Detroit starter Bret Saberhagen got roughed up in the 1st 5 innings facing the New York Swats. The Swats scored 5 runs in the 1st inning, capped by a 2-run home run by Roberto Alomar. Ruth and Ripken added solo homers in the 3rd and 4th. Bob Feller allowed just 1 Rocket run through 5, and entered the 6th with a 9-1 lead. But Feller walked the bases loaded with 2 outs, and Kenny Lofton followed with a grand slam to cut the lead in half, and Detroit scored 2 more runs to pull closer. Heading into the 8th, the Swats still hung on to a 9-7 lead. That’s when New York’s shaky bullpen struck again. Red Ruffing pitched a perfect 7th, but allowed 4 straight hits to start the 8th to tie the game, led off by a double from Lofton. Miguel Cabrera’s sacrifice fly off Ted Lyons put Detroit on top. The Rockets offense added 2 more insurance runs off Lyons in the 9th. Detroit closer Tom Henke allowed a Harry Heilmann single and Babe Ruth double to make things interesting, but Lofton made a sliding scoop of a Joe DiMaggio liner and gunned down Heilmann at the plate to end the threat. The loss drops New York to 2-7 this season. The win ends a Detroit 4-game losing streak after they won the 1st four games of the season

Rockets @ Swats – 4/9/23

Juan Marichal scattered 8 hits over 8 innings, allowing just one run as the Houston Hoots topped the Los Angeles Dynamos 3-1. Marichal took a shutout into the 8th before allowing a run to score on an infield grounder. Bruce Sutter picked up his 4th save with a perfect 9th inning. LA’s Carl Hubbell also allowed just 8 hits in 8 innings, but the Hoots were more efficient. Rogers Hornsby was 3 for 4 with a triple and two doubles, scoring all 3 Houston runs. Oscar Charleston was 2 for 3 with an RBI before colliding with Hornsby on a deep popup in the 6th.

Hoots @ Dynamos – 4/9/23

The Boston Splinters overcame an early deficit and blowing a 5-run lead, holding on to top the Oakland Jacks 10-9 for their 8th straight win. The Jacks jumped out in front with a Jimmie Foxx 2-run home run in the 1st off Gaylord Perry. But Nolan Ryan wasn’t sharp, allowing 8 runs in just 4 innings of work and striking out only one batter. George Brett drove in a run in 3 of those 4 innings. In the 7th, with the score 9-4, Perry walked the first 4 batters. Jim Kaat came in and served up a grand slam to Foxx to blow the lead. That gave Foxx 6 RBI in the game. Wade Boggs singled to drive in the go-ahead run off Early Wynn in the bottom of the 7th to give Boston back the lead. Rollie Fingers pitched a scoreless 9th for his 5th save. Boston dropped the 1st game of the season to Oakland, but haven’t lost since. Brett went 2 for 4. He’s hitting .519 this season. Oakland is now 3-6.

Jacks @ Splinters – 4/9/23

Randy Johnson had another wild start, as the Los Angeles Dynamos and Chicago Docs combined for 29 hits. Johnson struck out 9 in 5 innings, but couldn’t escape 3 1st inning walks. After walking in a run, Jeff Kent hit a bases-clearing triple to give Chicago an early lead. Gary Carter homered for the Dynamos, and Pee Wee Reese tied the game at 6 when he hit a 3-run shot against Rick Reuschel in the 3rd. But that’s the last runs LA would score, as Reuschel, Kent Tekulve, and Jim Jeffries shut them out the rest of the way. Meanwhile, Buster Posey hit a go-ahead double in a 2-run 5th. The Docs would score 3 more runs against Tom Glavine in relief to win it 11-6 and improve to 6-2. Kent and Posey finished 3 for 5, and Sammy Sosa also had 3 hits for Chicago. Chipper Jones was 4 for 4 for the Dynamos. Johnson is off to an 0-2 start and has an ERA of 9.00 in his 1st two starts. Reuschel has won both of his starts this season.

Dynamos @ Docs – 4/8/23

Just 3 hitters into the game, George Brett took David Cone deep to give the Boston Splinters a 2-0 lead over the Detroit Rockets. It’s all they would need. Catfish Hunter held Detroit to 4 hits and 1 run in 7 innings, despite walking 7. Hunter also struck out 7. A Kenny Lofton sacrifice fly led to the only Rockets run of the game. A lengthy rain delay in the 8th ended the night for Hunter. Jack Morris pitched a scoreless 8th, and Rollie Fingers pitched a scoreless 9th to pick up his 4th save. With the sweep, Boston has now won 7 straight games after losing on Opening Day. David Cone didn’t allow a run after the Brett homer, finishing 7 1/3 innings allowing 2 runs and 7 hits but falling to 1-1. The Rockets are now 4-4 after a hot start.

