SUTTON FIRES 3RD STRAIGHT SHUTOUT
Garvey, Yeager Pace Dodgers Offense
LOS ANGELES, May 22 (AP) - Don Sutton tossed his third consecutive complete game
shutout and the Los Angeles Dodgers romped to a 9-0 victory over the Houston
Astros at Dodger Stadium. Sutton has now thrown 31 1/3 consecutive
scoreless innings, the longest such streak in the major leagues thus far this
season. The win was the third straight for the Dodgers.
The nine-run outburst was welcome for the Dodgers, who entered the game
averaging just three runs per contest. The Dodgers had scored more than
eight runs in a game only once in their previous 37 outings. That came on
April 9 when they beat the San Francisco Giants, 10-4.
Sutton's teammates gave him an early lead to work with. After the Astros
went down in order in the top of the first, Dave Lopes led off the bottom half
of the inning by drawing a walk from Houston starter Gil Rondon. Lopes
then stole second base and scored on Bill Buckner's single to center.
Buckner then stole second himself. After Dusty Baker popped out, Steve
Garvey doubled to right, scoring Buckner and giving Los Angeles a 2-0 lead.
That score held up until the sixth when the Dodgers took firm command of the
game. Ed Goodson led off by looping a single to center and he advanced to
second on Joe Ferguson's base hit to right. Steve Yeager followed with a
blast that landed roughly halfway up the seats in the left field pavilion.
The home run was Yeager's second in as many days and his fifth of the season and
it put Los Angeles ahead, 5-0.
They didn't need it but the Dodgers added insurance in each of the next two
frames. RBI singles by Ferguson and Bill Russell in the seventh upped the
advantage to 7-0 and in the eighth, Dusty Baker's RBI double and a run-scoring
single off the bat of Garvey accounted for the nine-run final margin.
Sutton only allowed one runner past second base in the game and it took a
Dodgers miscue to make it possible. In the top of the second inning, Bob
Watson led off with a single and Jose Cruz's potential double play ball was
kicked by Goodson at third, putting runners on first and second with no
outs. But Ken Boswell flied out to center and Skip Jutze rolled into a
fielder's choice, forcing Cruz and moving Watson to third. Roger Metzger
then bounced to first to end the threat.
The win was the third straight for both the Dodgers and Sutton personally, and
it was also the fifth consecutive complete game for the Los Angeles
right-hander.
5/22/1976, Hou76-LA 76, Dodger Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1976 Astros 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 8 1 1976 Dodgers 2 0 0 0 0 3 2 2 x 9 13 1 8 1 Astros AB R H BI AVG Dodgers AB R H BI AVG Gross,G rf 2 0 0 0 .290 Lopes 2b 4 2 2 0 .220 Andrews,R 2b 4 0 0 0 .206 Buckner lf 5 1 1 1 .326 Cedeno cf 4 0 1 0 .233 Baker,D cf 5 1 1 1 .154 Watson 1b 3 0 1 0 .324 Garvey 1b 4 1 3 2 .352 Cruz,J lf 4 0 0 0 .213 Goodson 3b 4 2 1 0 .160 Boswell 3b 4 0 1 0 .214 Ferguson rf 4 1 2 1 .274 Jutze c 3 0 0 0 .057 Yeager c 2 1 1 3 .236 Roberts,L ph 1 0 1 0 .288 Russell ss 4 0 1 1 .227 Metzger,R ss 4 0 1 0 .234 Sutton p 3 0 1 0 .043 Rondon p 1 0 0 0 .000 35 9 13 9 Howe ph 1 0 0 0 .077 Siebert p 0 0 0 0 .000 Forsch,K p 0 0 0 0 .000 31 0 5 0 Astros INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Rondon L 0-3 6.0 7 5 5 4 3 101 58 5.32 Siebert 1.0 3 2 2 1 0 22 9 5.79 Forsch,K 1.0 3 2 2 0 1 17 13 3.79 8.0 13 9 9 5 4 140 80 Dodgers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Sutton W 5-3 9.0 5 0 0 3 8 140 86 2.30 9.0 5 0 0 3 8 140 86 Hou: Howe batted for Rondon in the 7th Roberts,L batted for Jutze in the 9th E-Goodson. 2B-Lopes(1), Baker,D(1), Garvey(10). HR-Yeager(5). RBI-Buckner(11), Baker,D(10), Garvey 2(15), Ferguson(14), Yeager 3(20), Russell(8). SB-Lopes(7), Buckner(8), Garvey(2). K-Andrews,R 2, Cedeno, Watson, Cruz,J 3, Rondon, Lopes, Baker,D, Garvey, Sutton. BB-Gross,G 2, Watson, Lopes, Garvey, Yeager 2, Sutton. SH-Rondon. HBP-Goodson. HB-Siebert. GWRBI: Buckner Temperature: 67, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 6 MPH. Attendance: 40,276 Game Time: 2:32