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Old 05-21-2019, 09:48 PM   #31
webrian
Minors (Triple A)
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 229
Game 86, Wednesday July 13, 1977 ~

At Kansas City

Royals 4, Tigers 2

WP: Dennis Leonard (8-3, 2.73); LP: Pat Underwood (0-2, 7.15); Sv: Larry Gura (5, 3.65)

The Tigers lost starter Dave Rozema for the season with a torn UCL and traded LHP Dave Roberts to the Angels, so the Royals had the fortune of facing yet another untested 20-year old plucked up from the minors to eat innings.

But with George Brett, Clint Hurdle, John Mayberry and Tom Poquette resting, young Tom Underwood was pretty darn effective. He went the distance and allowed only 5 hits. Luckily for KC, three of them were homers.

Amos Otis hit a 2-run shot, his 12th, in the bottom of the sixth to tie the score 2-2. Then in the bottom of the seventh, Kiko Garcia and third-string catcher Steve Patchin hit back-to-back solo homers to make it a 4-2 lead. It was Patchin’s first homer and Garcia’s 4th.

Dennis Leonard wasn’t his sharpest but he got the job done. Larry Gura got six easy outs in the eighth and ninth innings to notch the save.

***

Game 87, Thursday July 14, 1977 ~

At Kansas City

Royals 3, Tigers 2

WP: Steve Mingori (3-3, 5.20); LP: Mark Fidrych (9-9, 4.83); Sv: Mark Littell (7, 5.87)

Hal McRae and Clint Hurdle came through with RBI doubles in the bottom of the eighth inning to boost Kansas City.

Mark Littell got two outs in the ninth to earn the save.

The Tigers came at us again with tough pitching. Mark Fidrych is a consummate groundball pitcher and his stuff worked for most of the night. He induced three groundball double plays to get out of jams and the Tigers carried a 1-0 lead to the bottom of the eighth.

Steve Renko deserved the win, but his stamina fizzled before the clutch hits came. Renko went 7 innings, allowing just 1 unearned run on 6 hits with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts.

Rusty Staub hit his 13th homer of the year for the Tigers, off Steve Mingori in the top of the ninth.

The Royals have now won six in a row and are 6 games behind the Rangers.

But now here come the hated New York Yankees, who are 55-36 and tied for first place in the AL East with Baltimore.

AROUND THE LEAGUE:
Philadelphia Phillies superstar third baseman Mike Schmidt, holding back tears, announced today that he will miss the remainder of the season due to persistent shoulder inflammation. He will have to be scratched from the All-Star Game too.

This is terrible news for the Phillies, who were favored to win the NL East but have languished in fourth or fifth place most of this season. They are currently 9 games back of division-leading Chicago.

Schmidt was batting .265 with 18 HRs and 49 RBIs. He had a .385 on-base percentage.

ALSO:
The Pittsburgh Pirates, 3 games behind the Cubs in the NL East, have swung a couple of interesting trades to bolster their pitching for the second half. The Bucs have sent a flurry of minor leaguers to Toronto and Cleveland in exchange for hard luck starter Jerry Garvin (2-12, 6.02 ERA with the Jays) and elite relief pitcher Dave LaRoche, who has a 2.22 ERA in 28.1 innings of work out of the pen.

***
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