BREWERS EXTEND 'L' STREAK TO 10 WITH DH SWEEP AT HANDS OF TRIBE
Cleveland Adds to Hot Spell with 14th Win in Last 17 Games
MILWAUKEE, Aug. 6 (AP) - The Milwaukee Brewers tied a major league season mark
for futility when their losing streak hit 10 games as they were swept by the
Cleveland Indians in a doubleheader at County Stadium. The only other
team, somewhat ironically, to reach double digits in consecutive losses this
year is Cleveland; the Indians dropped 10 in a row beginning with the second
game of the season on April 13 at Boston. The team's fortunes have changed
considerably since then; the Indians are now a season best eight games over .500
and have won 14 of their last 17 contests.
In the opener the two starters--Stan Thomas of Cleveland and Jim Colborn of
Milwaukee--matched goose eggs for four innings but the Indians took the lead
with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth. Buddy Bell led off with a
base hit and moved to second on Ray Fosse's ground out. Tommy Smith then
singled to center, scoring Bell with the game's first run. Smith promptly
stole second and, after Frank Duffy popped out to third, scored on Duane
Kuiper's bloop single to left.
Thomas took that lead into the top of the eighth. On the very first pitch
to Tim Johnson opening the inning, Johnson popped a foul ball behind the plate
which catcher Fosse misplayed for an error. Given new life, Johnson lined
a base hit to right field. Cleveland manager Frank Robinson inserted
left-hander Dave LaRoche, who has been almost literally flawless this season, in
place of Thomas and he struck out Von Joshua but then walked Robin Yount on a
3-2 pitch, putting runners on first and second. Sixto Lezcano then drilled
a double into the right-center field gap, scoring Johnson and advancing Yount to
third with just one out. The tying and go-ahead runs were now both in
scoring position but LaRoche buckled down and retired pinch hitter Don Money on
a weak pop fly to the right side of the infield and pinch hitter Henry Aaron on
a grounder to short to end the inning with the Indians still on top, 2-1.
Jerry Augustine retired Cleveland in order in the top of the ninth but, after
the difficult eighth, LaRoche cruised through the bottom of the ninth, setting
the Brewers down 1-2-3 to close out the game.
In the nightcap, the Indians battered Milwaukee starter Eduardo Rodriguez in the
middle innings to pile up a big lead en route to a comfortable 7-3
victory.
Larvell Blanks' bases loaded ground out in the third gave Cleveland a 1-0
advantage. In the fourth, the Indians loaded the bases with no one out on
Bell's single and back-to-back walks to Joe Lis and Fosse. Smith's
swinging bunt got the team's second run home and a Duane Kuiper base hit made it
3-0.
John Lowenstein led off the fifth with his fourth home run of the season to
increase the lead to 4-0 and the Indians tallied single runs in the seventh,
eighth and ninth innings to extend their lead. George Hendrick's bases
loaded sacrifice fly made it 5-0 in the seventh. Lis hit a solo home run
in the eighth to make it 6-0 and Cleveland capped the scoring in the ninth on
Hendrick's second sacrifice fly of the contest.
Jim Bibby carried a shutout into the ninth but tired. He issued opening
walks to Yount and Lezcano and then Carbo ended the shutout bid by lining a
double to left, scoring Yount and chasing Lezcano to third. Don Hood
replaced Bibby and, before the inning was over, yielded run-scoring hits to
Danny Thomas and Charlie Moore but ultimately secured the final out to preserve
the win.
The second game was marred by wildness by numerous pitchers. Rodriguez
fought his command from the first pitch of the game and eventually walked seven
in just 5-2/3 innings of work. Bibby issued six free passes of his own in
eight-plus innings. Brewers relievers Augustine and Bill Castro
contributed four free passes between them in a combined 3-1/3 innings. It
was only the fifth time in the major leagues this season that two teams combined
to walk at least 17 batters in a single game.
