FIRST 8 BATTERS REACH SAFELY, A'S OUTLAST TIGERS
Detroit Pitchers Walk 11, Fan 14 in Loss
DETROIT, July 18 (AP) - The first eight Oakland Athletics batters reached base
safely en route to a five-run first inning and the A's went on to defeat the
Detroit Tigers, 10-6, at Tiger Stadium. Detroit starting pitcher Frank
MacCormack failed to retire a single hitter--the only out recorded while he was
on the mound was when Claudell Washington was thrown out at third base in an
attempt to advance on Don Baylor's single--walking the last four batters he
faced before being replaced by Bill Laxton. MacCormack is the first
starting pitcher in the major leagues this season to fail to retire a single
batter and only the sixth to be replaced before the end of the first
inning. The total of 11 walks issued by the Tigers pitching staff in a
nine-inning game is just one shy of the big league high for the year, held by
three teams, including Detroit. Tigers pitchers walked 12 Texas Rangers in
a 9-4 loss at Arlington Stadium on June 6. The string of eight consecutive
batters reaching base safely to open a game is the longest of the season to
date.
Things spiraled out of control for MacCormack immediately in the top of the
first. Bill North drew a lead-off walk and promptly swiped the first of
three stolen bases on the day. Washington drew the second free pass of the
inning and Baylor followed with a single to right field, scoring North, but
Washington was thrown out at third by Rusty Staub. A wild pitch advanced
Baylor to second and Joe Rudi made the score 2-0 by lacing a double into the
left field corner. MacCormack then walked Sal Bando on four pitches and
Gene Tenace on five to load the bases. That was the start of a 20-pitch
sequence that resulted in four straight bases on balls, the final two--to Phil
Garner and Tommy Sandt--forcing in runs. MacCormack was pulled with the
bases filled, one out and his team trailing 4-0. He had thrown 50 pitches
and issued six walks. Laxton took over and struck out Larry Haney for the
second out but then issued the third bases loaded walk of the inning, this one
to North, giving the A's a 5-0 lead. Washington followed by flying out to
left to end the frame.
This was the second time this season a team had drawn four consecutive walks,
and the A's have been the beneficiary both times. Joe Decker of the
Minnesota Twins walked four consecutive Oakland batters on May 17 at
Metropolitan Stadium. The seven walks issued in a single inning ties a
major league season high first set when Houston Astros pitchers walked seven
Cincinnati Reds batters in the eighth inning of a 10-6 Houston loss at
Riverfront Stadium on July 3. And the three bases loaded walks in the same
inning matched a major league season high, previously set by three other teams.
Once the A's took a five-run lead the game's final outcome was never really in
doubt, but the Tigers refused to go quietly. They cut the deficit to 5-1
when Ron LeFlore drew a lead-off walk from Paul Mitchell, stole second base,
moved to third on a ground out and scored on Tom Veryzer's roller to third.
Baylor's 13th home run of the season led off the second inning and regained a
five-run advantage for Oakland and the A's made it 7-1 in the third when Baylor
singled home North, who had doubled. The Tigers then closed to within four
runs in the bottom of the third on LeFlore's RBI double and Veryzer's
run-scoring single.
Tenace doubled home Bando to up Oakland's lead to 8-3 in the fourth but Detroit
got that run back in the bottom half of the inning, again courtesy of a Veryzer
base hit, when he drove home Aurelio Rodriguez.
RBI singles off the bats of Washington and Rudi in the fifth made it 10-4
Oakland. The Tigers pulled back to within four runs in the bottom of the
same inning on Alex Johnson's RBI grounder and Rodriguez's run-scoring
triple. But they could draw no closer as Jim Todd tossed a pair of
scoreless frames to close out the contest.
John Hiller fired 4 1/3 scoreless innings of relief for Detroit to give the
Tigers a chance to rally. Hiller struck out eight batters in the process,
matching a major league season high for relief pitchers. Wayne Twitchell
of the Philadelphia Phillies struck out eight San Diego Padres on June 13, also
in 4 1/3 innings of relief work.
7/18/1976, Oak76-Det76, Tiger Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1976 Athletics 5 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 10 13 2 12 2 1976 Tigers 1 0 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 6 14 0 10 0 Athletics AB R H BI AVG Tigers AB R H BI AVG North dh 4 3 3 1 .279 LeFlore cf 4 2 2 1 .307 Washington cf 5 1 1 1 .274 Veryzer ss 5 0 2 3 .271 Baylor rf 5 2 3 3 .276 Staub rf 4 1 0 0 .305 Rudi lf 6 1 2 2 .248 Horton dh 4 0 1 0 .249 Bando 3b 2 2 0 0 .240 Thompson,J 1b 5 1 4 0 .210 Tenace 1b 3 1 2 1 .317 Johnson,A lf 5 0 0 1 .268 Garner 2b 4 0 2 1 .253 Rodriguez,A 3b 5 1 3 1 .291 Sandt ss 4 0 0 1 .037 Garcia,P 2b 3 0 0 0 .193 Haney c 4 0 0 0 .213 Meyer ph 1 0 0 0 .194 McMullen ph 1 0 0 0 .228 Stanley,M 2b 0 0 0 0 .295 Newman c 0 0 0 0 .120 Kimm c 3 1 2 0 .250 38 10 13 10 39 6 14 6 Athletics INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Mitchell,P W 4-8 5.0 10 4 3 1 3 98 62 6.21 Bahnsen H 3 2.0 3 2 2 1 1 34 21 3.71 Todd 2.0 1 0 0 2 0 31 15 1.73 9.0 14 6 5 4 4 163 98 Tigers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA MacCormack L 0-4 0.1 2 5 5 6 0 42 13 8.39 Laxton 4.1 9 5 5 3 6 101 54 4.99 Hiller 4.1 2 0 0 2 8 79 48 2.80 9.0 13 10 10 11 14 222 115 Oak: McMullen batted for Haney in the 8th Newman inserted at c in the 8th Det: Meyer batted for Garcia,P in the 7th Stanley,M inserted at 2b in the 8th E-Baylor, Haney. 2B-North(15), Rudi(15), Tenace(9), Garner(16), LeFlore(8), Thompson,J(7). 3B-Rodriguez,A(1). HR-Baylor(13). RBI-North(25), Washington(43), Baylor 3(66), Rudi 2(33), Tenace(27), Garner(44), Sandt(2), LeFlore(29), Veryzer 3(19), Johnson,A(31), Rodriguez,A(36). SB-North 3(38), Washington(19), Garner(20), LeFlore(29). K-North, Washington 2, Rudi 3, Bando 2, Garner, Sandt, Haney 3, McMullen, Horton 2, Garcia,P, Kimm. BB-North 2, Washington, Baylor, Bando 3, Tenace 2, Garner, Sandt, LeFlore, Staub, Horton, Kimm. WP-Mitchell,P, Bahnsen, MacCormack. GWRBI: Baylor Temperature: 83, Sky: clear, Wind: out to left at 15 MPH. Attendance: 21,526 Game Time: 3:15