Friday, April 18, 2014

Game of the Day (4/17/84)

Blue Jays 3, Orioles 2. Baltimore's Mike Boddicker took on Toronto's Doyle Alexander. Both men had very long and productive careers, and yet both might be best known for the prospects they were traded for a few years after this game - Boddicker for Curt Schilling and Brady Anderson, Alexander for John Smoltz.

Both starters pitched well enough in the early going to be noticed for their own achievements rather than those of their replacements. Boddicker allowed exactly one baserunner in each of the first five innings - a Lloyd Moseby single, an Ernie Whitt walk, an Alfredo Griffin double, a Cliff Johnson double, and a Damaso Garcia triple, respectively, with none of them scoring.

Alexander, meanwhile, allowed no baserunners at all in the first four innings. That string of success came to an abrupt end with one out in the top of the fifth, when John Lowenstein homered to break the scoreless tie. The Orioles poured it on after that, as Ken Singleton doubled and Todd Cruz singled him to third. Rich Dauer grounded back to the mound, getting Singleton thrown out at home. Rick Dempsey walked to load the bases, and Al Bumbry hit an RBI single to make it a 2-0 lead before Jim Dwyer grounded to first to end the inning.

Alexander's perfection resumed in the sixth, and the Jays finally put multiple baserunners on against Boddicker in the bottom of the inning, starting with consecutive singles by Moseby, Willie Upshaw, and Johnson, the third of which brought in Toronto's first run. George Bell walked to load the bases, which drove Boddicker from the mound in favor of Tippy Martinez. Buck Martinez greeted Tippy with a game-tying sacrifice fly; the Oriole reliever proceeded to retire the next two hitters to strand the remaining runners. Alexander worked around a Cruz single in the seventh, while Martinez retired the Jays in order.

Jimmy Key relieved Alexander in the eighth and worked a 1-2-3 inning, which included two pinch hitters (John Shelby for Bumbry, Benny Ayala for Dwyer). Martinez allowed a double to Upshaw to begin the bottom of the inning, then intentionally walked Johnson before being yanked for Sammy Stewart. Bell greeted the new pitcher with a go-ahead RBI single, after which Stewart induced a double play from Buck Martinez and coaxed a flyout from Dave Collins. Key retired Eddie Murray and Singleton in the ninth, but allowed a double to pinch hitter Gary Roenicke in between the two outs, and was pulled for Dennis Lamp after the second. Lamp walked Joe Nolan, but got Dauer to ground out to end the game.

It's not a classic, but it's a quality game - close, with good pitching by good pitchers and a late rally to win it. It also serves as the fourth appearance of Jimmy Key's major league career - and in those four appearances, he has two wins, a hold, a save, and no runs allowed. (This proved to be a sign of much effective pitching to come, even if not much of that effective pitching came during the remainder of 1984.)

No comments:

Post a Comment