BRAVES CRACK 3 PH HRs IN STIRRING COMEBACK WIN
Williams, May, Gaston All Go Deep Off Bench
ATLANTA, Apr. 17 (AP) - The Atlanta Braves, keyed by three pinch hit home runs,
overcame a 6-2 deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 9-7, in 10 innings at
Fulton County Stadium. Earl Williams, Dave May and Cito Gaston all came
off the bench and hit critical home runs for the Braves. May's home run,
off Charlie Hough, tied the game with one out in the bottom of the ninth and
Gaston's blast--a two-run shot off Stan Wall--came with two outs in the 10th and
ended the game.
Atlanta scored first, pushing a pair of runs across the plate in the bottom of
the third off Dodgers starter Doug Rau. Rowland Office, who continued his
torrid start for the season with three more hits, led off with a single and
advanced to third when Jerry Royster doubled to left. Darrell Evans
followed by lofting a deep fly to center, scoring Office and moving Royster to
third. Jim Wynn then lined a single to left, scoring Royster for a 2-0
lead.
The Dodgers drew even in the fifth. Facing Braves starter Carl Morton,
Steve Yeager led off with a single to center and Ivan DeJesus doubled him to
third. Morton then uncorked a wild pitch, scoring Yeager and moving
DeJesus to third. Rau and Bill Buckner both failed to drive in the tying
run but Ted Sizemore's two-out single to right-center knotted the game.
Los Angeles then appeared to seize firm control of the contest in the
sixth. Steve Garvey led off with a single and consecutive walks to Ron Cey
and John Hale filled the bases with none out. Yeager's soft roller to
third scored Garvey with the lead run and moved the other baserunners to second
and third with one out. It appeared Morton would work out of further
trouble when he struck out DeJesus but Rau chopped a single over the head of
Evans at first base, scoring both runners and giving the Dodgers a 5-2
advantage.
The inability of the Braves to take advantage of a scoring opportunity in the
sixth appeared to be equally deflating. With two outs, Darrel Chaney and
pinch hitter Tom Paciorek singled and Office followed with a walk to load the
bases. Rau was lifted in favor of Mike Marshall who fanned Royster to end
the threat.
The Dodgers added to their lead in the seventh when Ron Cey's two-out double off
reliever Adrian Devine scored Dusty Baker to up the advantage to 6-2.
Atlanta cut into the deficit in the bottom of the frame. With one out,
Wynn singled and then scored when Ken Henderson tripled off the wall in
right-center. Lee Lacy's sacrifice fly scored Henderson to move the Braves
within two runs.
But the Dodgers got a run back in the top of the eighth. Yeager led off
with a single, moved to second on DeJesus' sacrifice bunt, took third on an
infield single off the bat of pinch hitter Glen Burke and scored when he was off
on contact as Buckner rolled softly to first base.
Trailing 7-4 in the bottom of the eighth, the Atlanta bench began its collective
heroics. With Al Downing on the mound, Chaney drew a lead-off walk.
Williams then came on to pinch hit for Devine and ripped a Downing offering into
the left field bullpen for a two-run home run, narrowing the Dodgers advantage
to 7-6.
Elias Sosa came on to pitch for the Braves in the ninth and, by working around a
pair of errors, kept the deficit at a single run.
Charlie Hough, who had come on for the Dodgers in bottom of the eighth in relief
of Downing, struck out Henderson to start the last half of the ninth.
Playing a hunch, Braves manager Dave Bristol called on Dave May to hit for
Lacy. He drove an 0-1 offering just beyond the right-center field fence
for a game-tying home run.
Sosa held Los Angeles off the board in the tenth and Wall came on to face
Atlanta in the bottom half of the inning. Williams bounced out to second
but Office laced his third hit of the game, a single to left. Royster
lined out to left and Bristol summoned Gaston to hit for Sosa. After
working the count to 2-1, Gaston picked out a fast ball and drove it over the
scoreboard in left field for a game-winning home run.
