Tensions Run High as Cards Crush Braves 13-2

With the Cardinals putting the game away in the seventh with an eight-run explosion, an already tension-filled match-up between two last-place teams became even more strained when a teenage baserunner took matters into his own hands, hammering a final unapologetic nail into the Braves coffin and helping the Cards to a 13-2 rout at Busch Memorial Stadium in St Louis.

Things were quiet enough throughout the first few innings, with Atlanta building a 2-0 lead thanks to an RBI double from Biff Pocoroba in the second and a solo home run from Gary Matthews in the fourth. But St Louis countered in the bottom of the fourth, thanks in part to a pair of errors—by starting pitcher Eddie Solomon and second baseman Jerry Royster—and a passed ball by catcher Pocoroba, which helped three runners to cross the plate. Two harmless innings followed, with the Cards still holding a 3-2 advantage…and then everything went horrifically south for the Braves.

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Andujar, Dixon Combine to Blank Bucs 2-0

Houston third baseman Enos Cabell went 2-for-5 and scored the game’s only two runs, and pitchers Joaquin Andujar and Tom Dixon combined on a 4-hit shutout, as the Astros took their second straight from the Pirates by a 2-0 count, earning a split of their four-game series at a rain-soaked Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

Cabell led off the game with a gap double off Buc starter Don Robinson (5-13); he advanced to third on a fly out to right by Jose Cruz, and scored when Robinson uncorked a wild pitch past catcher Ed Ott, handing the Astros a quick 1-0 lead. Two innings later, Cabell would strike again; after punching a base hit past Willie Stargell at first, he stole both second and third before jogging home on Terry Puhl’s line-drive single up the middle, rounding out the game’s scoring.

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Mets’ Zachry Stymies Padres With 1-Hit Gem

A Senior Citizens Day crowd was on hand at Shea Stadium on Wednesday afternoon to witness Pat Zachry pitch the 13th one-hitter in Mets history, a sparkling 4-0 shutout win over the Padres at a windswept Shea Stadium in New York. The victory improved Zachry’s season record to 14-9, and it was the first one-hit gem thrown by a Mets pitcher since former staff ace Tom Seaver blanked the Cubs 6-0 on April 17th of last year.

The only hit allowed by Zachry was a solid single by Gene Richards with two out in the sixth; Richards then stole second, but was left stranded when Ozzie Smith popped out to Zachry to end the frame. Beyond that, only two other Padres batters were able to reach base: lead-off hitter Richards opened the game with a walk, and pinch-hitter Derrel Thomas coaxed another walk from Zachry to lead off the eighth.

To read more about the game, and to find out why I included a photo of Mets pitcher Jerry Koosman on the recap page, click here.

Clark Scores Only Run As Giants Clip Expos 1-0

Roger Metzger’s two-out single to center in the top of the seventh sent Jack Clark home from second with the tie-breaking run, and John Montefusco shut down the Expos the rest of the way to collect his third shutout of the season, as the visiting Giants captured a close 1-0 game from the Expos at Montreal.

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