Royals

Yount’s Homers Not Enough

July 25

Royals 6, Brewers 4
Brewers now 55-39 (1st)
Box Score | Season Schedule

KANSAS CITY — Royals starting pitcher Larry Gura had a dream last night. “I had a no-hitter through eight innings,” he told the Milwaukee Sentinel after the game. “I told my wife I didn’t know what happened in the ninth.”

Well, Robin Yount put an end to that dream quickly with a home run in the first inning, but Gura did a good job of holding the Brewers’ bats down all game long in a 6-4 Royals win.

In fact, other than the first inning home run and a second Yount homer in the fourth, Gura was perfect through the first 6 1/3 innings. He was so frustrated with Yount that in the sixth inning he told catcher Don Slaught to let Robin know what pitch was coming next. Slaught declined and Yount grounded out to third.

Gura should not be ashamed considering Yount is 14-for-23 (.609) on this road trip, and is now hitting .337 overall, only eight points behind the league leader, Royal Willie Wilson.

Trailing 6-2 in the seventh, the Brewers did manage to make the game interesting. With one out, Ted Simmons doubled off of the wall in right center and Gura then walked both Gorman Thomas and Ben Oglivie to load the bases. Don Money then hit a two-run single to end Gura’s night and Mike Armstrong relieved him. Jim Gantner then hit a liner to center that Willie Wilson misjudged, only to recover and make a spectacular running catch. If not for his speed, the Brewers would have likely tied the game there if not taken the lead.

Armstrong would allow only a hit over the final 2 2/3 innings for his third save, giving the Royals the series win.

Unfortunately for the Brewers, the Boston Red Sox beat the Twins to pull back to within a half game of first place. But if you ask Harvey Kuenn, Boston may not be the team the Brewers should be worrying about.

Every morning, he opens the sports section to check the AL East standings. He starts with the Brewers and then scrolls down to find out where the Orioles are, the team he fears the most in the division.

Game Notes: The Brewers have a .681 winning percentage since Harvey Kuenn took over.

Vuckovich Returns, Brewers Win

July 24

Brewers 7, Royals 4
Brewers now 55-38 (1st)
Box Score | Season Schedule

KANSAS CITY — After missing some time with an injured hand, ace Pete Vuckovich returned to the mound today against the Royals. It didn’t start out pretty for Vuke, but then again his starts rarely are a thing of beauty. He just wins.

The Brewers took a first inning lead on a two-run home run by Cecil Cooper, his 20th of the season. Vuckovich gave a run back in the first following a leadoff triple by Willie Wilson and a sacrifice fly by UL Washington. The Brewers extended their lead to 4-1 in the 2nd after a series of singles, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly. But the Royals tied it back up when they scored three more runs on Vuke on four hits, a walk and an error.

Cecil Cooper made it 5-4 in the third on a comebacker to the mound that scored Yount, and then both offenses remained silent until the ninth. At that point, Paul Molitor and Robin Yount took matters into their own hands, knocking in two more runs to give Vuke a little more cushion.

Vuckovich won, pitching a complete game and allowing three earned runs on 10 hits. He improved to 11-4 on the season.

Game Notes: The Red Sox lost, thereby increasing the Brewers’ lead in the AL East to a game and a half. … Robin Yount lined a single off of rookie pitcher Derek Botelho in the third, knocking him from the game. … Brewers hitters are hot. During the last 19 games, Robin Yount is hitting .430; Jim Gantner is hitting .549 over his last 17 games; Ted Simmons is hitting .408 over his last 12 games; and Don Money is hitting .464 over his last eight games.

Closers Fall, Brewers Lose in 9th

July 23

Royals 4, Brewers 3
Brewers now 54-38 (1st)
Box Score | Season Schedule

KANSAS CITY — Through eight full innings, neither the high powered Brewers nor the Royals could score a run. Starters Bob McClure and Paul Splittorff did all they could do, but neither pitcher would earn a decision.

The game fell on the two preeminent closers in the game, Dan Quisenberry of the Royals and Rollie Fingers of the Brewers. Things changed in a hurry.

Quisenberry took the mound after Splittorff allowed a leadoff single to Ted Simmons in the ninth. Gorman Thomas deposited an 0-2 fastball into the left field bleachers to give the Brewers a 2-0 lead. On the very next pitch, Ben Oglivie made it 3-0 with a home run of his own.

You’d think that would be more than enough to win. Whether or not McClure would remain flawless, the Brewers have Rollie Fingers as back-up. Surely, he wouldn’t fail like Quisenberry, right?

Unfortunately, wrong. McClure allowed a leadoff single to UL Washington and George Brett connected on the first well-hit ball off of McCLure on the evening, a two run home run. Rollie Fingers took the mound and allowed three singles that tied the game before Frank White laid down a successful suicide squeeze to win the game.

Kuenn said it was the hardest defeat in his 45 games as the team’s manager. It may be Brewers’ fans hardest defeat of the season.

Brewers Sweep into First at Break

July 11

Brewers 8, Royals 5
Brewers now 48-35 (1st)
Box Score | Season Schedule

1982 Topps Paul Molitor — Paul Molitor goes into the break with 10 home runs, already a career high.

MILWAUKEE — Prior to their game with the Mariners in Seattle on June 2, the Milwaukee Brewers were scuffling in fifth place with a 23-24 record, seven games back in the AL East. That was the day that Buck Rodgers was fired and Harvey Kuenn took over on an “interim” basis.

Today, the Brewers wrapped up the first half of the season with a sweep of the Kansas City Royals, a team that was in first place in the AL West before the series began. In 36 games after Kuenn took over, the Brewers go into the All-Star break as the AL East leaders, up by percentage points over the Boston Red Sox after they fell to the Twins today.

