This Date In Royals History--1985 Edition: September 10
Charlie Leibrandt shuts down California as the Royals win the second game of a key series.
Charlie Leibrandt baffled the Angels for nine innings while three different Royals hitters drove in two runs in Kansas City’s 6-0 win over California in an AL West showdown at Anaheim Stadium on Tuesday night.
Leibrandt earned his 15th win of the year by holding the Angels to three hits—all singles—and two walks. He also induced three double plays, meaning he faced just 28 batters in the game, one over the minimum.
“You can’t pitch any better than that. Anytime you lose the first game of an important series, it’s nice to win the next game like we did tonight.”--Royals manager Dick Howser, quoted by the Associated Press, September 11, 1985
Meanwhile, the Royals’ offense gave Leibrandt an early cushion with one run in the first inning and three in the fourth against Angels starter Kirk McCaskill. In the first, George Brett singled with two outs and scored on Hal McRae’s double. McRae’s hit was number 2,000 in his career.
“It’s more meaningful to win and drive in a run. I think it will be more meaningful once the season’s over. I knew I was going to get it. It wasn’t like I needed to go four-for-four.”--McRae, quoted by the Associated Press, September 11, 1985
In the fourth inning, Brett singled with one out and scored on another McRae double. Frank White followed with a home run, his 19th of the year, for a 4-0 lead.
That was plenty of support for Leibrandt, but the Royals would score two more runs in the fifth. With two outs, Omar Moreno walked and Lonnie Smith homered.
“Getting those six early runs made it a lot easier to pitch. I didn’t feel my stuff was that good early in the game. I settled down after the fourth or fifth inning. Everything they hit early was at somebody. I knew I was going to have to pitch better later because that wouldn’t continue.”--Leibrandt, quoted by the Associated Press, September 11, 1985
Kansas City improved to 77-59 with the win, which evened the three-game series between the top two teams in the division. The Royals increased their AL West lead back to 1.5 games over California.
Box score and play-by-play:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CAL/CAL198509100.shtml
1985 baseball news: Pete Rose went 0-4 in Cincinnati’s 3-2 loss to San Diego, so he remained tied with Ty Cobb atop the all-time hits list. Padres starter LaMarr Hoyt got Rose to hit two popups to shortstop and a fly ball to left, and reliever Lance McCullers also induced a fly ball from Rose.
1985 baseball news: Just hours before the Royals-Angels game, California announced they had acquired starting pitcher Don Sutton from the Oakland A’s in exchange for two minor-leaguers. Although Sutton would not be eligible for postseason play with the Angels (having joined them after Sept. 1), California hoped he would help shore up their rotation for the final three weeks or so of the season. At the time of the trade, Sutton ranked sixth all-time in strikeouts and was just seven wins shy of 300 for his career.
Today’s birthdays: Anthony Swarzak (1985)