This Date In Royals History--1985 Edition: July 10
The Royals score four runs in the first, but it doesn't hold up in a loss to the Yankees.
The Royals scored four runs in the first inning…but gave the Yankees too much time to catch up. Which they did, picking up a come-from-behind 6-5 win at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.
New York starter Dennis Rasmussen got the first two batters of the game out, but George Brett singled to keep the inning alive. Hal McRae and Steve Balboni walked to load the bases and Frank White promptly unloaded them with a grand slam, giving the Royals a 4-0 lead.
But Rasmussen retired 13 of the next 14 hitters, keeping the Yankees in the game. New York got one run back in the bottom of the first, as Rickey Henderson reached on an error, stole second, went to third on a groundout and scored on a Don Mattingly sacrifice fly.
Royals starter Mark Gubicza pitched well through four innings, but the Yankees tied the score in the fifth. Andre Robertson led off with a double. Bob Meacham singled and then stole second. Gubicza walked Henderson to load the bases. Ken Griffey singled for two runs and Mattingly hit his second sacrifice fly of the game, making the score 4-4.
Brett, who earlier in the day had been named the American League’s starter at third base in the All-Star Game, led off the sixth with a home run that put Kansas City up 5-4. But the Yankees again tied the score, this time in the seventh. Again, Henderson was in the middle of things. He walked with one out, then reached third on Balboni’s throwing error. Mattingly doubled to make the score 5-5.
Henderson’s speed paid off for the Yankees in the ninth, too. He started the inning with a single off Royals closer Dan Quisenberry, then stole second–on a pitchout–and scored the winning run on Dave Winfield’s bloop single.
“I pitched out. I stepped off and threw over. I quick-pitched. I tried to hold the ball and make him run flat-footed, but he still got a pretty good jump. He’s probably the most distracting runner in the American League, but I don’t think he had anything to do with that ball falling in unless he’s got Superman’s lung power and blew it in. But he’s playing like he’s got an ‘S’ on his shirt.”--Quisenberry, quoted by the Associated Press, July 11, 1985
The Royals dropped to 41-41 with the loss. They were tied for third in the AL West with Chicago, but both teams were now 7.5 games behind California.
Box score and play-by-play:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA198507100.shtml
1985 baseball news: As mentioned above, Brett was named the starting third baseman for the AL All-Star team, the 10th straight time he earned the honor. He was joined in the AL lineup by Baltimore shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. (the only AL player to get more votes than Brett), Detroit second baseman Lou Whitaker, Baltimore first baseman Eddie Murray, Detroit catcher Lance Parrish, and outfielders Henderson, Winfield, and Boston’s Jim Rice. NL starters included catcher Gary Carter (New York), first baseman Steve Garvey (San Diego), the St. Louis keystone combo of second baseman Tom Herr and shortstop Ozzie Smith, and San Diego third baseman Graig Nettles. The NL outfield would include Dale Murphy (Atlanta), Tony Gwynn (San Diego), and Darryl Strawberry (New York). Murphy was the overall voting leader.
Today’s birthdays: Hal McRae (1945), Johnny Giavotella (1987), Scott Alexander (1989), Will Smith (1989)