A'S SNAP 'L' STREAK DESPITE HITTING INTO TRIPLE PLAY
Blue Fires 5-Hit Shutout, Wins 20th
OAKLAND, Sept. 18 (AP) - The Oakland Athletics snapped a three-game losing
streak behind a strong start from Vida Blue, defeating the Texas Rangers 1-0 at
the Oakland Coliseum. The A's picked up the victory despite the Rangers
turning a first inning triple play, erasing an excellent Oakland scoring
opportunity in the process. Vida Blue tossed his fourth shutout of the
season, earning his 20th victory in the process. Blue (20-13) joins Jim
Palmer (25-8) of the Baltimore Orioles and Catfish Hunter (20-6) of the New York
Yankees as American League 20-game winners this season.
After Blue set down the Rangers in order in the top of the first, the A's
immediately threatened to break out on top against Tommy Boggs in the bottom of
the inning. Bill North led off with a single to right field and promptly
stole his major league leading 65th base of the season. Bert Campaneris
followed with an infield single, advancing North to third and then Campaneris
stole second, putting runners on second and third with no outs. That
brought Don Baylor to the plate. On a 2-1 pitch Baylor lined a bullet that
third baseman Danny Thompson, who was just a couple of feet off the bag,
speared. Thompson tagged North, who was trying to dive back to third, for the
second out and then fired to second baseman Lenny Randle who stepped on the bag
just ahead of Campaneris to complete the triple play. It was just the
third triple play of the major league season and the first since Kansas City
accomplished the feat on June 5 against Milwaukee. Cincinnati's May 26
trifecta against Atlanta is the only National League triple play of the season
thus far. Remarkably, all three triple plays this year have taken place in
the first inning.
After the back-to-back singles to open the game, Boggs held the A's hitless
until the seventh, which is when they finally broke the scoreless
deadlock. Joe Rudi opened the frame with a double to the gap in
left-center field. Sal Bando tried to sacrifice Rudi to second, but he
bunted too cautiously and catcher Jim Sundberg fielded the roller and fired to
third to cut down Rudi. But Bando stole second and advanced to third when
Gene Tenace sent left fielder Gene Clines to the wall to haul in his fly ball
for the second out of the inning. Claudell Washington then came through
with a two-out base hit to right, scoring Bando to give Oakland a 1-0 lead.
Blue, meanwhile, was keeping the Rangers at bay. Texas didn't get a runner
past second base until the top of the seventh. With two outs, Clines
singled to right-center and then stole second base. The throw from Tenace
went into center field and Clines advanced to third on the error. But Blue
struck out Tom Grieve to end the inning and extinguish the threat. Blue
then retired the final six batters he faced, setting down 13 of 14 to end the
game.
9/18/1976, Tex76-Oak76, Oakland Coliseum 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1976 Rangers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 3 1 1976 Athletics 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 x 1 6 1 4 1 Rangers AB R H BI AVG Athletics AB R H BI AVG Randle,L 2b 4 0 1 0 .239 North cf 4 0 2 0 .271 Harrah ss 4 0 1 0 .272 Campaneris ss 3 0 1 0 .250 Hargrove 1b 4 0 1 0 .267 Baylor dh 2 0 0 0 .262 Burroughs rf 3 0 0 0 .183 Rudi lf 2 0 1 0 .241 Clines lf 3 0 1 0 .266 Bando 3b 3 1 0 0 .248 Grieve dh 3 0 0 0 .261 Tenace c 3 0 0 0 .279 Beniquez cf 3 0 1 0 .260 Washington rf 3 0 1 1 .268 Thompson,D 3b 3 0 0 0 .173 Fairly 1b 3 0 1 0 .165 Sundberg c 3 0 0 0 .239 Alexander,M pr 0 0 0 0 .115 30 0 5 0 McMullen 1b 0 0 0 0 .196 Garner 2b 3 0 0 0 .242 26 1 6 1 Rangers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Boggs L 2-8 7.0 5 1 1 2 1 98 56 3.15 Skok 0.0 1 0 0 0 0 7 6 47.25 Hargan 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 9 7 3.03 8.0 6 1 1 2 1 114 69 Athletics INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Blue W 20-13 9.0 5 0 0 0 4 100 74 2.89 9.0 5 0 0 0 4 100 74 Oak: Alexander,M ran for Fairly in the 8th McMullen inserted at 1b in the 9th E-Tenace. 2B-Rudi(22). 3B-North(5). RBI-Washington(60). SB-Randle,L(29), Clines(12), North(65), Campaneris(45), Bando(21), Tenace(6), Alexander,M(17). CS-Beniquez, Washington. K-Hargrove 2, Grieve, Beniquez, Campaneris. BB-Baylor, Rudi. HBP-Campaneris. HB-Boggs. GWRBI: Washington Temperature: 70, Sky: clear, Wind: out to right at 3 MPH. Attendance: 18,638 Game Time: 1:50