Game 79, Wednesday July 6, 1977 ~
At Kansas City
Royals 6, Brewers 4
WP: Gas Can Shanahan (3-4, 5.68); LP: Jim Slaton (7-8, 4.77); Sv: Mark Littell (6, 6.31)
Jim Colborn was slated to start this one, with all starters bumped a day early due to Steve Renko’s little ankle injury. With 12 games in 12 days, I didn’t want to stay in a vicious cycle of starters going on short rest — not with the bullpen so inconsistent. There lies the path of a 9-game losing streak. No, no, no.
So I was willing to take the ‘L’ in this one. To prove it, I decided to give Greg “Gas Can” Shanahan his first start since early May. I was gonna leave him in for at least 5 innings no matter what, damn the consequences, whatever it took to get my starters back on schedule.
Shanahan had other ideas. He held the 43-37 Brewers to 3 infield singles over seven innings. When he left the mound after the seventh inning to a standing ovation, the Royals had a 6-0 lead. And then “Gas Can” got to experience what it’s like when a bad bullpen almost ruins your work.
Rich Gale and Larry Gura sprung into action, allowing Milwaukee 4 runs in one combined inning between them. Fortunately, the slowly improving Mark Littell came on in the ninth and closed the door.
Al Cowens went 2-for-3 with a triple and his 16th homer of the year. George Brett jacked his 13th round-tripper of the year, a 2-run shot in the first inning.
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Game 80, Thursday July 7, 1977 ~
At Kansas City
Brewers 5, Royals 4
WP: Lary Sorensen (8-3, 3.39); LP: Jim Colborn (11-3, 3.58); Sv: Bill Castro (5, 4.32)
Jim Colborn threw his ninth complete game of the year, but also gave up three homers — two of them to Cecil Cooper — and the Royals couldn’t quite come back.
The Brewers jumped all over Colborn for 4 runs in the top of the first inning. Al Woods hit a solo homer (No. 4) and Cooper blasted an opposite-field 3-run shot to LF. Cooper added a solo bomb, his 10th, in the fifth inning to make it 5-2.
KC’s George Brett homered for the third straight game, a 2-run shot that cut the 4-0 lead to 4-2. He now has 14 for the season to go with a .321 average and 48 RBI.
The Texas Rangers trailed 4-0 against Oakland yesterday — came back to win 11-8. They trailed Oakland 5-0 today — came back to win 9-5. We now trail the Rangers by 9 games in the standings. Oakland is coming to KC for a weekend series.
The Rangers have a 30-8 record at home. Jeez.
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