ALEXANDER, RIVERS STAR IN YANKS' WHITEWASH OF A'S
SP Tosses 2-Hit Shutout; CF Hammers Grand Slam
OAKLAND, Aug 31 (AP) - Doyle Alexander tossed a complete game two-hit shutout
and Mickey Rivers banged out four hits--including a grand slam--as the New York
Yankees whipped the Oakland Athletics 8-0 at the Oakland Coliseum. After
Alexander surrendered a harmless two-out single to Bill North in the third he
held the A's hitless for the duration of the contest.
The Yankees scored their first run in the second inning on Graig Nettles' 26th
home run of the season. The solo shot put New York on top 1-0. The
Yankees doubled their lead in the third when consecutive singles by Rivers and
Roy White opened the frame and Thurman Munson drove home Rivers with a sacrifice
fly.
The lead remained 2-0 until the sixth when Chris Chambliss and Carlos May led
off with base hits, putting runners on first and second. Nettles then
doubled into the right field corner, scoring Chambliss and advancing May to
second to increase the lead to 3-0. Oscar Gamble fouled to first and
Willie Randolph walked to load the bases. That brought an end to Oakland
starter Stan Bahnsen's day; he was replaced on the mound by Jim Todd who avoided
further damage by retiring Fred Stanley on an inning ending double play
grounder.
Alexander, meanwhile, was stymieing the A's, allowing only one baserunner past
first through the sixth inning. In the bottom of the seventh, Gene Tenace
drew a one-out walk and moved to second on Phil Garner's infield roller but
Alexander stranded the runner by retiring pinch hitter Bert Campaneris on a
bouncer to first.
In the top of the eighth, the Yankees blew the game wide open. Reliever
Paul Lindblad retired Nettles for the first out but then yielded three straight
singles to Gamble, Randolph and Stanley to load the bases. That brought
Rivers to the plate and an 0-1 mistake by Lindblad was deposited into the right
field bleachers for a grand slam, making it 7-0 in favor of New York.
Later in the inning, White scored when Chambliss reached on an error to account
for the 8-0 final.
After the walk to Tenace in the seventh, Alexander retired the final eight
Oakland batters he faced to end the game.
Alexander is the first starting pitcher in the major leagues this year to allow
fewer than three hits in a complete game shutout without the benefit of a single
strikeout.
8/31/1976, NYA76-Oak76, Oakland Coliseum 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1976 Yankees 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 5 0 8 14 0 10 0 1976 Athletics 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 5 2 Yankees AB R H BI AVG Athletics AB R H BI AVG Rivers cf 5 2 4 4 .292 North cf 4 0 1 0 .267 White,R lf 3 1 1 0 .286 Baylor rf 4 0 0 0 .275 Munson c 4 0 1 1 .292 Lintz lf 0 0 0 0 .000 Chambliss 1b 4 1 1 0 .313 Rudi lf 4 0 1 0 .247 May,C dh 5 0 1 0 .198 Williams,B dh 3 0 0 0 .205 Nettles 3b 5 1 2 2 .260 Bando 3b 4 0 0 0 .248 Gamble rf 3 1 1 0 .195 Tenace 1b 2 0 0 0 .286 Randolph 2b 4 1 2 0 .287 Garner 2b 3 0 0 0 .246 Stanley,F ss 5 1 1 0 .278 Sandt ss 2 0 0 0 .087 38 8 14 7 Campaneris ph 1 0 0 0 .255 Newman c 2 0 0 0 .153 29 0 2 0 Yankees INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Alexander,D W 12-6 9.0 2 0 0 3 0 118 72 3.19 9.0 2 0 0 3 0 118 72 Athletics INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Bahnsen L 5-3 5.1 8 3 3 3 1 95 58 3.81 Todd 1.1 1 0 0 1 0 16 8 2.23 Lindblad 0.2 4 5 4 1 0 34 22 4.03 Bosman 1.2 1 0 0 0 0 18 13 3.50 9.0 14 8 7 5 1 163 101 Oak: Campaneris batted for Sandt in the 7th Campaneris moved to ss in the 8th Lintz inserted at lf in the 9th Rudi moved to rf in the 9th E-Campaneris. 2B-Munson(20), Nettles(29). HR-Rivers(4), Nettles(26). RBI-Rivers 4(55), Munson(72), Nettles 2(78). SB-Rivers(40). K-White,R. BB-White,R, Chambliss, Gamble 2, Randolph, Williams,B, Tenace, Newman. SH-White,R. SF-Munson. GWRBI: Nettles Temperature: 65, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: out to right at 8 MPH. Attendance: 22,297 Game Time: 2:28