Splinters @ Rockets – 4/8/23

St. Louis Wizards starter, Greg Maddux, turned in another amazing performance, while Houston’s Phil Niekro dropped another heartbreaker thanks to a 10th inning walk-off home run by Mike Schmidt. Coming off a 3-hit shutout, Maddux took a no-hitter into the 6th before allowing his 1st hit, and an RBI single to Oscar Charleston that tied the game 1-1. But Maddux held that score through 10 innings. Meanwhile, in his last start, Niekro retired the first 17 batters he faced before allowing 4 earned runs and losing to the Chicago Docs. This time, Pop Lloyd hit an RBI triple in the 4th before Niekro retired 16 straight batters to send the game against the Wizards to extra innings. That’s when Schmidt led things off with the walk-off shot to give St. Louis the 2-1 win. Maddux now accounts for both Wizards wins, as they are just 2-6 to start the season. Houston falls to 4-4, and Niekro is 0-2 despite his flashes of greatness.

Hoots @ Wizards – 4/8/23

The New York Swats topped the Oakland Jacks in the first two games of their series with walk-off hits. For 6 innings, it looked like it was going to be another close game with the Swats on top. But Oakland scored 13 runs in the final 3 innings to top New York 17-5. The Jacks took a lead when Hank Greenberg doubled in two runs in the 4th off Pedro Martínez, but a Rod Carew triple in the 5th tied the game up. A Lou Gehrig home run in the 6th put them back on top, but Al Kaline responded with a 2-run homer in the bottom half, and the Swats retook the lead. Red Ruffing came on for New York in relief, and loaded the bases with no outs. Harmon Killebrew followed with a grand slam. Three batters into the 7th, and Greenberg connected for a 3-run shot that ended Ruffing’s day. Red Faber allowed 3 more runs in the 8th. In the 9th, Jimmie Foxx added a 3-run homer of his own. Hal Newhouser picked up the win, allowing 5 runs in 8 innings. Greenberg finished 4 for 4 with 5 RBI and 3 runs scored.

Jacks @ Swats – 4/8/23

The St. Louis Wizards’ early season slide continued with a 9th-inning 5-4 loss to the Houston Hoots. The teams traded runs early before the Wizards took a 4-2 lead thanks to a 2-run double by Duke Snider. Oscar Charleston responded in the 6th with an RBI triple and scored on a Sac Fly by Jeff Bagwell to tie the game. It was Charlston’s 2nd triple of the game. The game remained tied into the 9th. That’s when Eddie Mathews walked to lead off the inning, and the Hoots put up back-to-back one-out singles from Ted Simmons and Arky Vaughan to take the lead. The Wizards threatened in the bottom of the 9th against Bruce Sutter when Mike Piazza walked with 2 outs and Ozzie Smith singled. But Stan Musial lined out to second base to end the game. Pete Alexander allowed 7 hits and 4 runs in 8 innings to improve to 2-0. Burleigh Grimes allowed 4 runs on 7 hits in 8 innings for St. Louis. Dizzy Dean picked up his 2nd loss of the season.

Hoots @ Wizards – 4/7/23

For the 2nd straight game, the New York Swats beat the Oakland Jacks with a walk-off hit. This time, it was a Cal Ripken game-winning single in the 11th inning off Waite Hoyt. New York starter Mike Mussina allowed back-to-back home runs to Lou Gehrig and Reggie Jackson, and another homer to Harmon Killebrew that gave Oakland a 4-2 lead early. Al Kaline hit a 3-run shot off Lefty Grove in the 6th to put the Swats back on top. It was Kaline’s 2nd homer of the game. But Jackson hit his own 2nd home run of the game in the 8th off reliever Ted Lyons to tie it, and Lou Boudreau hit a 2-out solo shot in the 9th to put the Jacks on top. Mariano Rivera got two easy out to start the 9th before Ripken connected with a single. Babe Ruth drilled a double into the gap to tie the game back up and send it to extra innings. In the 11th, Hoyt retired Adrián Beltré, but allowed singles to Rod Carew and Harry Heilmann. That’s when Ripken followed with his clutch hit to win it for New York 7-6. Satchel Paige pitched two scoreless innings to earn the win.

Jacks @ Swats – 4/7/23

Shortly after announcing his retirement, Cole Hamels was on his way to join the Chicago Docs roster in Season 2 of the Baseball Maelstrom POPs League. The Docs roster is made up of major leaguers who aren’t in the Hall of Fame, but are retired from Major League Baseball. Roy Oswalt was removed from the Chicago roster to make room for Hamels. The Los Angeles Dynamos spoiled his 1st start, scoring 7 runs on 10 hits in just 6 innings against the new starter, topping Chicago 7-2. Frank Robinson hit a 2-run homer for his 1st home run of the season. Chipper Jones hit an RBI double in the 7th to score Barry Larkin to end Hamels’ night. Meanwhile, Tom Seaver scattered 9 hits, allowing just 2 runs and striking out 11 in 8 innings for LA. It was just the 2nd loss of the season for Chicago.

Dynamos @ Docs – 4/7/23