When your back is up against the wall and you need to halt a skid it never hurts to call on your Cy Young candidate, one Mr. Vida Blue (20-8, 1.71). Blue was purely outstanding as he went the distance and yielded only 2 hits. Unfortunately for him one of those hits was a solo shot by Frank Howard in the 4th, otherwise Mr. Blue would have had himself a shutout. Not so surprising was the return of Oakland's offense coincided with the return of Reggie Jackson to the starting lineup. Jackson was 2 for 4 in his return and the rest of the A's fed off of his presence. Mike Epstein had 2 RBI's and Sal Bando was 3 for 3.8/29/71 - Oakland Coliseum - OAK 4, WAS 1 (Game 2)
Denny Mclain (7-13, 3.74) and Catfish Hunter (13-12, 3.45) dueled for 7 innings in the nightcap until Gene Tenace hit a 2 run shot in the 8th to make it 4-1 and virtually put the game out of reach. Tenace also homered in the 6th to break a 1-1 stalemate. Hunter scattered 6 hits over 9 innings in a complete game effort to raise his record 1 game over .500. Washington's lone run came in the 4th when Dick Billings singled home rookie Jeff Burroughs who had doubled with one out. That gave Washington a 1-0 lead that they would nurse until the bottom of the 5th, when Hunter would knock in Monday with a sac fly to left. That run was unearned. After the game McLain was visibly upset when he met the media. At 7-13, McLain has seen his comeback season slip away from him as he has begun to fall further and further into the depths of mediocrity.
--series was played h2h online by Bill Keller (A's) and Marc Weiss (Senators)--
No comments:
Post a Comment