Monday, April 21, 2014

Game of the Day (4/20/84)

There were 12 MLB games on April 20, 1984. Seven of them have WPL figures of 3.87 or higher, putting them in the top 1/6 of all games played on the season so far.

Despite the fierce competition, Angels 10, Blue Jays 6 (13) wins out very, very easily. It pitted California's Mike Witt, a young starter on his way up, against Toronto's Luis Leal, who was not especially old (though older than Witt), but was nevertheless on the downslope of his career.

The starters were both effective in the early going. Leal was perfect in the first, while Witt allowed a single and steal to Damaso Garcia but left him at second. Brian Downing singled in the top of the second, and was the only baserunner for either team in the inning. In the third, singles by Dick Schofield and Rod Carew put Angels at the corners, but Leal got a popup out of Fred Lynn to leave them there. Alfredo Griffin singled in the bottom of the inning, but Garcia hit into a double play. Doug DeCinces drew a leadoff walk in the top of the fourth, and the starters combined to retire the next six hitters.

The scoring finally started in the top of the fifth. Bob Boone led off with a double; Schofield's grounder spurred the Jays to try to get Boone at third, but both runners reached safely. Gary Pettis struck out, but Carew doubled to score Boone; Schofield tried to score as well and was thrown out at home, blunting the impact of the play somewhat. Lynn singled Carew in for a 2-0 lead before the inning ended. Witt retired the Jays 1-2-3 once more, and Downing homered in the top of the sixth to make it a three-run margin.

Witt allowed multiple baserunners for the first time all day in the bottom of the sixth, as Ernie Whitt walked and Griffin singled. With one out, Dave Collins walked to load the bases, and Lloyd Moseby followed with a grand slam to put the Jays in the lead for the first time.

Roy Lee Jackson replaced Leal (who was suddenly in line for the win) in the seventh and kept the Angels scoreless despite an Upshaw error. Witt worked a spotless bottom of the inning, keeping his team close, and Bobby Grich and Boone hit back-to-back doubles against Jimmy Key in the eighth to tie it at 4. Dennis Lamp relieved Key and allowed a single to Schofield, but Boone was thrown out trying to score, and the inning ended with the score tied.

Toronto promptly reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the eighth, as Garcia walked, Collins bunted him to second, and Moseby doubled him around; after intentionally walking Upshaw, Witt's day was done. Luis Sanchez allowed a George Bell single to load the bases, but escaped the inning without further damage.

Lamp returned to the mound for the Angels' last chance in the ninth. He walked Carew with one out; Rob Picciolo pinch ran and moved to third on Lynn's single, and DeCinces lifted a sac fly that brought the tying run home. Sanchez retired the Jays in order, and extra innings had arrived.

A Downing walk, a sac bunt, a Boone walk, and a forceout put Angels at the corners in the tenth before Lamp struck out Jerry Narron to end the inning. Narron had pinch hit for the much-faster Pettis, so the Angels shifted their defense wildly in the bottom of the inning (Narron in at first, Grich from first to second, Picciolo from second to right, and Lynn from right to Pettis's spot in center); this didn't keep Sanchez from another spotless inning.

Jim Acker entered in the top of the eleventh, and the Angels struck quickly, as Picciolo doubled, moved to third on a groundout, and scored the go-ahead run on a DeCinces single. Sanchez recorded two quick outs in the bottom of the inning, giving him a string of nine consecutive Blue Jays retired; he then allowed a single to pinch hitter Jesse Barfield, threw a wild pitch that moved Barfield to second, and allowed a game-tying RBI single to Whitt (who took second on the fruitless throw home). Mitch Webster ran for Whitt and moved to third on a passed ball, but Griffin fouled out to left, leaving the winning run 90 feet away.

Acker worked around a Schofield single in the twelfth, and Sanchez (somehow still on the mound) yielded a Garcia leadoff single, then saw the managers decide to turn it into first and second, one out (sac bunt, then intentional walk to Moseby) before retiring the next two hitters.

The game finally broke in the top of the thirteenth. Acker allowed another double to Picciolo, who moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a double by Lynn. DeCinces followed with a double of his own to make it 8-6. Reggie Jackson was intentionally walked, Downing struck out, and Grich singled DeCinces home, with Jackson making it to third on an error on the play. Joey McLaughlin replaced Acker and only allowed the Angels to add a Boone sac fly, which made it 10-6. Curt Kaufman worked an anticlimactic bottom of the inning to finish off the game.

One of the heroes of this game was obviously Luis Sanchez, for his 4.2-inning relief outing that earned him the win. Sanchez was exclusively a reliever in '84, so this was his longest outing of the year. He would, however, make ten other appearances of this length or longer in his career (peaking at 5.2 innings), which is rather remarkable for someone who pitched in under 200 career games and made only one start (which lasted 2 innings).

And yet, Sanchez was not the least likely hero in this one. That designation goes to Rob Picciolo, who entered the game as a pinch runner in the ninth and yet posted a team high .453 WPA. He scored the tying run in the ninth, doubled and scored the go-ahead run in the eleventh, and doubled and scored the go-ahead run again in the thirteenth. (That gives him three runs scored and two plate appearances, which is obviously the maximum total possible there; I'm curious as to whether anyone has ever matched it.) On the defensive side of the ball, he made the only appearance of his career in right field.

Despite not batting until the eleventh inning, Picciolo established career highs for both runs scored and WPA in this game. He also helped the Angels to victory in what grades out as not just the best game of April 20, but the best game of the entire 1984 season to date.

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