BLUE JOINS TORREZ WITH 6 WINS; SHUTS OUT YANKS
Oakland Is ML Best 19-4
OAKLAND, May 7 (AP) - Vida Blue became the first pitcher in the major leagues to
win six games this season, leading the Oakland Athletics to a 7-0 victory over
the New York Yankees at the Oakland Coliseum. The victory gives the A's a
major league best record of 19-4, 5 1/2 games ahead of the second place Chicago
White Sox in the American League West. The win was the fifth straight for
Blue and represents his sixth complete game and second shutout in seven starts
thus far this season. Blue becomes the second AL league pitcher to reach
six wins on the year, joining teammate Mike Torrez who achieved the mark with a
victory over the Cleveland Indians on May 4.
The A's made it easy on Blue, breaking out to an early lead and ultimately
chasing Yankees starter Rudy May. Joe Rudi's third home run of the season,
a solo shot in the first inning, gave Oakland a 1-0 lead and RBI singles off the
bats of Bert Campaneris and Larry Haney in the second upped the advantage to
3-0. Don Baylor's fourth home run of the year, a solo blast that landed
nearly halfway up the left-center field bleachers, increased the A's lead to
4-0.
In the fourth, Oakland ended May's day. Campaneris led off with his second
single of the game and promptly stole second. Phil Garner grounded out to
short but Haney came through again, grounding a base hit into left field,
scoring Campaneris to give the A's a 5-0 lead. Bill North rolled into a
fielder's choice, forcing Haney at second, but then stole second base and scored
when Claudell Washington blooped a single to center field. That was it for
May; Yankees manager Billy Martin replaced him with Dave Pagan who retired Rudi
for the third out. The A's led 6-0 after four innings.
For good measure, Oakland pushed a capping run across the plate against Pagan in
the seventh. North led off with a base hit and advanced to second when
Washington drew a free pass. Two batters later, Sal Bando singled home
North to account for the final score of 7-0.
Throughout, Blue simply dazzled the Yankees. New York's only truly good
scoring opportunity came in the second inning and it needed a miscue by the A's
to enable it. After Chris Chambliss struck out, Lou Piniella hit a tapper
down the first base line which Baylor, in his haste to make a play on the slow
roller, booted for an error. Otto Velez flied out to center but Graig
Nettles lined the Yankees' first hit of the day, a double to right-center
field. Piniella tried to score but was cut down at the plate on a fine
relay from Washington to Garner to Haney. The Yankees never had another
baserunner past first base with less than two outs and Blue retired the final 13
batters he faced in order to end the game.
5/7/1976, NYA76-Oak76, Oakland Coliseum 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1976 Yankees 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 7 0 1976 Athletics 1 2 1 2 0 0 1 0 x 7 9 1 5 0 Yankees AB R H BI AVG Athletics AB R H BI AVG Rivers cf 4 0 0 0 .239 North cf 3 2 1 0 .295 White,R lf 3 0 0 0 .266 Washington rf 3 0 1 1 .261 Munson c 4 0 1 0 .244 Rudi lf 4 1 1 1 .284 Chambliss 1b 4 0 0 0 .272 Baylor 1b 4 1 1 1 .256 Piniella dh 4 0 0 0 .217 Bando 3b 3 1 1 1 .224 Velez rf 3 0 0 0 .273 McMullen dh 2 1 0 0 .200 Nettles 3b 4 0 2 0 .230 Williams,B ph 1 0 0 0 .145 Randolph 2b 3 0 0 0 .232 Campaneris ss 3 1 1 0 .268 Stanley,F ss 2 0 1 0 .318 Garner 2b 4 0 1 1 .286 31 0 4 0 Haney c 4 0 2 2 .333 31 7 9 7 Yankees INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA May,R L 1-2 3.2 7 6 6 3 3 89 52 4.62 Pagan 4.1 2 1 1 1 3 62 39 3.38 8.0 9 7 7 4 6 151 91 Athletics INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Blue W 6-1 9.0 4 0 0 3 6 134 89 1.18 9.0 4 0 0 3 6 134 89 Oak: Williams,B batted for McMullen in the 7th E-Velez, Baylor. 2B-Nettles(1). HR-Rudi(3), Baylor(4). RBI-Washington(15), Rudi(18), Baylor(20), Bando(14), Garner(13), Haney 2(11). SB-North(11), Bando(2), Campaneris(10). K-Rivers, Munson, Chambliss 3, Velez, North, Washington, Bando, McMullen 2, Haney. BB-White,R, Velez, Stanley,F, North, Washington, Bando, McMullen. SH-Campaneris. GWRBI: Rudi Temperature: 67, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 18 MPH. Attendance: 21,846 Game Time: 2:31