This Date In Royals History--1985 Edition: October 22

Bret Saberhagen and Frank White pull the Royals back into the World Series as KC wins Game Three.

Bret Saberhagen pitched a gem, and the Royals’ offense backed him up with six runs, including a long home run by Frank White, as the Royals defeated the Cardinals 6-1 in Game Three of the World Series on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

Saberhagen worked a complete game, allowing just six hits and a walk while striking out eight. The Cardinals’ lone run came in the sixth, on singles by Ozzie Smith, Tom Herr, and Jack Clark. But by then the Royals held a 4-0 lead.

Kansas City had had plenty of runners against Cardinals starter Joaquin Andujar, including three singles and a walk in the third that resulted in no runs, thanks to a caught stealing. But the Royals broke through in the fourth. Jim Sundberg started the inning with a walk. With one out, Buddy Biancalana singled, a bouncer that saw two Cardinal infielders and Andujar converge on it, leaving no one to cover first. Saberhagen bunted the runners to second and third, and Lonnie Smith doubled to right-center for two runs.

The Royals doubled the lead in the fifth. George Brett led off with a single and White followed with a long home run to left-center. That put the Royals ahead by four runs and finished Andujar’s outing. White, who became the first second baseman since Jackie Robinson in 1952 to bat cleanup in the Series, was hardly a home run hitter, although he had hit a career-high 22 bombs in the regular season.

“Hey, I’ve always had some power; I’ve always felt I was one of the strongest second basemen in the American League. But people are never going to look at me as a slugger. And, to be honest, when I hit a home run, I’m as surprised as the next guy”--White, quoted by Dave Nightingale, The Sporting News, November 4, 1985

Saberhagen escaped the jam in the sixth inning by retiring Andy Van Slyke and Terry Pendleton. Beginning with those two, he retired the last 11 hitters to finish off the game and pull the Royals back into the Series after losing the first two games at home.

“I said momentum can be stopped by good pitching and that’s what happened tonight. The players know we can have a bad streak but we’ve got good people to run out to the mound. We don’t have to panic as far as starters go. I’ve got five of them and I’ve got confidence in all of them. And so do the players.”--Royals manager Dick Howser, quoted by the Associated Press, October 23, 1985

The Royals broke the game open with two more runs in the seventh. Brett led off with a walk against reliever Ricky Horton. Brett took second on a balk and scored when White doubled. Two outs later, Horton dealt an intentional walk to Steve Balboni. But Biancalana foiled the strategy with an RBI single for a 6-1 lead.

The win cut the Cardinals’ Series advantage to two games to one. Brett credited the team’s recent experiences with adversity with keeping them calm despite the deficit.

“If we had cruised through the American League West, if we’d cruised to the American League championship, maybe beaten Toronto four games to one, then being down two games to none in the Series, we might have been a little bit scared. But our ballclub was very loose before the game. We had our hearts game on one side of the locker room, our pinochle game on the other, other guys swinging the bat, Bret talking more about hitting than pitching. We’ve been in situations like this before. We seem to handle the task very well.”--Brett, quoted by the Associated Press, October 23, 1985

Box score and play-by-play:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN198510220.shtml

Today’s birthdays: Jamie Quirk (1954), Frank DiPino (1956), Hector Carrasco (1969)