9/6/1976, Cle76-Mil76, game 1, County Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1976 Indians 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 9 1 6 0 1976 Brewers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 7 0 8 0 Indians AB R H BI AVG Brewers AB R H BI AVG Kuiper 2b 4 0 3 1 .292 Joshua cf 4 0 1 0 .234 Gonzalez 1b 4 0 2 0 .218 Yount ss 3 0 1 0 .273 Lowenstein cf 4 0 1 0 .191 Lezcano rf 4 0 1 1 .284 Carty dh 4 0 1 0 .261 Carbo dh 3 0 0 0 .224 Hendrick lf 4 0 0 0 .275 Money ph 1 0 0 0 .295 Bell,B 3b 4 1 1 0 .305 Hegan 1b 3 0 0 0 .314 Fosse c 4 0 0 0 .292 Aaron ph 1 0 0 0 .224 Smith,T rf 4 1 1 1 .227 Sutherland 1b 0 0 0 0 .194 Duffy ss 3 0 0 0 .207 Porter c 4 0 2 0 .194 35 2 9 2 Thomas,Da lf 3 0 1 0 .182 Gantner 3b 3 0 0 0 .091 Heidemann ph 1 0 0 0 .207 Johnson,Ti 2b 4 1 1 0 .273 34 1 7 1 Indians INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Thomas,S W 8-6 7.0 5 1 0 0 7 93 66 3.03 LaRoche S 19 2.0 2 0 0 1 3 39 26 0.45 9.0 7 1 0 1 10 132 92 Brewers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Colborn L 8-16 8.0 9 2 2 0 5 110 76 3.73 Augustine 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 5 3 3.15 9.0 9 2 2 0 5 115 79 Mil: Money batted for Carbo in the 8th Aaron batted for Hegan in the 8th Sutherland inserted at 1b in the 9th Heidemann batted for Gantner in the 9th E-Fosse. 2B-Kuiper(16), Gonzalez(3), Lezcano(15), Thomas,Da(2). RBI-Kuiper(39), Smith,T(9), Lezcano(37). SB-Smith,T(3). CS-Lowenstein. K-Gonzalez, Carty, Hendrick, Bell,B, Fosse, Joshua, Yount, Lezcano, Carbo 2, Hegan 2, Porter, Gantner, Heidemann. BB-Yount. HBP-Thomas,Da. HB-Thomas,S. GWRBI: Smith,T Temperature: 69, Sky: clear, Wind: out to left at 3 MPH. Attendance: N/A Game Time: 2:20 9/6/1976, Cle76-Mil76, game 2, County Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1976 Indians 0 0 1 2 1 0 1 1 1 7 7 0 8 2 1976 Brewers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 6 1 6 1 Indians AB R H BI AVG Brewers AB R H BI AVG Kuiper 2b 3 1 1 2 .293 Joshua cf 4 0 0 0 .233 Lowenstein cf 2 2 2 1 .198 Yount ss 3 1 0 0 .271 Blanks ss 3 0 0 1 .295 Lezcano rf 3 1 1 0 .284 Griffin,A ss 0 0 0 0 .000 Carbo dh 1 1 1 1 .227 Carty dh 2 0 0 0 .260 Hegan 1b 4 0 1 0 .313 Hendrick lf 4 0 1 2 .275 Thomas,Da lf 4 0 1 1 .200 Bell,B 3b 5 0 1 0 .304 Moore,C c 3 0 1 1 .178 Lis 1b 2 2 2 1 .500 Gantner 3b 3 0 1 0 .143 Fosse c 3 1 0 0 .289 Heidemann ph 1 0 0 0 .205 Smith,T rf 3 1 0 0 .221 Johnson,Ti 2b 3 0 0 0 .270 27 7 7 7 Scott,G ph 1 0 0 0 .263 30 3 6 3 Indians INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Bibby W 10-3 8.0 4 3 3 6 5 125 69 2.26 Hood 1.0 2 0 0 0 0 16 8 5.53 9.0 6 3 3 6 5 141 77 Brewers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Rodriguez,Ed L 5-7 5.2 4 4 3 7 0 105 49 4.27 Augustine 0.1 0 1 1 2 0 14 4 3.20 Castro 3.0 3 2 2 2 0 43 22 2.73 9.0 7 7 6 11 0 162 75 Cle: Griffin,A inserted at ss in the 8th Mil: Heidemann batted for Gantner in the 9th Scott,G batted for Johnson,Ti in the 9th E-Rodriguez,Ed. 2B-Thomas,Da(3). HR-Lowenstein(4), Lis(1). RBI-Kuiper 2(41), Lowenstein(21), Blanks(22), Hendrick 2(79), Lis(2), Carbo(22), Thomas,Da(2), Moore,C(24). CS-Lowenstein, Bell,B, Carbo. K-Yount, Thomas,Da, Moore,C, Gantner 2. BB-Kuiper, Lowenstein 2, Carty 3, Lis 2, Fosse, Smith,T, Griffin,A, Yount, Lezcano, Carbo 3, Moore,C. SH-Kuiper, Lowenstein, Blanks. SF-Hendrick. GWRBI: Blanks Temperature: 69, Sky: clear, Wind: out to left at 3 MPH. Attendance: 14,811 Game Time: 2:56