This Date In Royals History--1985 Edition: July 9
The Royals have several scoring chances but can't take advantage as they lose to New York.
The Royals had several chances, but couldn’t take advantage of them in a 6-4 loss to New York at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night.
Kansas City left 10 runners on base and couldn’t get the big hit against Yankees starter Ron Guidry, who allowed nine hits and four walks in 8 2/3 innings. Guidry only struck out one batter.
Meanwhile, New York’s offense battered Royals starter Bud Black for 10 hits and five runs in 5 2/3 innings. The loss was the seventh straight one for Black, who hadn’t picked up a win since May 26 and had a 6.39 ERA in that span.
The Yankees scored one run in the first on singles by Willie Randolph and Don Mattingly, and a Dave Winfield groundout.
The Royals, after having just one baserunner in the first three innings, grabbed a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Lonnie Smith singled and stole second. George Brett walked. Hal McRae’s double scored both runners. But the Royals couldn’t bring McRae around to score. Darryl Motley flied out, Steve Balboni grounded out, and Frank White ended the inning with a popup.
New York responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Andre Robertson led off with a walk. After a sacrifice bunt, Rickey Henderson doubled to tie the game. Black had Henderson picked off second, but committed a throwing error, allowing Henderson to reach third. Mattingly’s two-out single put the Yankees in front, 3-2.
“Robertson fought me tough and fought off pitches. It’s still as frustrating as ever. I didn’t pitch well enough to win.”--Black, quoted by the Associated Press, July 10, 1985
The Royals loaded the bases in the fifth but couldn’t score. Guidry got his lone strikeout at an opportune time, fanning McRae for the final out. The Yankees then tacked on two more runs in the sixth. Henderson led off with a double and Winfield walked with two outs. Reliever Mike LaCoss took over for Black. Don Baylor hit a ground ball in the direction of right field, but White was able to snag it. However, he made a bad throw to first, and two runs scored on the infield single.
White committed another throwing error in the seventh, with a bad toss to first on what should have been an inning-ending double play. Instead, Ken Griffey scored for a 6-2 Yankees lead.
The Royals left two runners on in the seventh and one more in the eighth before breaking through in the ninth. With one out, Onix Concepcion hit a grounder to third, but Robertson booted it. One out later, Smith and Brett each singled to drive in one run. McRae greeted reliever Brian Fisher with a single; Smith scored, giving McRae 1,000 career RBIs. The Yankees turned to closer Dave Righetti, who retired pinch-hitter John Wathan for the final out.
With the loss, the Royals reached the midpoint of the schedule with a 41-40 mark. They were in a tie for third with Chicago in the AL West. Both teams were 6.5 games back of California.
Box score and play-by-play:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA198507090.shtml
1985 baseball news: The Toronto Blue Jays, leading the AL East by 3.5 games over Detroit, fortified their lineup by acquiring Al Oliver from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Oliver, approaching 2,700 hits and with a career .305 average, figured to see time at DH and first base and gave the Jays an excellent pinch-hitting option. Toronto sent outfielder Len Matuszek to the Dodgers in return.
Today’s birthdays: Willie Wilson (1955), Tommy Hottovy (1981), Oscar Hernandez (1993)