Some very nice see-saw rides in series XXV.
San Francisco Sea Lions @ Portland Sea Dogs, Game 4
The conclusion of the clash of the sea creatures did not disappoint ...
The Sea Lions scored in the first in typical fashion:
Rickey Henderson bunted for a base hit, stole 2nd, moved to 3rd on a single by
Bobby Bonds, and scored on a sacrifice fly from
Pedro Guerrero. The 1-0 lead held until the bottom of the fifth, when
Rogers Hornsby scored
Kent Hrbek with a double into the gap.
Guerrero scored Bonds for a 2-1 lead, but it was short-lived, as a
Bobby Murcer triple scored
Harry Hooper and
Iván Rodríguez, putting Portland up, 3-2. Portland looked in good shape at that point, good enough that
Gary Pettis replaced Murcer in CF for better defense. Well, perhaps not only defense: after a horrid start to the year, Pettis has pushed his average well over .300.
San Francisco would tie the game in the top of the 9th in a decidedly unexpected way. With one out,
John Beckwith, who is barely retaining his spot on the roster, pinch hit for
Jimmy Bloodworth and singled.
Phil Garner pinch ran for Beckwith and, after a walk to
Sal Bando, light-hitting
Miguel Cairo, forced to remain in the game for defensive purposes, doubled home the tying run off Portland's
Elmer Brown.
And there it stayed, until the 15th inning. San Francisco had turned the game over to
Charlie Root, Portland to
José Muñoz, and each were excellent.
Mickey Cochrane--much maligned and in danger of losing his job--singled to lead off the 15th. Portland had nobody on the bench to pinch-run--or catch in the bottom of the frame--so Cochrane stayed in the game, moving to 2nd on a wild pitch by Muñoz and to third on a groundout. He scored on a single from Garner, and Root closed it out.
SFS 4 (Root 5-4) @ POR 3 (Muñoz 3-5; Brown 1 BSv; Cuellar 8 H) [15 Innings]
HRs: none.
Box Score
Homestead Grays @ Memphis Red Sox, Game 1
Willie Stargell led off the top of the 2nd with a solo homerun to kick off the scoring and while a 2-RBI double from
Billy Bryan put Memphis ahead briefly, Stargell would do the same in the 4th, leading off with a homerun which, combined with an RBI groundout from
Arky Vaughan that scored
Chief Wilson, tied the game at 3. The teams would trade runs until, in th ebottom of the 5th,
Ted Williams sent one deep to put Memphis up by 2, 6-4.
And then the Grays exploded, with a bases-clearing double from Stargell and a 2-run shot from Wilson putting Homestead up, 10-6. Each team would add a run, and Homestead would head to the bottom of the 9th, up 11-7. Should be safe, right? Especially with their closer,
Michael Jackson, on the mound.
Wade Boggs doubled to start the inning, Williams walked, and
Bill White doubled, scoring Boggs.
Josh Lindblom promptly uncorked a wild pitch, scoring Williams and, when
David Justice reached on an error from Homestead's CF,
Andrew McCutcheon, scoring White, the score was 11-10 with no outs.
Manny Ramírez singled, but a fantastic throw from
Rick Reichardt nailed Justice at the plate. Lindblom retired Bryan and
Reggie Smith on flyouts, and the Grays squeaked through with a game that looked well in hand.
Boggs, Stargell, and Wilson each had 4 hits, with Pops driving in 5 and scoring 4.
HOM 11 (Pierce 1-2; Giusti 1 H) @ MEM 10 (Gibson 0-1; Callahan 1 BSv)
HRs: HOM - Stargell 2 (18), Wilson (8); MEM - Williams (19)
Box Score
Kansas City Monarchs @ New York Black Yankees, Game 2
New York's
Ron Guidry keeps putting in good performances to little results: in this one, he went 7 innings, giving up only 1 run. He was matched by a trio of Monarchs' arms as
Smokey Joe Wood (injured in the 4th),
Joe Blong, and
Trevor Rosenthal combined to also allow 1 run through 7.
And then the bullpens collapsed--expected for the Black Yankees, but a surprise for Kansas City. First, New York's
Goose Gossage and
Gary Lavelle combine to give up 3 runs in the top of the 8th, with the key hits being 2-out RBI's from
Stan Musial and
Ducky Medwick. But
Craig Kimbrel was equally weak for the Monarchs, giving up back-to-back doubles to
Eric Davis and
Thurman Munson to start the frame, and a 2-run homerun to
Don Mattingly to give the Black Yankees a 5-4 lead.
But no lead is safe for New York: Lavelle gave up a single, a walk, and an error to tie the game, and
Ralph Citarella gave up a go-ahead single to
Albert Pujols. Kansas City's
Jeff Pfeffer had no such struggles, picking up his 12th save in closing the game out.
KCM 6 (Kimbrel 3-2, 2 BSv; Pfeffer 12 Sv) @ NYY 5 (Lavelle 0-3)
HRs: KCM - none; NYY - Mattingly (20).
Box Score
Ottawa Mounties @ Los Angeles Angels, Game 3
A successful suicide squeeze from
Jim Stephens scored
Anthony Rendon for Ottawa, tying the game at 1 in the top of the 4th. In the next inning, Rendon would single in a run before
Larry Parrish went deep with a 3-run blast to put the Mounties up, 5-1. The Angels would roar back, taking a 7-5 lead behind RBI hits from
Don Buford,
Bobby Grich,
Mike Trout, and
Carlos Delgado.
But Ottawa doesn't fold as easily as they did earlier in the season, with
George Van Haltren sending
Francisco Rodríguez' 4th pitch of the ballgame into the bleachers for a 3-run homerun, putting the Mounties back on top, 8-7.
Ted Bowsfield,
Steve Howe, and
Ryan Dempster closed the game out with 3.1 hitless innings.
OTT 8 (Bowsfield 5-2; Dempster 4 Sv; Dubiel 2 BSv; Howe 4 H) @ LAA 7 (Rodríguez 3-2, 1 BSv)
HRs: OTT - Parrish (2), Van Haltren (2); LAA - none.
Box Score
Miami Cuban Giants @ Brooklyn Royal Giants, Game 4
Brooklyn's
Frank Knauss has been great all year. Miami's
Roenis Eliás less so. But they matched frame for frame in this one, each tossing 7.1 IP while allowing only 3 hits and 1 run. The game remained tied at 1 into the 10th, when Miami's closer
Aroldis Chapman was left in to pitch a second inning. He gave up a walk to
Art Griggs, a single to
Duke Farrell, and a walk to
Al López. That brought
José Méndez in from the pen for the Cuban Giants ... who promptly gave up a walkoff, grand slam shot to
Beals Becker.
MCG 1 (Chapman 4-3) @ BRG 5 (Gagne 4-4) [10 Innings]
HRs: MCG - Canseco (24); BRG - Becker (16).
Box Score