This Date In Royals History--1985 Edition: August 24

George Brett has a huge game, including a long home run, as the Royals blow out Texas.

George Brett homered, doubled, and drove in four runs to lead the Royals to an 8-2 win over Texas at Royals Stadium on Saturday night.

Brett drove in the game’s first run in the first inning. Willie Wilson led off with a single against Rangers starter Burt Hooton. Wilson stole second and scored on Brett’s double. Hal McRae followed with a single to score Brett for a 2-0 lead.

The Royals led 2-1 when Brett came up again in the third inning. With Lonnie Smith on first after a one-out single, Brett launched a Hooton offering deep into the pleasant August night. When the ball landed in the Royals’ bullpen, 441 feet from home plate (as measured by groundskeeper George Toma), Kansas City had a 4-1 lead.

“It went a long way. I knew I hit it good. I had some real bad swings (Friday night) and wasn’t picking up the ball. I said, ‘Lee (May, hitting coach), can I have three or four minutes hitting off Muggsy (bullpen coach Jim Schaefer) before the rest of the guys come out?’ I feel comfortable off Muggsy. Lee told me I was jumping off the ball, that my fundamentals were not good. Lee said ‘Stay down.’ I was raising up a little bit, instead of waiting until the last minute and driving it.”--Brett, quoted by Gary Bedore, Lawrence Journal-World, August 23, 1985

That was plenty of support for Royals starter Bret Saberhagen, who picked up his 16th win of the year. Saberhagen scattered eight hits (seven of them singles) over six innings of work. He did not walk anyone and struck out seven. However, Saberhagen admitted after the game that his mechanics were off as well.

“I started falling behind the hitters. George (Brett) came up to me and said ‘What are you doing? Pitch like you usually do.’ I was dropping my elbow. Fortunately they were swinging when I was behind in the count. It’s good we scored some runs tonight.”--Saberhagen, quoted by Gary Bedore, Lawrence Journal-World, August 23, 1985

Texas did score both their runs off Saberhagen. In the second, Geno Petralli singled with one out and scored on Steve Buechele’s double. And in the sixth, Gary Ward singled with two outs to drive in Oddibe McDowell.

The Royals increased their lead with a run in the fifth. Wilson singled with one out, then stole second. He took third on Smith’s groundout. After Hooton walked Brett, McRae singled to give the Royals a 5-1 lead.

Kansas City then put the game away with a three-run sixth inning. Chris Welsh took over on the mound for Hooton, but shortstop Curt Wilkerson botched Frank White’s grounder to begin the inning. That opened the door, and the Royals’ offense kicked it in. Steve Balboni followed with a double, moving White to third. John Wathan’s single scored White. Balboni then scored on a wild pitch. Wathan took third on a groundout but was thrown out trying to score when Wilson hit a grounder to Wilkerson. However, the speedy Wilson took second on the play. After a Lynn Jones walk, Brett singled to score Wilson, giving the Royals an 8-2 lead.

Steve Farr pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Saberhagen, and Mike Jones followed with a scoreless ninth to close out the victory.

Kansas City improved to 67-53 with the win. They were in second place in the AL West but did pick up a game on California as the Angels were blown out by Detroit. The Royals were 1.5 games behind the Angels.

Box score and play-by-play:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA198508240.shtml

Today’s birthdays: None