This Date In Royals History--1984 Edition: May 12
A veteran and a rookie team up to lead the Royals to a win over Boston.
A veteran and a rookie teamed up to lead the Royals to a 3-0 win over Boston on Saturday night at Royals Stadium.
The veteran was second baseman Frank White, who hit two solo home runs and made a fine defensive play in support of the rookie, pitcher Mark Gubicza. The young righthander earned his first major league win with a four-hit complete game, just the second of the year for Kansas City.
White started the scoring with a home run to the left field seats off Red Sox starter Bruce Hurst. That could have been worth more than one run; the Royals got singles from U L Washington and Darryl Motley in the third, but each one was caught stealing on separate plays, leaving White to lead off the next inning.
Boston’s best scoring chance came in their half of the third, as Rich Gedman and Reid Nichols started the inning with singles, then advanced to second and third on a ground ball. But Gubicza got Marty Barrett to fly out to short right field. Wade Boggs hit a soft liner up the middle, but White ranged to his right and made a diving catch behind second base to end the inning.
Counting those two outs, Gubicza retired 13 hitters in a row, a streak only ended by Mike Easler’s single with two outs in the seventh. Gubicza followed that with seven straight outs to end the game.
Meanwhile, the Royals added a run in the fifth when Greg Pryor drew a walk with one out and Washington doubled. Kansas City’s final run came in the eighth, when White homered for the fifth time in the season, this one hitting high up the foul pole in left.
Gubicza struck out three and did not walk anyone as he lowered his ERA to 2.25. His 0-3 record entering the game was hardly his fault; the Royals had scored four runs total in his four starts.
“The Red Sox are a fastball-hitting club and Mark was just a little bit better tonight. He went after them. He didn’t struggle at all out there and he didn’t force any pitches. He worked the ball up and down, in and out and kept things under control. He pitched a hell of a game.”--Royals manager Dick Howser, quoted by United Press International, May 13, 1984
The Royals improved to 11-18 with the win. They were in fifth place in the AL West, five games behind Minnesota. Interestingly, the first-place Twins had three teams (California, Oakland, and Seattle) all a half-game behind them.
Box score and play-by-play: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA198405120.shtml
Today’s birthdays: Bob Heise (1947), Travis Dawkins (1979)
It's either some cosmic magic at work or a total coincidence (I'm betting on the latter) that Mark Gubicza is featured as the winning pitcher today. He was my mom's favorite player, and if I'm allowed to toot my own horn, I wrote a tribute to him and her at Kings of Kauffman today.
And I apologize if that's more of tootblan (metaphorically speaking). I always feel weird mentioning my own work in another writer's comments section and the last thing I wanna do is step on your toes. You do great work, sir.