This Date In Royals History--1985 Edition: October 9
The Royals lose Game Two of the ALCS in excruciating fashion.
The Royals dropped a heartbreaker in Game Two of the ALCS at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto on Wednesday afternoon. First, Kansas City coughed up an early 3-0 lead; then, after scoring a run in the top of the 10th to take the lead, they gave up two in the bottom of the inning as Toronto escaped with a 6-5 win.
Al Oliver’s single in the 10th drove in the winning run, making a loser of Royals reliever Dan Quisenberry. Tony Fernandez started the inning with a single. Damaso Garcia grounded out, with Fernandez taking second. Lloyd Moseby’s single scored Fernandez, tying the score at 5-5. Quisenberry had Moseby picked off first, but first baseman Steve Balboni mishandled the throw. Moseby advanced to second and scored when Oliver singled with two outs.
The Royals got two hits in the first but no runs. However, they picked up two runs in the third. Buddy Biancalana led off with a single against Toronto starter Jimmy Key. One out later, Willie Wilson homered for a 2-0 lead.
Kansas City added another run in the fourth. Darryl Motley led off with a walk, then scored when Jim Sundberg doubled.
Royals starter Bud Black held the Blue Jays to one walk in the first three innings. But Toronto got one run back in the fourth. With one out, George Bell reached on a George Brett error. Cliff Johnson doubled, scoring Bell to pull Toronto to within 3-1.
Black held the lead through the fifth and retired the first two hitters in the sixth. But then he hit Bell with a pitch. Johnson singled and a wild pitch moved the runners up a base. Jesse Barfield singled, tying the score at 3-3.
Toronto took the lead in the eighth against Quisenberry, who took over for Black to start the inning. Moseby singled with one out, then stole second and advanced to third on Sundberg’s throwing error. Bell’s sacrifice fly put the Blue Jays in front 4-3.
That lead didn’t last long. Pat Sheridan, who homered just three times in the regular season, led off the top of the ninth with a home run off Blue Jays closer Tom Henke, tying the score at 4-4.
The Royals scored a controversial run in the top of the 10th. Wilson led off with a single, then stole second with two outs. Frank White hit a line drive into short center field. Moseby charged it and appeared to make a shoestring catch, but the umpires ruled that the ball had hit the turf. Wilson scored on the single.
But that lead didn’t hold up either. Toronto’s rally in the bottom of the 10th gave them a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, as the venue shifted to Kansas City for three games.
“This is the most painful kind of loss. This one’s going to be hard to forget about. When you make that many mistakes, it hurts.”--Brett, quoted by the Associated Press, October 10, 1985
Box score and play-by-play:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TOR/TOR198510090.shtml
1985 baseball news: In Los Angeles, the Dodgers took Game One of the NLCS, 4-1. as Fernando Valenzuela outdueled John Tudor of St. Louis. Valenzuela scattered seven hits over 6 ⅓ innings, but most importantly, kept Cardinals speedsters Vince Coleman and Willie McGee off the basepaths; the two combined to go 0-8. The Dodgers scored one run in the fourth and then added three in the sixth inning, collecting four hits and a walk in that frame. When the Cardinals responded with one run in the seventh, Dodgers reliever Tom Niedenfuer took over and got an inning-ending double play from Coleman, then pitched the final two innings for the save.
Today’s birthday: Freddie Patek (1944)