This Date In Royals History--1984 Edition: July 15
It's a lost weekend in New York for the Royals, who get swept in a five-game series.
The Royals’ lost weekend in New York concluded with their fifth straight loss, the second straight one by a 4-1 score, on Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
The four-game series, turned into a five-game one by a makeup game, ended with the Yankees outscoring Kansas City 28-6. And it’s not like New York was a juggernaut; the Bronx Bombers entered the series with a 36-46 record.
This time, it was Yankees starter Ray Fontenot, who entered the game with a 4.90 ERA and had been banished from the rotation in early June, shutting down Kansas City. He scattered eight hits and a walk over 6 ⅓ innings.
The Royals did score first, picking up a run in the first inning. Willie Wilson and Darryl Motley began the game with singles. After George Brett grounded into a forceout, Hal McRae hit a sacrifice fly to score Wilson. That gave the Royals their first lead of the entire series.
It didn’t last long. Willie Randolph led off the bottom of the inning with a single against Charlie Leibrandt. Randolph took second on a fly ball to deep left, then stole third and scored on Dave Winfield’s groundout.
The score remained 1-1 until the bottom of the sixth. Omar Moreno led off with a single and advanced to second on a bunt. Ken Griffey singled, with Moreno stopping at third. Winfield again drove in a run with a groundout, giving the Yankees a 2-1 lead.
They then opened up a three-run lead with two more runs. With one out, Bob Meacham and Rick Cerone each singled. Moreno tripled, driving in both runners and putting the Yankees on top, 4-1.
Royals manager Dick Howser seemed to be at a loss as to how to awaken his struggling team.
“We’re not hitting the ball. Nobody. We’re dead. If we continue to do this, we don’t have a chance to do a thing. It’s a real surprise. I knew from the start we would have some trouble scoring runs, but I never thought it would be this bad. I’ve tried everything. I’ve shaken up this club as much as I’m going to. I’m not a pick-them-out-of-the-hat type of manager.”--Howser, quoted by the Associated Press, July 16, 1984
With the loss, the Royals dropped to 39-48. They were in sixth place in the AL West, 6.5 games behind California.
Box score and play-by-play: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA198407150.shtml
1984 sports news: The Philadelphia Stars captured the USFL title, winning the league’s second championship game by a 23-3 score over the Arizona Wranglers. The Stars, with future Chiefs GM Carl Peterson serving in that role and coached by future Indianapolis Colts coach Jim Mora, had lost the title the previous season by two points, but would not be denied in 1984. They went 16-2 in the regular season with both losses coming to the New Jersey Generals by a combined nine points. The Stars then trounced the Generals, 28-7, in the first round of the playoffs. Before a crowd of 52,662 fans on this night in Tampa, Philadelphia was led by running back Kelvin Bryant, who ran for 115 yards on 29 carries and one touchdown. Quarterback Chuck Fusina only threw 17 passes, but completed 12 of them, including 10 straight to start the game, for 158 yards. The Stars’ defense held Arizona to 119 total yards.
Today’s birthdays: Wilson Delgado (1972), Miguel Olivo (1978)