This Date In Royals History--1984 Edition: June 19
There's the offense! The Royals snap a five-game skid and get 16 hits in a win over Oakland.
The Royals snapped a five-game losing streak and relieved some of their recent offensive frustration with 16 hits in a 6-2 win over the A’s on Tuesday night at Oakland Coliseum.
In their previous nine games, eight of them losses, Kansas City had totaled 13 runs. So it was certainly a load off the team’s collective shoulders when Pat Sheridan, George Brett, and Jorge Orta all singled in the first inning against A’s starter Chris Codiroli to pick up a run.
Oakland answered immediately in the bottom of the inning when Rickey Henderson homered off Royals starter Bud Black. But Sheridan returned the favor to lead off the third inning with his fifth home run of the year. Brett followed by reaching safely on Codiroli’s fielding error. Orta and Darryl Motley both singled, giving the Royals a 3-1 lead. Lary Sorensen replaced Codiroli and, despite allowing a one-out single to Frank White, escaped the inning without further scoring.
However, Sorensen walked Brett with two outs in the fourth, and Orta followed that with his fifth home run of the season. That gave Kansas City a 5-1 lead.
That was plenty of offense to back up Black, who allowed three hits and three walks after Henderson’s home run until the seventh. With one out in that inning, Tony Phillips doubled and Henderson singled, cutting the lead to 5-2. Dan Quisenberry replaced Black and, despite Henderson stealing second, retired the last eight hitters in order to earn his 17th save of the year.
The Royals did tack on an insurance run in the eighth, as Sheridan and Brett singled with one out. Orta’s groundout scored Sheridan.
The win improved the Royals’ record to 28-35. They were in sixth place in the AL West, 5.5 games behind California.
Box score and play-by-play: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK198406190.shtml
1984 news: As expected, the Houston Rockets made center Akeem Olajuwon the first pick in the NBA draft in New York City. Olajuwon, who had starred at the University of Houston, was joining a team that already had 7-footer Ralph Sampson, but the Rockets were happy to have the two big men. With the second pick, Portland made one of the most infamous picks in draft history, selecting Sam Bowie of Kentucky and leaving Chicago to pick Michael Jordan with the third pick. Besides Olajuwon and Jordan, future Hall of Famers Charles Barkley (fifth) and John Stockton (16th) were also selected in the first round. The Kansas City Kings used the ninth pick on Otis Thorpe.
Today’s birthdays: Fernando Gonzalez (1950), Butch Davis (1958), Yasuhiko Yabuta (1973), Doug Mientkiewicz (1974), Bruce Chen (1977)