This Date In Royals History--1985 Edition: June 15
It's grounder after grounder after grounder for the Royals, who lose in Seattle again.
Ground balls were the story of Saturday night in Seattle. The Mariners’ infield tied a major league record with 21 assists, as starter Matt Young limited the Royals to one run in eight innings for a 2-1 win at the Kingdome.
Young did surrender six hits and four walks in his eight innings, but also induced three double plays. He also kept the Royals from any extra-base hits; all six hits were singles.
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Even the lone run the Royals managed came on a grounder. In the third inning, Greg Pryor led off with a single. Jim Sundberg walked. Onix Concepcion grounded into a force out at second. Willie Wilson’s grounder to short turned into a run when shortstop Darnell Coles tried to start a double play but instead threw the ball into right field. Lonnie Smith followed with a walk to load the bases, but Frank White grounded into an inning-ending double play.
The Royals would have runners at first and third in the sixth, but Hal McRae grounded into an inning-ending double play. White and Steve Balboni hit two-out singles in the eighth, but Darryl Motley grounded out to end that chance. Other than that, the Royals had little going on offensively.
Royals starter Charlie Leibrandt took the tough-luck loss, despite holding Seattle to two runs on three hits and five walks over seven innings. The Mariners’ first run came in the second, on a walk to Gorman Thomas, an Alvin Davis single, and Jim Presley sacrifice fly. Seattle loaded the bases in the fourth on two walks and a hit batter, With the infield in, Jack Perconte hit a ground ball past Balboni at first. White was able to field it before it reached the outfield but had no play at home. That gave Seattle the 2-1 lead, and the Royals were not able to catch up.
Kansas City fell to 30-29 with the loss. They were in third place in the AL West, three games behind Chicago.
Box score and play-by-play:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SEA/SEA198506150.shtml
1985 sports news: T.C. Chen continued to lead the U.S. Open golf tournament as the third round drew to a close at Oakland Hills Country Club in Birmingham, Michigan. The Taiwanese-born golfer shot a one-under par 69 for the second straight day, giving him a two-stroke lead over Andy North.
Today’s birthdays: Bruce Dal Canton (1941), Erik Kratz (1980), Steven Cruz (1999)
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