on the mound (New York eventually won the game and the Series); Hurst pitched a total of 23 innings, most among any pitcher in the Series and allowed five earned runs.
Hurst was a standout basketball player, leading Dixie High School to the state tournament in his junior and senior seasons, despite suffering a cracked vertebra as a senior, and would receive basketball scholarship offers. He played basketball at Dixie Junior College for the 1979–80 season. In 2015, Hurst told The Boston Globe that he would shoot hoops at Boston Celtics practices during his Red Sox days after developing a friendship with Celtics guard Danny Ainge.
Hurst has attributed his early interest and development in baseball to Kent Garrett, a coach and former Brigham Young University player who had him analyze magazine photos of pitcher windups, with Hurst practicing his own windup in front of a three-way mirror. Hurst caught the eye of MLB scouts after his junior year during an American Legion state tournament. He would average 14 strikeouts a game as a senior, compiling a 24–2 record in high school.
Hurst spent the 1977 season with the Winter Haven Red Sox in the Florida State League, going 5–4 in 13 starts with a 2.08 ERA, before incurring an elbow injury.
In 1978, the Red Sox promoted Hurst to the Bristol Red Sox of the Eastern League, where he lodged six starts before having his season shut down with shoulder soreness, ending with a 1–3 record and a 2.73 ERA.
Hurst started the 1979 season with Winter Haven, going 8–2 in 12 starts with a 1.93 ERA, then finishing the year in Bristol where, across 15 starts and one relief appearance, he had a 9–4 record with a 3.58 ERA.
Returning to Pawtucket for the season, Hurst went 12–7 with a 2.87 ERA. In Pawtucket, he played in the longest professional baseball game, with 32 innings played on April 18 and 19 against the Rochester Red Wings, with the final inning played later on June 23. Hurst came on as a reliever for the 28th inning and pitched five innings without giving up a run, later recollecting striking out Cal Ripken Jr. on a breaking ball at 4 a.m. prior to the league's commissioner ordering the suspension of play at the end of the inning. Bob Ojeda was credited with the win after pitching the 33rd inning on June 23.
After spending the 1981 minor league season in Pawtucket, Hurst received a September call-up, going 2–0 in five starts with a 4.30 ERA.
With the departures of John Tudor and Dennis Eckersley, Hurst became Boston's top starter in 1984, getting the nod on opening day and giving up two unearned runs in innings in a 2-1 road loss to the California Angels. He bounced back with a four-hit shutout of the Oakland Athletics, then was chased from his Fenway Park home opener after giving up seven runs while recording only one out. Hurst was 12–12 on the season with a 3.92 ERA, tying with Ojeda and Oil Can Boyd for the team lead in wins and losses.
Getting off to a slow start in the 1985 season, Hurst was demoted to the bullpen for a portion of June and requested a trade. Hurst turned around his season with the addition of a forkball as a third pitch to his curveball and fastball. Hurst credited former Detroit Tigers coach Roger Craig for teaching him the concept of the forkball and former Baltimore Orioles pitcher Mike Boddicker for schooling him in the grip, confirmed later by Boddicker who described the pitch as a "foshball" that was essentially "a glorified changeup."
Hurst said in an interview that that when his curve and forkball were fooling hitters, "I think I can get by with a mediocre fastball." Hurst would later pinpoint his revival to a single moment during a July 3 game against Milwaukee when batter Paul Molitor easily fouled off a Hurst pitch, at which point Hurst recollected telling himself "no more" and bore down to get the strikeout, one of 10 that day for the first time in his career. With his ERA having peaked at 6.66 on June 23, Hurst would finish the season with an overall 4.51 ERA and an 11–13 record.
Hurst pitched brilliantly in the World Series, holding the New York Mets to just four hits in the Game 1 pitchers' duel with Ron Darling won 1–0 by the Red Sox. In Game 5, Hurst pitched a complete game victory to give Boston a 3–2 lead in the Series.
With Boston leading 5–3 in the 10th inning of Game 6, the Mets were down to their last out with no one on base. A Red Sox World Series victory seemed likely as the Shea Stadium scoreboard was set to display "Congratulations Boston Red Sox, 1986 World Champions." Hurst had been selected as the World Series Most Valuable Player, until the Mets rallied to win the game with three runs, forcing a decisive Game 7.
Oil Can Boyd was originally slated to be the Game 7 starter for Boston, but when the game was delayed a day by rain, manager John McNamara turned to Hurst. Hurst gave up just one hit through five innings, however, the Mets came back with three runs in the sixth to tie the game. Hurst got a no-decision as he handed the ball over to the bullpen. The Mets won the World Championship, and Ray Knight received MVP honors.
Hurst was 9–4 with a 4.60 ERA midway through the season when the Red Sox replaced McNamara at manager with Joe Morgan, who had been Pawtucket manager during Hurst's tenure there. The Sox were in fifth place, nine games back of the first place Tigers at the time of the managerial change. The team went 46-31 from that point forward to finish one game ahead of Detroit in the AL East.
Hurst went 9–2 with a 2.54 ERA under his new manager to end the season at 18–6, finishing fifth in balloting for the American League Cy Young Award that season. He pitched a complete game in Games 1 of the 1988 American League Championship Series against the Oakland Athletics, but was outmatched by Oakland's ace, Dave Stewart. With Boston down three games to none, the two faced off again in Game 4 with Stewart and the A's again emerging victorious to complete the sweep.
On April 10, , he pitched a one-hitter against the Atlanta Braves for his first National League win and also collected his first MLB hit as a batter. He was the first Padres pitcher to strike out 13 batters while allowing only one hit. He went 15–11 with a career-best 2.69 ERA that season and led the National League with 10 complete games.
On May 18, 1992, Hurst pitched a one-hit shutout over Dwight Gooden and the Mets. The only hit was a single by Chico Walker. At the end of the season, Hurst began feeling pain in his left shoulder and underwent surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and labrum. The rehabilitation was arduous, and Hurst started only twice for the Padres in the first half of , allowing 6 earned runs in innings.
| W | L | PCT | ERA | Games played | Games started | Complete game | Shutout | SV | Innings pitched | H | Earned run | R | Home run | BB | Strikeout | Wild pitch | HBP | Fld% |
| 145 | 113 | .562 | 3.92 | 379 | 359 | 83 | 23 | 0 | 2417.1 | 2463 | 1052 | 1143 | 258 | 740 | 1689 | 56 | 28 | .968 |
In , Hurst and Jim Lefebvre coached China to a bronze medal at the 23rd Asian Baseball Championship, the first time ever that China had defeated one of the "Big Three" Asian teams (Japan, South Korea, Chinese Taipei). In , Hurst and Lefebvre also led the Chinese team in the inaugural World Baseball Classic, where they were eliminated in the first round of competition in the Asian bracket, which also featured eventual tournament champion Japan, as well as Korea and Chinese Taipei. Hurst also coached China alongside manager John McLaren in the Asian Baseball Championship in 2012 and 2013 World Baseball Classic.
Hurst returned to the Boston Red Sox during spring training in 2008 as a pitching instructor. On February 26, 2008, Hurst was named as Special Assistant for Player Development with the Red Sox. He worked for part of the 2015 season for the Los Angeles Dodgers, serving as a talent evaluator for players in Latin America.
During his 2019 Pawtucket Red Sox Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Clemens credited Hurst for giving him the nickname "Rocketman." In a 2015 interview, Hurst described Clemens as "the greatest teammate ever."
In 1999, Hurst and his wife moved to Gilbert, Arizona.
Hurst is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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