COWENS CAPS 5-HIT DAY WITH GAME-WINNING HOMER
Royals Rally Late, Pull to Within 2 Games of A's
KANSAS CITY, Sept. 22 (AP) - Al Cowens tied a bow around a five-hit game,
capping his big day at the plate with a two-run home run in the bottom of the
ninth inning to give the Kansas City Royals a 6-4 victory over the Oakland
Athletics at Royals Stadium. The win pulled Kansas City back to within two
games of the first place A's in the American League West. Both clubs have
ten games remaining, four of them head-to-head.
The A's broke out to an early lead against Royals starter Marty Pattin.
Bill North led off the ball game with a base hit, stole his league-leading 69th
base of the season and scored when Bert Campaneris dropped a single into shallow
center field. Campaneris then stole second himself--his 48th theft of the
year--and advanced to third on Buck Martinez's throwing error. Joe Rudi's
ground out plated Campaneris to give Oakland a 2-0 lead.
The A's pushed their lead to 3-0 in the fourth. With one out, Pattin hit
Don Baylor with a pitch and the Oakland outfielder then stole second base.
(The A's have stolen 319 bases thus far this season, far and away the highest
total in the major leagues.) Claudell Washington's ground out moved Baylor
to third and, after Ron Fairly was intentionally walked, Phil Garner bounced a
single through the box to score Baylor.
Meanwhile, Oakland starter Vida Blue was cruising through the Kansas City
lineup, shutting the Royals out on three hits through five innings. In the
bottom of the sixth, the Royals finally broke through on back-to-back one-out
doubles off the bats of Cowens and George Brett. But Blue retired Hal
McRae and Amos Otis to retain a 3-1 lead.
Pattin was lifted after six, having retired the final seven batters he faced,
and reliever Larry Gura kept the momentum going by setting the A's down in order
again in the seventh inning. Blue allowed a lead-off single to pinch
hitter Tommy Davis in the bottom of the frame but then retired the next three
batters in a row to keep the lead at two runs through seven.
Ken Sanders pitched around a one-out single by Rudi and a passed ball to hold
Oakland scoreless in the top of the eighth. Blue retired Jim Wohlford to
open the bottom half of the inning but then surrendered Cowens' fourth hit of
the game--a single to center. Brett followed with a looper to left,
putting runners on first and second. With the right-handed hitting
McRae--the American League's leading hitter--and Otis due with the tying runs on
base, A's manager Chuck Tanner called on Jim Todd, with Rollie Fingers worn out
from his stint preserving Oakland's win the previous night. But the Royals
foiled the strategy. On the very first pitch from Todd, McRae laced a
double into the right-center field gap, scoring both Cowens and Brett to tie the
game. Kansas City manager Whitey Herzog then surprised everyone by calling
on Tom Poquette to hit for Otis and the lefty swinger delivered, rolling a base
hit into right field to score McRae with the go-ahead run.
In the bottom of the ninth, Baylor led off with a single and Sanders was then
replaced on the mound by Steve Mingori to face Washington, who dropped down a
bunt, advancing Baylor to third on the sacrifice. Ken McMullen was brought
on to hit for Fairly and, on an 0-2 pitch, he punched a single through a
drawn--in infield to tie the game 4-4.
Tanner hoped to coax an inning out of Mike Norris and brought him on to start
the bottom of the ninth. Freddie Patek singled to open the inning but Fred
Haney gunned him down attempting to steal second for the first out of the
inning. Pinch hitter Ruppert Jones grounded to second and it appeared that
Norris would get through the inning. But Wohlford drew a two-out walk and
turned the tables on the A's by stealing second. That brought Cowens to
the plate and, with Brett on deck, an intentional walk was out of the
question. Norris hung a 1-1 breaking ball and Cownens desposited it into
the left field bullpen for just his third home run of the season, ending the
game and sending the 26,608 fans assembled into a frenzy.
9/22/1976, Oak76-KC 76, Royals Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1976 Athletics 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 4 6 0 5 0 1976 Royals 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 2 6 12 2 6 0 Athletics AB R H BI AVG Royals AB R H BI AVG North dh 4 1 1 0 .268 Wohlford lf 4 1 0 0 .288 Campaneris ss 4 1 1 1 .251 Cowens rf 5 3 5 2 .277 Rudi lf 4 0 1 1 .244 Brett,G 3b 4 1 2 1 .349 Tenace c 4 0 0 0 .278 McRae dh 4 1 1 2 .370 Haney c 0 0 0 0 .211 Otis cf 3 0 0 0 .271 Bando 3b 4 0 0 0 .243 Poquette ph 1 0 1 1 .307 Baylor rf 2 2 1 0 .266 Mayberry 1b 2 0 0 0 .242 Washington cf 3 0 0 0 .263 Davis,T ph 1 0 1 0 .241 Fairly 1b 2 0 0 0 .154 Wilson pr 0 0 0 0 .000 McMullen ph 1 0 1 1 .209 Quirk 1b 1 0 0 0 .257 Lintz pr 0 0 0 0 .000 White,F 2b 2 0 1 0 .230 Woods rf 0 0 0 0 .000 Nelson,D ph 2 0 0 0 .297 Garner 2b 4 0 1 1 .244 Patek ss 3 0 1 0 .255 32 4 6 4 Martinez,B c 3 0 0 0 .228 Jones, Ru ph 1 0 0 0 .167 36 6 12 6 Athletics INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Blue 7.1 8 3 3 1 5 100 73 2.91 Todd BS 3 0.2 2 1 1 0 0 8 5 2.42 Norris L 4-8 0.2 2 2 2 1 0 16 8 4.65 8.2 12 6 6 2 5 124 86 Royals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Pattin 6.0 3 3 2 1 3 106 63 2.92 Gura 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 10 7 2.79 Sanders 1.0 2 1 1 0 1 16 10 2.44 Mingori BS 6, W 7-2 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 10 8 1.63 9.0 6 4 3 1 5 142 88 Oak: Haney inserted at c in the 8th McMullen batted for Fairly in the 9th Lintz ran for McMullen in the 9th Baylor moved to 1b in the 9th Woods inserted at rf in the 9th KC : Davis,T batted for Mayberry in the 7th Wilson ran for Davis,T in the 7th Nelson,D batted for White,F in the 7th Quirk inserted at 1b in the 8th Nelson,D moved to 2b in the 8th Poquette batted for Otis in the 8th Wohlford moved to cf in the 9th Poquette moved to lf in the 9th Jones, Ru batted for Martinez,B in the 9th E-Patek, Martinez,B. 2B-Cowens(16), Brett,G(29), McRae(33), White,F(18). HR-Cowens(3). RBI-Campaneris(47), Rudi(59), Garner(66), McMullen(23), Cowens 2(80), Brett,G(83), McRae 2(77), Poquette(35). SB-North(69), Campaneris(48), Tenace(7), Baylor(52), Wohlford(14), Brett,G(23), Patek(49). CS-Lintz, Cowens, Patek. K-North, Campaneris, Bando, Washington, Garner, Brett,G, McRae, Otis, Mayberry, Patek. BB-Fairly, Wohlford, Patek. SH-Washington. HBP-Baylor 2. PB-Martinez,B. HB-Pattin 2. GWRBI: Cowens Temperature: 77, Sky: cloudy, Wind: left to right at 2 MPH. Attendance: 26,608 Game Time: 2:31