The American League and National League All-Star Game rosters were announced. The Detroit Rockets and Oakland Jacks lead the AL with 9 All-Stars each. Gaylord Perry of the Boston Splinters will get the start. The Los Angeles Dynamos lead the NL with 10 All-Stars. Robin Roberts of the St. Louis Wizards will get the start for the National League. Watch the video below for more information.
Los Angeles Dynamos starter, Don Sutton, overcame a 3-run 1st inning to top Steve Carlton and the St. Louis Wizards to sweep the 2-game series heading into the All-Star break. Sutton hit Ted Simmons in the 1st inning, leading Simmons to leave the game, and the Wizards put together three 2-out hits to take the early lead. When Steve Carlton responded by drilling Barry Larkin to lead off the inning for the Dynamos, benches cleared, and both teams received warnings. In the 3rd, Carlton allowed 5 singles and a walk as the Dynamos scored 4 to take the lead. LA plated 2 more in the 4th. A Stan Musial RBI double in the 5th off Sutton cut the lead to 6-4, but in the 6th, things fell apart. Carlton was pulled for Warren Spahn, who let one get too far in on Jackie Robinson to lead off the inning. Tensions were high, but Spahn was ejected. Two batters later, Chuck Klein hit a 3-run homer off Fergie Jenkins to extend the Dynamos’ lead. Overall, Klein was 3 for 5 with 2 runs and 3 RBI. Pete Alexander pitched two scoreless innings to shut the Wizards down and give LA the 9-4 win. Los Angeles handed St. Louis their first back-to-back losses of the season. St. Louis fell to 19-7 heading into the break, while Los Angeles improved to 14-12. 4 of St. Louis’ 7 losses are to Los Angeles, and the Wizards have now lost 5 of their last 10.
Phil Niekro was in total control of his knuckleball, leading the Houston Hoots over the Chicago Docs 7-1 at Wrigley Field in a game that had postponed Tuesday due to rain. Niekro allowed a run on 3 singles in the 1st inning, but just 2 singles after that. Arky Vaughan hit a leadoff homerun off the Docs’ Jerry Koosman to start the game, but it was the 3rd inning that really doomed Kooz. Jeff Bagwell hit a 3-run shot with 2 outs, and Mike Schmidt followed with another to put the Hoots up 5-1. In the end, every Houston hitter had at least one hit. Koosman picked up his Maelstrom-leading 5th loss as the Docs dropped to 9-17. Houston improved to 10-16.
The Detroit Rockets blew a 6-1 lead over Mike Mussina, but scored 3 runs late to beat the Oakland Jacks in the final American League game before the All-Star break. Detroit’s Frank Tanana had allowed just a solo shot to Joe DiMaggio into the 6th when DiMaggio added a 2nd homer, and Joe Gordon added another later in the inning to cut the lead to 6-4. Oakland’s Hank Greenberg hit a sac fly in the 7th to get the Jacks within a run. Detroit brought in closer Tom Henke, but Robin Yount took him deep to tie the game in the 8th. Connie Mack made a fateful decision to leave Mariano Rivera in the pen, bringing in Bullet Rogan to face the Rockets in the bottom of the 8th. With two on and 2 out, Kenny Loften hit a go-ahead RBI double, and Manny Ramírez followed with a 2-run double. Henke pitched a scoreless 9th to give Detroit the 9-6 win. Oakland is 12-13 heading into the break, while Detroit is 14-12. Álex Rodríguez was 3 for 3 with two homeruns, a walk, and 4 RBI to lead the Rockets. It’s the 3rd multi-homer game this season for Rodríguez. Ramírez was 2 for 5 with 3 RBI in a rare start.
Jim Palmer overcame an anemic offense and pitched out of bases-loaded no-out jam to notch his first shutout of the season, this against the New York Swats, sending the Boston Splinters to the All-Star break in 1st place in the American League with a 15-10 record. Palmer allowed baserunners in all but the 4th, but the Swats could never take advantage. New York’s Roberto Alomar doubled with one out in the 2nd, but Ted Williams threw out Lou Boudreau at the plate. Wade Boggs walked to lead off the 8th, and Ty Cobb followed with a double. Palmer walked Babe Ruth to load the bases but struck out Jimmie Foxx and Ken Griffey Jr. before getting Boudreau to fly out to end the inning. New York starter Bob Lemon took a 1-hitter into the 7th, but walked three, including Frank Thomas with the bases loaded to break the shutout. Swats reliever Satchel Paige allowed another run in the 8th, but the Splinters didn’t need it, as they won 2-0 despite just 4 hits. The loss drops the Swats to 10-16. Ty Cobb went 3 for 4 to raise his average to just .219.
