5/4/75 KC @ MINN
In what turned out to be a far better game than it looked early on, Kansas City knocked off Minnesota 8-7 to take the first game of a day-night doubleheader.
The Royals wasted no time jumping out front. Following back to back walks to Al Cowens and George Brett, Amos Otis hit a 3-run jack for a 3-0 lead before anyone was out. Kansas City would continue to pressure the Twins pitching, eventually going up 7-0 after the top of the 3rd.
In the meantime, Minnesota was on their third pitcher of the game. Starter Eddie Bane was pulled after 1-2/3 innings. His replacement, Vic Albury, managed to pitch to 3 batters before experiencing some tightness in his ribcage (he’s day to day, but then again, aren’t we all?). Tom Johnson replaced him with one out in the 3rd and proceeded to put the first three runners on, all of whom would eventually score. But he settled down after that.
For the Royals, starter Nelson Briles cruised through the first 5 innings, facing only 16 batters. Then things got interesting in the 6th. Briles loaded the bases with no one out, then threw a mistake to Eric Soderholm, who powered the pitch over 400 feet, which was enough to clear the fence and bases for a grand slam. Suddenly, the Twins were back in it. They would push across another run to close the gap to 7-5.
An error by Steve Braun allowed KC to add one run in the 8th, but the Twins got it back with a solo HR by Larry Hisle in the bottom half.
Leading 8-6 going into the bottom of the 9th, I brought in Steve Mingori to try to close things out. Instead, they got interesting. A walk to Lyman Bostock was followed by a double by Danny Thompson, advancing Bostock to 3rd. Jerry Terrell was brought in to run for Thompson, and Phil Roof came in to pinch hit for Glenn Borgmann (who’s hitting .191). Facing a dangerous situation, Mingori got Roof to go fishing on a pitch in the dirt for strike three.
We intentionally walked Rod Carew (hitting .389) to load the bases. This is not a move I was very fond of, since it put the winning run on base, but since a base hit would likely tie the game, my reasoning is that I could get by a dangerous hitter as well as set up a possibility of a double play. The problem, and the thing that almost caused me not to do it, was the fact that this brought Soderholm to the plate, with the bases loaded again. On a 1-0 pitch, Soderholm hit a shot to deep right. Luckily, it wasn’t deep enough, as Al Cowens made the catch at the wall. This did score one run, and Terrell advanced to third. With 2 outs, and runners on 1st and 3rd, Steve Braun flew out to shallow center for the final out.
The Royals wasted no time jumping out front. Following back to back walks to Al Cowens and George Brett, Amos Otis hit a 3-run jack for a 3-0 lead before anyone was out. Kansas City would continue to pressure the Twins pitching, eventually going up 7-0 after the top of the 3rd.
In the meantime, Minnesota was on their third pitcher of the game. Starter Eddie Bane was pulled after 1-2/3 innings. His replacement, Vic Albury, managed to pitch to 3 batters before experiencing some tightness in his ribcage (he’s day to day, but then again, aren’t we all?). Tom Johnson replaced him with one out in the 3rd and proceeded to put the first three runners on, all of whom would eventually score. But he settled down after that.
For the Royals, starter Nelson Briles cruised through the first 5 innings, facing only 16 batters. Then things got interesting in the 6th. Briles loaded the bases with no one out, then threw a mistake to Eric Soderholm, who powered the pitch over 400 feet, which was enough to clear the fence and bases for a grand slam. Suddenly, the Twins were back in it. They would push across another run to close the gap to 7-5.
An error by Steve Braun allowed KC to add one run in the 8th, but the Twins got it back with a solo HR by Larry Hisle in the bottom half.
Leading 8-6 going into the bottom of the 9th, I brought in Steve Mingori to try to close things out. Instead, they got interesting. A walk to Lyman Bostock was followed by a double by Danny Thompson, advancing Bostock to 3rd. Jerry Terrell was brought in to run for Thompson, and Phil Roof came in to pinch hit for Glenn Borgmann (who’s hitting .191). Facing a dangerous situation, Mingori got Roof to go fishing on a pitch in the dirt for strike three.
We intentionally walked Rod Carew (hitting .389) to load the bases. This is not a move I was very fond of, since it put the winning run on base, but since a base hit would likely tie the game, my reasoning is that I could get by a dangerous hitter as well as set up a possibility of a double play. The problem, and the thing that almost caused me not to do it, was the fact that this brought Soderholm to the plate, with the bases loaded again. On a 1-0 pitch, Soderholm hit a shot to deep right. Luckily, it wasn’t deep enough, as Al Cowens made the catch at the wall. This did score one run, and Terrell advanced to third. With 2 outs, and runners on 1st and 3rd, Steve Braun flew out to shallow center for the final out.
posted by Derek @ 5/08/2006 04:07:00 PM
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