How did the Brewers do it? Much in the way they won today’s game: The long ball. Today, “Harvey’s Wallbangers” launched four more home runs, one each by Paul Molitor (10), Charlie Moore (4), Ted Simmons (14) and Gorman Thomas (22). Molitor has already eclipsed his career high of nine, done twice before.

Before Rodgers was let go, the Brewers had hit 58 home runs in 47 games for 1.2 per game. Since Kuenn took the helm, they’e hit 67 in 36 games, or 1.9 per game. That’s downright silly. The 1982 Milwaukee Brewers, on pace to hit 244 home runs, are now being mentioned in the same breath as the 1961 New York Yankees, who set the team record with 241.

It hasn’t just been the home runs, though they’ve helped. The Brewers have also gotten much more consistent pitching, both from the bullpen and the starting rotation. The team that was a game under .500 36 games ago has been 25-11 ever since.

Is it all the manager? Maybe not. But the roster has remained the same. Kuenn’s approach has a relaxing influence on the team. They play looser and have more fun. Do they have more fun because they’re winning or the other way around? Who knows. But it’s working.

Game Notes: Rod Carew announced he would miss the All-Star Game due to tendinitis in his right hand. Cecil Cooper is a back-up, but Carew’s starting replacement has not been named. … The Brewers had 10 hits, the 13th time in the past 16 games that they’ve reached double digits.

Randy Lerch Shuts Out Royals

July 10

Brewers 7, Royals 0
Brewers now 47-35 (2nd)
Box Score | Season Schedule

MILWAUKEE — The Brewers have been hitting home runs at a record pace since Harvey Kuenn took over, but it’s games like this one that leave little doubt that they are a serious contender for the AL East title and more.

Sure, the offense was fantastic again. The Brewers scored seven runs on 19 hits. Seven of the nine Brewers hitters had multiple hits. Paul Molitor, Robin Yount and Ted Simmons all hit home runs. Ho hum.

But starting pitcher Randy Lerch was the real story today. Coming in at 5-5 with a 5.38 ERA, Lerch is the clear weak link of the rotation. Yet he shut out what is probably the league’s number two offense, after the Brewers. Nine innings, nine hits, three walks, six strikeouts. No runs.

It was Lerch’s first shutout of the season and the second of his career (his first was in 1979 with the Philadelphia Phillies). Was today’s performance unexpected? You bet. He hadn’t thrown more than seven innings in a game all season, and he reached seven only twice in 15 outings.

But what makes this win most impressive isn’t the offensive explosion or Randy Lerch’s performance. It’s that it was done against the Royals, the AL West’s best team. And the offense teed off on Vida Blue (an accomplished starting pitcher who entered the game with a 3.40 ERA) for four runs on 10 hits, knocking him out before he could get an out in the fourth inning.

The Red Sox beat the Twins 5-4 today to keep the Brewers a game back. But they won’t be able to hold off this impressive Crew forever.

Improbable 2-out Rally Carries Crew

July 9

Brewers 9, Royals 6
Brewers now 46-35 (2nd)
Box Score | Season Schedule

MILWAUKEE — Bottom of the fourth inning. Two outs. Two strikes. Bases empty. Paul Splittorff on the mound for the Royals. Ben Oglivie at the plate for the Brewers.

There is no reason to write about anything that happened in this 9-6 Brewers win over the Kansas City Royals other than that one-third of an inning. It was incredible. Glorious. Improbable. Breath-taking. Baffling.

All the Royals needed was one strike or one out, whatever came first. But Ben Oglivie singled to center. Don Money walked. Ed Romero singled to left to bring in a run. Charlie Moore singled to right to bring in another run. Paul Molitor walked to load the bases. Robin Yount hustled out an infield single to score another run. Cecil Cooper drove in two with a double to center.

Seven straight baserunners? With two outs and the bases empty? You’re kidding?

Well, that wasn’t all. It was all for Splittorff, but the Brewers weren’t quite done. Former Brewer Bill Castro came on to intentionally walk Ted Simmons to load the bases and face Gorman Thomas. Gorman then doubled in Yount and Cooper. Ben Oglivie then came up again and was also intentionally walked. Don Money then struck out to finally end the inning.

Ten batters. Seven runs. Six hits. Four walks. All with the bases empty and two outs.

“With two out,” Gorman Thomas reflected, “you more or less resign yourself to thinking the inning is over.”

Well, that “you” Gorman referred to is apparently anyone other than these Brewers.

“You never figure to score that many,” Gorman continued, “much less with two outs, much less with two outs and nobody on, much less with two outs and two strikes on the hitter.”

Gorman the philosopher is correct. “You” never figure that. But again. These are the Brewers.

Harvey Kuenn has only led this team for a shade over a month, and even he is bright-eyed regularly by the offensive production from this team. “I can’t remember ever seeing an inning like that one,” he said. “It just goes to show you how these guys are capable of battling, especially against a club as good as the Royals.”

Harvey Kuenn was a .303 career hitter who has seen a lot of baseball. This is not the first time this month when he has said that his team did something he had never seen before.

So the Brewers took a 7-1 lead that inning, the Royals battled back to make it somewhat interesting, Mike Caldwell pitched just well enough to hold on, and Rollie Fingers threw 10 of 11 pitches for strikes to get all three batters he faced. That was pretty much the story of the game other than that one-third of an inning.

Oh, and the Twins beat the Red Sox 4-1 in Boston today, meaning the Brewers are back to within a game of first place.

Game Notes: Jim Gantner received a cortisone shot in his ailing throwing shoulder and will not return until after the All-Star Break. … The Brewers and Chicago White Sox will make up their July 6 rainout on July 15 as part of a double header in Milwaukee. Although the originally scheduled game was played in Chicago, there are not any remaining games scheduled between the two teams there.