This Date In Royals History--1985 Edition: September 7
Omar Moreno continues to make the Royals glad they signed him, with a three-run home run to lift the Royals over Milwaukee.
The Omar Moreno signing continued to pay off, as the newest Royal blasted a three-run home run that proved to be the difference in Kansas City’s 7-4 win over Milwaukee at Royals Stadium on Saturday night. The win was the seventh straight for the Royals.
Moreno collected three hits, increasing his batting average to .615 in five games with Kansas City. The home run was his second since joining the Royals, but just the 33rd of his career, and turned a 4-2 lead into a 7-2 advantage.
“I know a lot of people are surprised when I hit a ball out of the park. But if I get a low and inside pitch that I can handle, I can hit it out. There were some happy times when I played in Pittsburgh, and we won the World Series in 1979. I’m just glad to be here and be helping the club in a pennant drive.”--Moreno, quoted by the Associated Press, September 8, 1985
The Brewers scored a quick first-inning run off Royals starter Mark Gubicza. Paul Molitor led off with a double and scored on two groundouts. Milwaukee added one more run in the fourth. Ted Simmons led off with a single and scored when Randy Ready tripled with two outs. That gave the Brewers a 2-0 lead.
Milwaukee starter Jaime Cocanower had worked out of trouble in the first four innings, thanks in part to two double plays. But his luck ran out in the fifth. He started the inning by walking Darryl Motley. John Wathan grounded into a force out. Cocanower hit Onix Concepcion with a pitch. Moreno singled to drive in the Royals’ first run, and Lonnie Smith’s sacrifice fly scored the second to tie the game.
Then the Royals exploded for five runs in the sixth. Once again, Cocanower issued a leadoff walk, this one to Hal McRae. Frank White singled and Steve Balboni hit a sacrifice fly to give the Royals a 3-2 lead. White stole second. Motley followed with a bloop double; White had to make sure the ball was not caught before he took off, so he only reached third. Wathan hit a grounder to Molitor at third; Molitor threw home to cut down White for the second out. But Jorge Orta delivered a pinch-hit single to score Motley for a 4-2 lead. And then Moreno greeted reliever Bob Gibson with a booming home run off the back wall of the right-field bullpen for a 7-2 lead.
Gubicza worked into the ninth inning, although he allowed a solo home run to Cecil Cooper in the eighth. The Brewers mounted a rally in the ninth, though. With one out, Ready doubled. Paul Householder followed with a single, and the Royals turned the game over to closer Dan Quisenberry. Rick Manning’s groundout scored one run, cutting the Royals’ lead to 7-4. Molitor followed with a single, bringing the tying run to the plate. But Quisenberry got Jim Gantner to ground out, ending the game.
The Royals improved to 76-58 with the win. California lost in Baltimore, so the Royals moved to 1.5 games up in the AL West standings.
Box score and play-by-play:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA198509070.shtml
1985 sports news: Although she was the third seed in the tournament, Hana Mandiklova pulled off what seemed like a major upset at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York City. The 23-year-old Mandiklova defeated her fellow Czechoslovakian native, Martina Navratilova, 7-6 (7-3), 1-6, 7-6 (7-2). It was the third Grand Slam title for Mandlikova, but her first since 1981. She was the first foreign citizen to win the Open since 1973 (Navratilova was a U.S. citizen by this point). Mandiklova defeated top seed Chris Evert Lloyd to reach the final, then ended a string of 16 straight Grand Slams won by either Navratilova or Lloyd.
1985 sports news: The college football season began in earnest, although two of Kansas City’s local teams had the week off. Kansas had a bye week after traveling to Hawaii and picking up a win, while Missouri was still waiting for its first game of the year. Wichita State defeated Kansas State, 16-10. Elsewhere in the Big Eight, 10th-ranked Nebraska lost at home to 17th-ranked Florida State, 17-13; number 16 Oklahoma State went on the road to thump 12th-ranked Washington, 31-17; and Colorado defeated Colorado State 23-10.
Today’s birthdays: Tommy Matchick (1943), Craig Eaton (1954), Orlando Sanchez (1956), Brent Cookson (1969), Jarrod Patterson (1973),Wade Davis (1985)