GURA NO-HITS CHISOX
Royals Win 4th Straight
CHICAGO, Aug. 7 (AP) - Larry Gura tossed the first no-hitter in the American
League this season, leading the Kansas City Royals past the Chicago White Sox,
2-1 at Comiskey Park. The only other no-hitter in the major leagues thus
far this season came on May 23 when Ed Halicki of the San Francisco Giants
stifled the Atlanta Braves at Candlestick Park.
There's a certain irony in knowing that there have been 87 shutouts in the AL
thus far this season and the circuit's only no-hitter isn't one of them.
Gura issued four walks to the White Sox and one of them--a lead-off free pass in
the bottom of the second inning drawn by Jorge Orta--resulted in a run. In
fact, it produced the lead run, albeit briefly.
Gura walked Chet Lemon to open the bottom of the first inning but immediately
erased the baserunner by inducing Ralph Garr to ground into a double play.
After falling behind Orta 3-0 to begin the second, Gura ultimately issued the
base on balls after what became a seven-pitch battle. The Chicago left
fielder then stole second base on the first pitch to Bill Stein. Stein
flied out to the edge of the warning track in left field and Orta alertly tagged
and advanced to third. Jim Spencer followed with a soft ground ball to the
left side. Orta scored as third baseman George Brett threw Spencer out at
first and the White Sox had a 1-0 lead.
The Royals rallied in the second. Fred Patek lined a single to
right-center off White Sox starter Francisco Barrios and swiped his 32nd base of
the year to give Kansas City a runner in scoring position. Barrios
ultimately fanned White, but Tom Poquette ripped a triple off the base of the
wall in right-center field, scoring Patek to tie the game. Amos Otis'
grounder to short scored Poquette to put the Royals on top, 2-1.
After the walk to Orta in the second, Gura settled in and retired seven straight
batters before issuing his third base on balls--to Lamar Johnson, with one out
in the fourth. Orta erased that problem by grounding into an inning-ending
double play. That play was the start of 15 consecutive men retired by Gura.
The closest the White Sox came to a hit was in the eighth when Spencer, batting
with the bases empty and one out, looped a fly ball near the foul line in
shallow right. Al Cowens, who had just come on for defensive purposes at
the start of the inning, made a fine sliding catch to keep the no-hitter intact.
Barrios, meanwhile, held the Royals at bay after the third, shutting Kansas City
out the rest of the way en route to a complete game effort of his own.
With 13 straight Chicago batters set down, the game moved to the bottom of the
ninth. Gura got Alan Bannister on a comebacker to the mound and fanned
pinch hitter Wayne Nordhagen--his fourth strikeout of the contest. But
Gura fell behind Lemon 3-0 and eventually walked him, bringing Garr to the
plate. Garr, somewhat characteristically, swung at the first pitch and
popped it up to the right side of the infield. First baseman John Mayberry
squeezed it and the Royals mobbed Gura, congratulating him on the no-hitter.
The win was the fourth straight for Kansas City, one shy of the team's season
best streak and the longest such stretch since the first week of July. The
Royals stand 1 1/2 games behind Oakland in the AL West, pending the outcome of
the Athletics game with the California Angels.
8/7/1976, KC 76-ChA76, Comiskey Park 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1976 Royals 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 8 0 8 2 1976 White Sox 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 Royals AB R H BI AVG White Sox AB R H BI AVG Poquette lf 4 1 2 1 .313 Lemon cf 2 0 0 0 .244 Wohlford lf 1 0 0 0 .281 Garr rf 4 0 0 0 .322 Otis cf 4 0 0 1 .273 Johnson,L dh 2 0 0 0 .353 Brett,G 3b 3 0 2 0 .337 Orta lf 2 1 0 0 .238 Mayberry 1b 4 0 0 0 .248 Stein 2b 3 0 0 0 .189 McRae dh 3 0 2 0 .392 Spencer 1b 3 0 0 1 .244 Jones, Ru rf 4 0 0 0 .154 Bell,K 3b 3 0 0 0 .232 Nelson,D 2b 0 0 0 0 .300 Bannister ss 3 0 0 0 .357 Stinson c 4 0 0 0 .210 Essian c 2 0 0 0 .175 Patek ss 4 1 1 0 .248 Nordhagen ph 1 0 0 0 .304 White,F 2b 2 0 0 0 .236 25 1 0 1 Cowens rf 1 0 1 0 .285 34 2 8 2 Royals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Gura W 1-1 9.0 0 1 1 4 4 113 71 2.27 9.0 0 1 1 4 4 113 71 White Sox INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Barrios L 3-11 9.0 8 2 2 3 4 140 83 5.35 9.0 8 2 2 3 4 140 83 KC : Wohlford inserted at lf in the 8th Nelson,D inserted at 2b in the 8th Cowens inserted at rf in the 8th ChA: Nordhagen batted for Essian in the 9th E-Essian. 3B-Poquette(8). RBI-Poquette(22), Otis(64), Spencer(40). SB-Brett,G(16), Patek(32), Orta(14). K-Mayberry, Stinson 2, White,F, Bell,K, Bannister, Essian, Nordhagen. BB-Brett,G, McRae, White,F, Lemon 2, Johnson,L, Orta. WP-Barrios. GWRBI: Otis Temperature: 78, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 21 MPH. Attendance: 12,728 Game Time: 2:12