4/17/1976, LA 76-Atl76, Fulton County Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E LOB DP 1976 Dodgers 0 0 0 0 2 3 1 1 0 0 7 14 0 10 1 1976 Braves 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 2 1 2 9 15 2 10 2 Dodgers AB R H BI AVG Braves AB R H BI AVG Buckner lf 6 0 2 1 .414 Office cf 5 2 3 0 .516 Sizemore 2b 6 0 2 1 .192 Royster 3b 6 1 1 0 .219 Baker,D cf 5 1 1 0 .250 Evans,Da 1b 1 0 0 1 .118 Garvey 1b 5 1 2 0 .333 Sosa,E p 0 0 0 0 .000 Cey 3b 4 1 2 1 .391 Gaston ph 1 1 1 2 1.000 Hale rf 3 1 0 0 .333 Wynn lf 5 1 2 1 .138 Yeager c 5 2 2 1 .250 Henderson,K rf 5 1 2 1 .286 DeJesus ss 3 1 1 0 .333 Lacy 2b 3 0 0 1 .214 Goodson ph 1 0 0 0 .000 May,D ph 1 1 1 1 .222 Wall p 0 0 0 0 .000 Perez,M 2b 0 0 0 0 .000 Rau p 3 0 1 2 .143 Pocoroba c 5 0 1 0 .296 Marshall p 0 0 0 0 .000 Chaney ss 4 1 2 0 .423 Burke ph 1 0 1 0 1.000 Morton,C p 2 0 0 0 .167 Downing,A p 0 0 0 0 .000 Paciorek ph 1 0 1 0 .429 Hough p 0 0 0 0 .000 Devine p 0 0 0 0 .000 Cruz,Hen ph 0 0 0 0 .000 Williams,E ph 2 1 1 2 .250 Auerbach pr 0 0 0 0 .000 41 9 15 9 42 7 14 6 Dodgers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Rau 5.2 8 2 2 2 3 99 62 2.45 Marshall H 2 1.1 2 2 2 0 1 22 14 6.00 Downing,A H 1 0.2 2 2 2 2 0 26 11 27.00 Hough BS 1 1.1 1 1 1 0 1 16 12 2.84 Wall L 0-1 0.2 2 2 2 0 0 18 10 81.00 9.2 15 9 9 4 5 181 109 Braves INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Morton,C 6.0 10 5 5 2 2 97 59 5.40 Devine 2.0 4 2 2 0 0 29 21 9.00 Sosa,E W 2-0 2.0 0 0 0 2 4 38 22 1.80 10.0 14 7 7 4 6 164 102 LA : Burke batted for Marshall in the 8th Goodson batted for DeJesus in the 10th Cruz,Hen batted for Hough in the 10th Auerbach ran for Cruz,Hen in the 10th Auerbach moved to ss in the 10th Atl: Paciorek batted for Morton,C in the 6th Williams,E batted for Devine in the 8th Williams,E moved to 1b in the 9th May,D batted for Lacy in the 9th Perez,M inserted at 2b in the 10th Gaston batted for Sosa,E in the 10th E-Lacy, Williams,E. 2B-Cey(2), DeJesus(1), Royster(2), Chaney(2). 3B-Henderson,K(1). HR-Williams,E(1), May,D(1), Gaston(1). RBI-Buckner(5), Sizemore(1), Cey(5), Yeager(1), Rau 2(2), Evans,Da(3), Wynn(4), Henderson,K(4), Lacy(2), Williams,E 2(2), May,D(3), Gaston 2(2). SB-Buckner(2). K-Buckner, Sizemore, Baker,D, Hale, Yeager, DeJesus, Royster, Wynn, Henderson,K 3. BB-Cey, Hale 2, Cruz,Hen, Office, Evans,Da 2, Chaney. SH-DeJesus. SF-Evans,Da, Lacy. HBP-Evans,Da. HB-Rau. WP-Morton,C. GWRBI: Gaston Temperature: 67, Field: wet, Sky: clear, Wind: none. Attendance: 12,224 Game Time: 3:06