This Date In Royals History--1984 Edition: August 13
Bud Black gets back on track against Boston.
Bud Black had not won a game in over a month; since before the All-Star break, in fact. But he scattered seven hits over a complete-game effort as the Royals downed the Boston Red Sox, 6-1, on Monday night at Royals Stadium.
Two of the hits Black allowed, and his only walk of the night, contributed to Boston’s only run, which came in the top of the first. Dwight Evans walked with one out, then moved up to third on Jim Rice’s single. With two outs, Mike Easler’s single gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead.
The Royals answered in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Pat Sheridan and George Brett both singled off Red Sox starter Oil Can Boyd. Jorge Orta grounded out, but Sheridan scored on the play to tie the game.
The score remained 1-1 in the third. Buddy Biancalana started the Royals’ half of the inning with a single. Willie Wilson drew a walk, and Sheridan loaded the bases with a single. Boyd did an admirable job of preventing a big inning, getting Brett to bounce into a run-scoring forceout. Orta hit a grounder back to Boyd, who threw out Wilson at the plate. Frank White hit a popup and the inning was over with the Royals only ahead 2-1.
Darryl Motley extended Kansas City’s lead with a home run, his 10th of the season, to begin the fourth. The Royals added another run in the fifth as Orta tripled with one out and scored on a sacrifice fly from Dane Iorg for a 4-1 lead.
The Royals then picked up two insurance runs in the eighth. Orta and Iorg began the inning with singles. White’s triple scored both runners for a 6-1 lead, as well as ended Boyd’s outing. Charlie Mitchell was summoned from the Red Sox bullpen to get the last three outs.
Black retired 11 straight after a Rice single in the fifth. The string was snapped by a Bill Buckner single with one out in the ninth, but Black got two popups to end the game and pick up his first win since July 8. That gave him an 11-10 record for the season, although his 3.47 ERA signaled a pitcher who probably deserved a better mark.
“His record is very deceiving. He’s the number one pitcher on this staff, and he showed it. He should have 14 or 15 wins. He pitched good. You can’t just challenge that lineup, you have to make good pitches. That’s one of the best lineups in baseball.”--Royals manager Dick Howser, quoted by the Associated Press, August 14, 1984
Black, who had six strikeouts in the game, was relieved to have his losing streak, which contained four losses in six starts, over with.
“It’s been a while since I won a game. I felt as though I had pretty good stuff, and you have a tendency to overthrow early in the game in that situation. Then I found some rhythm. On these guys, they’ve got a lot of power and you have to throw in and out on them, which was what I was doing most of the night.”--Black, quoted by the Associated Press, August 14, 1984
With the win, the Royals improved to 57-60. They were in fourth place in the AL West, 4.5 games behind Minnesota.
Box score and play-by-play: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA198408130.shtml
Today’s birthdays: Tom Prince (1964), Roman Colon (1979), Jonah Bayliss (1980)