Before the season began, it would have been an epic matchup on paper: Tom Seaver’s Houston Hoots facing off against Dwight Gooden’s Chicago Docs. But Doc Gooden has struggled with consistency heading toward the All-Star break. Gooden entered today’s game 0-4 with an ERA over 5.00. Seaver was 3-1 with one of the best ERAs in the Maelstrom. Seaver allowed solo homers to Jeff Kent and Jim Edmonds but not much else. Doc Gooden was better. Pop Lloyd’s RBI single in the 3rd was one of just 3 hits allowed by Gooden. Meanwhile, he struck out a season-best 12. It was his 3rd straight 10+ strikeout start. The win ties both teams for the National League basement with 9-16 records, but it gives the Docs hope for a stronger 2nd half.
The Oakland Jacks rode a 4-game winning streak into Detroit, who was in the middle of their own 3-game losing streak, but both streaks ended. Jacks starter Bob Feller held Detroit hitless into the 4th, but Charlie Blackwell connected for a solo homer and added a 2-run single with 2 outs in the 5th to lead the Detroit offense. Adrián Beltré added his own solo homer to put the Rockets up 4-0 after 5. Rockets starter Bret Saberhagen kept the Oakland offense off-balance, as they put runners on 2nd with no outs but left them stranded in 3 of the first 5 innings. Robin Yount and Hank Greenberg hit solo shots to put the Jacks on the board, but with 2 outs in the 7th Detroit hitters got to Feller again. Ichiro Suzuki and Blackwell had back-to-back singles and Álex Rodríguez followed with a 3-run homer to end Feller’s night. Robin Yount added a 2nd solo homer in the 8th, and George Brett hit an RBI double off Urban Shocker, but it wasn’t enough as the Rockets topped the Jacks 8-4. The win moves the Rockets to 13-12, a half-game lead over Oakland, who is 12-12 with the loss.
The battle between two of the top pitchers in the Baseball Maelstrom lived up to expectations. Los Angeles Dynamos starter Sandy Koufax rode two straight shutouts into the game. But that only lasted until the 2nd inning, when Andre Dawson hit a 2-run homer to put the St. Louis WIzards on top early. Koufax scattered 3 hits over the next 6 innings. Meanwhile, Wizards starter Robin Roberts, who came into the game with the best ERA in the Maelstrom, took a 2-hit shutout into the 8th inning. That’s when Johnny Mize took Roberts deep to lead off the inning. Frank Robinson walked, and two batters later, Joe Morgan hit an RBI double to tie the game. Roberts got Chuck Klein to ground out, but Cristóbal Torriente followed with a go-ahead single to put LA on top. With Goose Gossage unavailable due to a personal matter, Trevor Hoffman closed it out with a 1-2-3 9th to give the Dynamos the 3-2 win. With the victory, Koufax became the 1st pitcher to 5 wins. It was Roberts’ first loss. Los Angeles is now 13-12, while St. Louis has dropped to 19-6. Eddie Mathews was injured in the 6th inning running to 1st. He’ll likely be out of the LA lineup for a couple of weeks.
New York Swats fans have waited patiently for Babe Ruth to break out. Today, he showed flashes of what he could do, going 2 for 2 with an RBI single, a 2-run homer, and 3 walks against the Boston Splinters. The Swats handed Lefty Grove his 1st loss of the season. Grove gave up 6 runs in 6 innings, allowing 9 hits and walking 5. Swats starter, Nolan Ryan, had another strong outing, allowing just 3 hits and one run in 8 innings, striking out 8. Ryan is now 3-3 and hasn’t allowed more than 2 runs in his last 4 starts. Wade Boggs went 3 for 4 and is now hitting .365 for New York. Satchel Paige had a shaky inning of relief for the Swats, allowing a run on one hit and 2 walks in the 9th. The win improved the Swats to 10-15 and snapped their 5-game losing streak, while Boston fell to 14-10.
Heavy rains in Chicago washed out today’s game between the Houston Hoots and the Chicago Docs. The game will be made up Thursday, a scheduled off-day for the two teams before the All-Star break. Chicago is in last place in the National League, just one game behind Houston. Dizzy Dean was slated to pitch for the Hoots, but the added day off will likely allow Houston to bring out Tom Seaver instead. Chicago’s ace, Dwight Gooden, is scheduled to start for the Docs.
