A'S WIN 13-INNING EPIC, RECLAIM 2-GAME AL WEST LEAD
Sandt, Newman Unlikely Keys to Game-Winner
OAKLAND, Sept. 28 (AP) - Gene Tenace's RBI single in the bottom of the 13th
produced the game-winning run as the Oakland Athletics defeated the Kansas City
Royals 2-1 at the Oakland Coliseum to increase their lead to two games in the
American League West with four games remaining in the regular season. The
win snapped a four-game losing streak for the A's, who reduced their magic
number to three. The two clubs will play the rubber match of their
penultimate three-game series tomorrow in what has become a virtual must-win for
Kansas City.
The contest featured fine performance for both starting pitchers, Marty Pattin
of the Royals and Mike Torrez of the A's. Though neither club scored in
the first three innings, both had chances. Kansas City loaded the bases
with two outs in the first but Torrez retired Jamie Quirk on a fly to right to
extinguish the threat. Oakland put runners on first and second with two
outs in the second inning but Phil Garner popped out to second.
In the fourth, the A's broke the scoreless deadlock on Sal Bando's 27th home run
of the season. The one-out solo shot gave Oakland a 1-0 lead.
After loading the bases with two outs in the first, the Royals saw 14 of their
next 15 batters retired by Torrez but a two-out Kansas City rally in the seventh
finally evened the score. Cookie Rojas and Bob Stinson made the first two
outs of the inning quietly, but Amos Otis, pinch hitting for Freddie Patek, drew
a walk from Torrez and promptly stole second base. Tom Poquette then
rocketed a triple into the right field corner to tie the game. Torrez
minimized the damage by inducing an inning-ending ground ball off the bat of Al
Cowens.
Pattin pitched into the ninth and retired that inning's lead-off hitter, Bando,
on a fly ball to left. Don Baylor reached when Rojas was charged with an
error after failing to handle a sharp grounder. With consecutive
left-handed hitters due, Steve Mingori replaced Pattin on the mound and retired
Claudell Washington and Wayne Gross on fly balls to keep the score tied.
In the tenth inning, Torrez was replaced by Rollie Fingers who retired the
Royals in order. Mark Littell took over for Kansas City in the bottom of
the inning and matched Fingers with a 1-2-3 frame. Fingers worked around a
one-out walk to Hal McRae in the 11th but Littell ran into trouble in the bottom
half of the inning. Joe Rudi led off with a double and advanced to third
on Tenace's deep fly to center. With the potential winning run at third
and only one out the Royals brought the infield and outfield in but Littell came
up with a huge strikeout of Bando, allowing his defense to retreat to normal
depth. Baylor tapped one back to the mound to end the threat.
Fingers and Littell both cruised through uneventful halves of the 12th
inning. In the 13th, Fingers began his fourth inning of relief by walking
Poquette. Cowens sacrificed the runner to second and the A's walked George
Brett intentionally, putting runners on first and second with one out.
John Mayberry flied to left and McRae rolled into a fielder's choice to end the
inning.
Littell had worked a pair of innings two days prior and having tossed three
frames in this game was replaced on the mound by Roger Nelson to open the bottom
of the 13th. That would prove to be the Royals' undoing, as Nelson never
retired a batter. Bill North led off with a base hit, but was thrown out
trying to steal second. Tommy Sandt, who entered the game as a defensive
replacement in the 11th after Willie McCovey pinch hit for Bert Campaneris and
began the contest with a .102 batting average, lined a one-out single off the
glove of a diving Frank White. Jeff Newman--another late-inning defensive
replacement--who entered the contest hitting .174, then crushed a double off the
left field fence, advancing Sandt to third. That brought Tenace--0-for-5
on the game--to the plate. The Royals held a meeting at the mound to
discuss the possibility of giving Tenace a free pass to load the bases, but with
Bando on deck that option was dismissed. Again the infield and outfield
came in. Nelson worked carefully and fell behind Tenace 3-1. With
the base open a walk remained a possibility. But Tenace hooked a low
outside delivery between short and third for a base hit, scoring Sandt with the
game-winning run.
The A's can clinch at least a tie for the AL West crown by beating the Royals
tomorrow.
9/28/1976, KC 76-Oak76, Oakland Coliseum 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1976 Royals 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1976 Athletics 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 R H E LOB DP 1976 Royals 0 1 5 1 10 0 1976 Athletics 1 2 11 0 10 0 Royals AB R H BI AVG Athletics AB R H BI AVG Poquette rf 5 0 1 1 .304 North cf 6 0 1 0 .269 Cowens cf 5 0 1 0 .276 Campaneris ss 4 0 1 0 .247 Brett,G 3b 4 0 0 0 .349 McCovey ph 1 0 0 0 .184 Mayberry 1b 4 0 0 0 .238 Sandt ss 1 1 1 0 .117 McRae lf 4 0 2 0 .368 Rudi lf 5 0 2 0 .240 Quirk dh 5 0 0 0 .237 Lintz pr 0 0 0 0 .000 Rojas 2b 5 0 0 0 .225 Newman c 1 0 1 0 .186 Stinson c 4 0 1 0 .202 Tenace c 6 0 1 1 .274 Wilson pr 0 0 0 0 .000 Bando 3b 5 1 1 1 .244 Martinez,B c 1 0 0 0 .226 Baylor rf 5 0 1 0 .261 Patek ss 2 0 0 0 .255 Washington dh 5 0 0 0 .255 Otis ph 0 1 0 0 .270 Fairly 1b 2 0 2 0 .183 White,F ss 2 0 0 0 .226 Alexander,M pr 0 0 0 0 .115 41 1 5 1 Gross,W 1b 2 0 0 0 .154 Garner 2b 5 0 0 0 .237 48 2 11 2 Royals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Pattin 8.1 6 1 1 1 5 109 73 2.83 Mingori 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 1.59 Littell 3.0 1 0 0 0 1 30 23 2.70 Nelson,R L 0-1 0.1 4 1 1 0 0 19 11 4.05 12.1 11 2 2 1 6 160 109 Athletics INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Torrez 9.0 5 1 1 5 4 111 70 2.88 Fingers W 11-2 4.0 0 0 0 3 2 47 28 1.35 13.0 5 1 1 8 6 158 98 KC : Otis batted for Patek in the 7th White,F inserted at ss in the 7th Wilson ran for Stinson in the 9th Martinez,B inserted at c in the 9th Oak: Alexander,M ran for Fairly in the 7th Gross,W inserted at 1b in the 8th McCovey batted for Campaneris in the 10th Sandt inserted at ss in the 11th Lintz ran for Rudi in the 11th Newman inserted at c in the 12th Tenace moved to 1b in the 12th Baylor moved to lf in the 12th Gross,W moved to rf in the 12th E-Rojas. 2B-McRae(37), Rudi(25), Newman(2). 3B-Poquette(14). HR-Bando(27). RBI-Poquette(37), Tenace(66), Bando(92). SB-Brett,G(24), McRae(25), Otis(24), Campaneris(51), Baylor 2(55), Alexander,M(20). CS-McRae, Wilson, North. K-Poquette, Quirk 2, Rojas, Stinson, Martinez,B, North, Tenace 2, Bando 2, Garner. BB-Poquette, Brett,G 2, Mayberry 2, McRae 2, Otis, Fairly. SH-Cowens. GWRBI: Tenace Temperature: 69, Sky: clear, Wind: out to right at 9 MPH. Attendance: 12,194 Game Time: 3:09