SURPRISING A'S MAINTAIN EARLY SEASON MOMENTUM, POUND TIGERS
K.C. Holds Sole Possession of 1st Following 20-Hit
Attack
KANSAS CITY, Apr. 29 (AP) - The Kansas City Athletics, picked by most observers
to finish firmly in the American League basement this year, continued their
early season dominance by hammering Hank Aguirre and the Detroit Tigers, 10-4,
at Municipal Stadium. The A's became the first AL team to amass at least
20 hits in a single game, with each member of the starting lineup compiling a
minimum of two safeties, with the exception of Jim Gentile. Still, even
the big Kansas City first baseman drew a pair of walks and scored a run.
The A's actually had to overcome a three-run deficit in the early going.
After taking a 1-0 second inning lead on Doc Edwards' leadoff home run, Kansas
City fell behind following a four-run top of the fourth that nearly knocked A's
starter John O'Donoghue out of the game. Jerry Lumpe drew a one-out walk
and, one out later, Al Kaline and Willie Horton drew consecutive free passes to
fill the bases. Norm Cash drove home a pair of runs with a single and Bill
Freehan knocked in two more with a triple, putting the Tigers on top 4-1.
But the A's came back and immediately regained the lead in their half of the
same inning, driving Aguirre from the game in the process. Gentile drew a
walk to open the fame and was singled to second by Tommie Reynolds. Dick
Green drove home Gentile with a base hit, with Reynolds stopping at
second. O'Donoghue then sacrificed the runners to second and third.
Nelson Matthews struck out for the second out, but Wayne Causey laced a single
to center, scoring Gentile and Reynolds to tie the game. Ed Charles' base
hit moved Causey to second and ended Aguirre's day; he was replaced by the newly
acquired Julio Navarro. But the Kansas City onslaught continued, as both
Rocky Colavito and Edwards produced run-scoring singles, capping the five-run
inning and giving the A's a 6-4 lead, before Navarro could record the third out.
O'Dononghue recovered from the difficult top of the fourth and fired four
innings of shutout ball at Detroit. Meanwhile, Kansas City was padding its
lead with relish. Green belted a two-run homer off reliever Alan Koch in
the bottom of the fifth and put the finishing touches on the double-digit run
effort on RBI singles from Reynolds and O'Donoghue in the sixth.
O'Donoghue was removed after the eighth inning and Ted Bowsfield mopped up with
a perfect ninth inning. Charles finished with four hits and Edwards and
Reynolds both added three apiece.
4/29/1964, Det64-KC64, KC Municipal Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1964 Tigers 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 5 0 2 1 1964 Athletics 0 1 0 5 2 2 0 0 x 10 20 1 15 3 Tigers AB R H BI AVG Athletics AB R H BI AVG Wert 3b 4 0 2 0 .220 Mathews,N cf 6 0 2 0 .293 Lumpe 2b 2 1 0 0 .143 Causey ss 5 1 2 2 .275 Demeter cf 4 0 0 0 .250 Charles 3b 5 1 4 0 .250 Kaline rf 3 1 0 0 .229 Colavito rf 5 0 2 1 .289 Horton,W lf 2 1 0 0 .185 Bowsfield p 0 0 0 0 .000 Fox,T p 0 0 0 0 .000 Edwards,D c 5 2 3 2 .318 Wickersham p 0 0 0 0 .200 Gentile 1b 3 1 0 0 .100 Phillips,B ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Reynolds lf 4 3 3 1 .300 Cash 1b 4 1 1 2 .167 Green,Di 2b 5 2 2 3 .324 Freehan c 3 0 2 2 .286 O'Donoghue p 3 0 2 1 .667 McAuliffe ss 3 0 0 0 .200 Tartabull ph 1 0 0 0 .500 Aguirre p 1 0 0 0 .200 42 10 20 10 Navarro p 0 0 0 0 .000 Wood,J ph 1 0 0 0 .333 Koch p 0 0 0 0 .000 Brown,G lf 1 0 0 0 .200 29 4 5 4 Tigers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Aguirre L 1-1 3.2 9 6 6 2 5 81 50 6.00 Navarro 0.1 2 0 0 0 0 8 6 7.88 Koch 1.2 6 4 4 1 2 42 24 15.75 Fox,T 2.0 3 0 0 3 2 47 22 1.04 Wickersham 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1.47 8.0 20 10 10 6 9 180 103 Athletics INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA O'Donoghue W 1-1 8.0 5 4 4 4 2 112 62 3.97 Bowsfield 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 10 5 0.00 9.0 5 4 4 4 2 122 67 Det: Wood,J batted for Navarro in the 5th Brown,G inserted at lf in the 6th Phillips,B batted for Wickersham in the 9th KC : Tartabull batted for O'Donoghue in the 8th Tartabull moved to rf in the 9th E-Reynolds. 2B-Mathews,N(5), Edwards,D(2). 3B-Freehan(1). HR-Edwards,D(1), Green,Di(1). RBI-Cash 2(9), Freehan 2(3), Causey 2(7), Colavito(4), Edwards,D 2(3), Reynolds(2), Green,Di 3(7), O'Donoghue(1). K-Demeter, Horton,W, Mathews,N 2, Causey, Charles, Edwards,D, Gentile, Green,Di 2, O'Donoghue. BB-Lumpe 2, Kaline, Horton,W, Causey, Charles, Colavito, Gentile 2, Reynolds. SH-O'Donoghue. GWRBI: Colavito Temperature: 61, Sky: cloudy, Wind: left to right at 6 MPH. Attendance: 5,950 Game Time: 2:46