This Date In Royals History--1985 Edition: April 24
Toronto enjoys a big third inning and coasts to a win over the Royals.
It was a Wednesday afternoon to forget for Bret Saberhagen, Larry Gura, and the Royals, as Toronto scored six runs in the third inning and cruised to a 10-2 victory at Exhibition Stadium.
Saberhagen worked out of trouble in the first inning and a double play got him out of the second, but there was no such reprieve in the third inning. Tony Fernandez started the inning with a single and scored when Willie Wilson misplayed Damaso Garcia’s single. One out later, Lloyd Moseby drove in Garcia with a single. Moseby stole second and scored on a two-out single from George Bell. With the score 3-0, manager Dick Howser turned to Gura in relief. But Gura walked Ernie Whitt and then surrendered a three-run home run to Jeff Burroughs, his first of the season.
Gura was still pitching in the fifth inning, and allowed four more runs, with a Burroughs triple driving in two of them. Saberhagen was charged with four earned runs allowed in 2 2/3 innings; Gura was charged with six in 2 1/3 innings.
That was plenty of support for Blue Jays starter Luis Leal, who was making the Royals’ offense as miserable as Saberhagen and Gura were. The lefty was perfect for four innings, then allowed a one-out single to Steve Balboni in the fifth, a hit that probably could have been scored an error. Fernandez fielded the ball cleanly after moving several steps to his left, but bobbled the ball as he tried to throw it. However, a double play meant Leal faced the minimum through five innings.
Leal was perfect for three more innings, taking a one-hit shutout into the ninth. Greg Pryor finally got the Royals on the board with a home run to start the inning, and Onix Concepcion homered with one out. Reliever Ron Musselman was summoned to get the last two outs, and Toronto was able to win one of the three games in the series.
The Royals dropped to 7-7 with the loss. They were in third place in the AL West, 1.5 games behind Oakland.
Box score and play-by-play:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TOR/TOR198504240.shtml
Today’s birthday: Carlos Beltran (1977)