This Date In Royals History--1985 Edition: July 24
Two home runs from Frank White lift the Royals to a win over the Yankees, completing a sweep of New York.
Frank White homered twice, helping the Royals overcome a shaky outing from starting pitcher Charlie Leibrandt as Kansas City finished off a sweep of the Yankees with a 5-3 win at Royals Stadium on Wednesday night.
White’s first home run came in the second inning. Hal McRae started the inning with a double off Yankees starter Joe Cowley. One out later, White blasted the 100th home run of his career, giving Kansas City a 2-0 lead. Steve Balboni followed that with his 16th homer of the year for a 3-0 lead.
“There are not too many second basemen who get 100 home runs. I never thought I would hit 100 home runs. Not too many other people thought I would, either.”--White, quoted by the Associated Press, July 25, 1985
Although Leibrandt picked up his 10th win of the season and pitched seven innings, he had to work around several jams. The left-hander allowed eight hits and four walks and did not strike out anyone. One jam he couldn’t work out of came in the fourth.
Willie Randolph led off that inning with a walk. The Royals got two straight forceouts at second, but Don Baylor drew a two-out walk. Billy Sample and Andre Robertson each followed with an RBI single to cut the Royals’ lead to 3-2.
But White picked up his teammates with a solo home run in the bottom of the inning, giving the Royals a little more breathing room with a 4-2 lead. White added one more RBI in the sixth. McRae started that inning with a single and took third on a Darryl Motley double. White greeted reliever Brian Fisher with a sacrifice fly for a 5-2 lead.
Don Mattingly led off the eighth with a home run, cutting the lead to 5-3. The Royals turned the game over to closer Dan Quisenberry, who turned aside the next three hitters and worked around a leadoff single in the ninth to seal the win and the sweep of a New York team that came to KC with a 15-3 mark in the month of July.
“This was a great series for us to win. The Yankees have always been one of the biggest attractions for Kansas City. A lot of our fans would probably rather see us beat them than anybody else.”--Royals manager Dick Howser, quoted by the Associated Press, July 25, 1985
The Royals improved to 49-44 with the win. With Chicago losing, Kansas City was alone in second place in the AL West, but still 6.5 games behind California.
Box score and play-by-play:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA198507240.shtml
1985 baseball news: Atlanta pitcher Pascual Perez broke his silence following a four-day unexcused absence from the team. Perez had abruptly left the Braves’ locker room at Shea Stadium following a poor performance against the Mets, then skipped the team flight to Montreal. Instead, Perez apparently spent a couple of extra days in New York with his brother Mario, jogging in Central Park and even consulting a spiritualist. Perez told the Atlanta Constitution that he had thought about quitting entirely but was reconsidering. He also said he missed former manager Joe Torre and pitching coach Bob Gibson, but current manager Eddie Haas was “a real nice guy.” The Braves had suspended Perez without pay.
Today’s birthdays: Jason Smith (1977)