MAY DRIVES IN 7 AS BRAVES SALVAGE DH SPLIT
14 Run Outburst Sets Season High for Club
ATLANTA, May 30 (AP) - Dave May broke out of a slump with four hits, including a
triple and a home run, and drove in seven as the Atlanta Braves earned a split
of their doubleheader with the Houston Astros with a 14-6 win in the nightcap at
Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The Astros cruised to an 11-5 victory in
the opener. The Braves set a season high for runs and equaled a season
high in hits in the second game of the twin bill, doing the lion's share of
their damage with five-run outbursts in the third and eighth innings.
May set the tone for his big day early on, following Rod Gilbreath's one-out
single in the bottom of the first inning with a blast into the right field
bullpen off Houston starter Gil Rondon for his second home run of the season.
After Leon Roberts halved the lead with a solo home run in the top of the
second, May earned his third run batted in by driving home Jerry Royster with a
second inning single, giving Atlanta a 3-1 lead.
The Braves then appeared to blow the game wide open in the third, ending
Rondon's afternoon in the process, with a major assist to the Astros'
defense. Rondon retired the first two batters of the inning and seemed to
have set down the Braves in order when he induced Darrell Chaney to ground to
second baseman Rob Andrews. But Andrews muffed the chance and the error
allowed the inning to continue. Royster advanced Chaney to third with a
base hit to center field and Atlanta starter Roger Moret aided his own cause by
dropping a single into left, scoring Chaney and moving Royster to third.
Rowland Office walked, loading the bases, and Rondon then uncorked a wild pitch,
scoring Royster with the fourth Braves run and advancing the other runners to
second and third. Gilbreath drew a free pass, reloading the bases, and
ending the day for Rondon. He was replaced by Tom Griffin. The first
batter he faced was May and the Atlanta left fielder worked ahead in the count
3-1 before lacing a triple off the right-center field fence. All three
runners scored, giving the Braves an 8-1 lead.
The Astros tried to make a game of it, scoring three runs of their own in the
fourth inning when Cliff Johnson crushed a Moret offering that caromed off the
facing of the mezzanine level in left field. The three-run blast scored
Bob Watson and Roberts and all three tallies were unearned, due to an error on
Darrell Evans that allowed Roberts to reach.
Atlanta countered with a run in the bottom of the fourth. Griffin walked
three straight hitters--Vic Correll, Darrell Chaney and Royster--with one out
and Moret drove in his second run of the game with a roller to second.
The score remained 9-4 until the seventh when Houston edged closer. Facing
Adrian Devine, Roberts and Johnson laced back-to-back singles to open the frame,
putting runners on first and second. Enos Cabell followed with a tailor
made double play ball to Gilbreath but his throw to Chaney at second was
wide. The error left all hands safe, and the bases were loaded with no
outs. Jerry DaVanon rolled into a fielder's choice, forcing Cabell at
second, but Roberts scored to cut the deficit to 9-5. The Astros were
poised to draw closer, but Devine got a double play ball from pinch hitter Ken
Boswell and the inning ended with the Braves still on top by four.
Houston pulled to within two in the top of the eighth. Andrews drew a
one-out walk and, after Cesar Cedeno lined out to center, Johnson singled,
advancing Andrews to third. Roberts followed with a base hit to right,
plating Andrews and chasing Cedeno to third. Johnson grounded out to end
the inning.
Atlanta's lead, which had once been seven, was down to just three runs but the
Braves put any doubts about the final outcome to rest once and for all in the
bottom of the eighth. Evans drew a lead-off walk from Paul Siebert and,
one out later, moved to second on Chaney's single. Royster walked to load
the bases. Braves manager Dave Bristol saw a chance to break the game open
and had Marty Perez pinch hit for Devine and Perez came through with a single to
left, scoring Evans to make it 10-6 and leaving the bases loaded. Jim Wynn
then pinch hit for Office and grounded a single to center, scoring two more runs
to increase the advantage to 12-6. Gilbreath's single refilled the bases
and May drove in his seventh run of the contest with a single to left. A
walk to Ken Henderson forced home the 14th and final run of the game for Atlanta
before Evans mercifully ended the inning by grounding into a double play.
Max Leon tossed a scoreless ninth to close out the win.
5/30/1976, Hou76-Atl76, game 2, Fulton County Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1976 Astros 0 1 0 3 0 0 1 1 0 6 7 2 4 1 1976 Braves 2 1 5 1 0 0 0 5 x 14 15 2 12 1 Astros AB R H BI AVG Braves AB R H BI AVG Howard,W rf 5 0 0 0 .250 Office cf 3 1 0 0 .335 Andrews,R 2b 3 1 0 0 .159 Wynn ph 1 1 1 2 .164 Cedeno cf 4 0 0 0 .220 Gilbreath 2b 5 2 2 0 .294 Watson 1b 4 1 2 0 .341 May,D lf 5 1 4 7 .254 Roberts,L lf 4 3 3 2 .328 Henderson,K rf 4 0 0 1 .200 Johnson,C c 4 1 2 3 .252 Evans,Da 1b 5 1 2 0 .161 Cabell 3b 4 0 0 0 .255 Correll c 4 1 0 0 .250 DaVanon ss 3 0 0 1 .200 Chaney ss 4 2 1 0 .272 Rondon p 1 0 0 0 .000 Leon p 0 0 0 0 .000 Griffin,T p 1 0 0 0 .200 Royster 3b 3 3 2 0 .288 Boswell ph 1 0 0 0 .255 Moret p 2 1 1 2 .250 Siebert p 0 0 0 0 .000 Gaston ph 1 0 1 0 .500 Howe ph 1 0 0 0 .067 Devine p 0 0 0 0 .000 35 6 7 6 Perez,M ph 1 1 1 1 .244 38 14 15 13 Astros INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Rondon L 0-4 2.2 7 8 3 3 1 64 34 5.84 Griffin,T 3.1 3 1 1 5 2 68 28 5.00 Siebert 2.0 5 5 5 3 0 37 18 7.20 8.0 15 14 9 11 3 169 80 Braves INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Moret W 2-2 6.0 3 4 1 0 2 74 46 3.52 Devine H 1 2.0 4 2 1 1 0 37 23 4.63 Leon 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 12 7 1.50 9.0 7 6 2 2 3 123 76 Hou: Boswell batted for Griffin,T in the 7th Howe batted for Siebert in the 9th Atl: Gaston batted for Moret in the 6th Perez,M batted for Devine in the 8th Wynn batted for Office in the 8th Wynn moved to cf in the 9th Perez,M moved to ss in the 9th E-Andrews,R, Cabell, Gilbreath, Evans,Da. 3B-May,D(1). HR-Roberts,L(3), Johnson,C(4), May,D(2). RBI-Roberts,L 2(10), Johnson,C 3(23), DaVanon(1), May,D 7(15), Henderson,K(16), Moret 2(3), Perez,M(6), Wynn 2(18). K-Howard,W, Cabell, Howe, Evans,Da 2, Correll. BB-Andrews,R, DaVanon, Office 2, Gilbreath, May,D, Henderson,K 2, Evans,Da, Correll, Chaney, Royster 2. SH-Moret. WP-Rondon. GWRBI: May,D Temperature: 94, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 7 MPH. Attendance: 12,040 Game Time: 2:42