This Date In Royals History--1984 Edition: October 5

The Tigers finish off the ALCS sweep of the Royals with a win in a tight pitchers' duel.

The Royals’ Charlie Leibrandt was outstanding in his attempt to keep Kansas City’s season alive. But Detroit’s Milt Wilcox was just a bit better, allowing the Tigers to finish off the ALCS with a 1-0 win on Friday afternoon at Tiger Stadium.

Leibrandt held the mighty Tigers’ offense to three hits over eight innings, although he did walk four batters. Leibrandt had six strikeouts on the afternoon.

The game’s lone run scored in the third inning. Barbaro Garbey led off with a single but was forced out at second on Chet Lemon’s grounder. Darrell Evans singled, moving Lemon to third. Marty Castillo hit a grounder to shortstop Onix Concepcion, who threw to second for the forceout. But Castillo barely beat second baseman Frank White’s relay throw to first, and Lemon scored on the play. Castillo stole second and advanced to third on catcher Don Slaught’s throwing error, but Leibrandt retired Lou Whitaker on a grounder to end the inning.

Leibrandt would not allow another hit the rest of the way, but Wilcox was masterful. Over eight innings, he allowed two hits and two walks while striking out eight. The Royals did not even have a runner reach second base.

Perhaps Kansas City’s best scoring chance came in the fourth, when George Brett singled with one out. But Jorge Orta and Darryl Motley both struck out to end the inning. Don Slaught also singled with one out in the eighth, but pinch-hitter Dane Iorg popped up and Willie Wilson grounded out.

Wilcox turned the game over to Tigers closer Willie Hernandez for the ninth. With two outs, Hal McRae came through with a pinch-hit single. But Motley popped up to the left side of the infield, and third baseman Castillo hauled it in to end the game and the Royals’ season.

Despite the three-game sweep, the Royals sounded an optimistic note about the future. After all, they had overcome Wilson’s long suspension to start the season, multiple injuries to Brett, overhauled their starting rotation on the fly to include rookies Bret Saberhagen and Mark Gubicza along with newcomers Leibrandt and Bud Black, and recovered from a 40-51 record to go 44-27 and pick up a division title (stay tuned for a longer recap of the season sometime early next week).

“I think we proved we could be competitive. We have a good nucleus, especially in pitching. We should be a better ballclub in the next few years.”--Royals manager Dick Howser, quoted by the Associated Press, October 6, 1984

“Nobody expected us to do what we did this year. Nobody expected us to be here. Next year, we should be in the World Series.”--Brett, quoted by the Associated Press, October 6, 1984

Box score and play-by-play: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET198410050.shtml

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Today’s birthdays: Onix Concepcion (1957), Terry Mathews (1964), Rey Sanchez (1967), Yamil Benitez (1972), Aaron Guiel (1972), Brett Laxton (1973), Felipe Paulino (1983)