The St. Louis Wizards and Houston Hoots put on a power display in the Astrodome. The teams combined for 28 runs and 40 hits in a game where neither starter Carl Hubbell nor Randy Johnson could get past the 5th inning. The teams traded leads and homers throughout the game. Orlando Cepeda led the way for the Wizards, going 4 for 5 with 2 homers, but Houston’s Ryne Sandberg had the last laugh. The Wizards took a 12-9 lead into the 8th when Jesse Haines allowed a Jeff Bagwell homerun and an RBI single with 2 outs. St. Louis brought in closer Bruce Sutter with 2 men on, but Sutter walked Duke Snider and allowed an RBI single to Arky Vaughan that tied the game. Sandberg followed with a grand slam to give Houston the 16-12 lead. Burleigh Grimes pitched a shaky 9th, putting 2 men on with 1 out before Houston turned to closer Lee Smith, who worked out of the jam for his 6th save. It was Sutter’s 1st blown save of the season. St. Louis is still 18-5 but has lost 2 of their last 3 games to Houston. Houston improved to 9-14.

St. Louis @ Houston – 4/24/22

Oakland Jacks catcher Bill Dickey took advantage of his starting spot in the lineup for the resting Mickey Cochrane. Dickey doubled in his first three at-bats, driving in 3 and scoring twice against New York Swats starter Hal Newhouser. The Jacks scored 5 in the 2nd inning to set the pace. Teammate George Sisler became the first player to triple twice in a game. Meanwhile, Jacks starter Whitey Ford allowed 4 runs in 7 innings to pick up his 2nd win. Things got interesting in the 9th when Oakland reliever Jim Kaat allowed two 2-out singles. Closer Mariano Rivera allowed another, scoring a run before striking out Jimmie Foxx to end the game. Oakland topped the Swats 8-5, handing them their 4th straight loss and dropping them to 9-14. Oakland has now won 3 straight to improve to 11-11.

New York @ Oakland – 4/24/22

Houston Hoots starter Phil Niekro allowed 7 hits in the first two innings before settling down, but that was all the St. Louis Wizards needed. Niekro allowed a 2-run homer in the 2nd to Orlando Cepeda, his 2nd of the season. Three batters later, Ted Simmons added a 2-run double. Those 4 runs held up with Wizards ace Steve Carlton on the mound. Carlton allowed a run in the 1st and a solo homer to Gary Carter in the 8th, but just 5 hits total, while striking out 9 to pick up his 4th win. The Wizards improved to 18-4, while Houston fell to 8-14. Bruce Sutter pitched a perfect 9th for his league-leading 7th save.

Houston @ St. Louis – 4/23/22

Oakland Jacks starter Mike Mussina faced his 2nd straight New York Swats train and once again came out on top. In his last start, it was Walter Johnson. This time, he topped Nolan Ryan in an even more impressive performance. Mussina hurled his 1st shutout of the season, a complete game, allowing 7 hits while striking out 7. New York threatened in the 8th when Wade Boggs hit a one-out single, and Ty Cobb followed with a double. Moose struck out Babe Ruth and got Jimmie Foxx to ground out to end the inning. Swats starter Ryan was nearly as good, allowing a solo homer to Minnie Miñoso in the 3rd. Oakland was poised to score in the 2nd when they loaded the bases with no outs, but Hank Greenberg struck out, and Nellie Fox grounded into a double-play. Both starters went the distance, and both allowed 7 hits and struck out 7. Oakland improved to 10-11 with the 1-0 win, while New York fell to 9-13.

Oakland @ New York – 4/23/22

Chicago Docs starter Rick Reuschel allowed 3 early runs before settling down against the Los Angeles Dynamos. The real story was the dominating game by Sandy Koufax. Koufax hurled a 2-hit shutout, striking out 8. It was the 2nd straight shutout for the lefty ace. Reuschel allowed just 3 runs, 2 of them earned, in 7 innings of work for the Docs. Docs reliever Roy Oswalt had a rough outing, allowing 6 runs and 3 homers before being pulled. Two of those homers came from Eddie Mathews. LA topped Chicago 9-0 with 16 hits. Joe Morgan and Johnny Mize both went 4 for 5. The Dynamos improved to 11-11 with the win, their 3rd straight, while Chicago fell to a league-worst 7-15 with their 4th straight loss.

Los Angeles @ Chicago – 4/23/22

The Boston Splinters made up for losing a rain-postponed game earlier in the day by unleashing their offense on Detroit’s Frank Tanana. Tanana allowed runs in 5 straight innings, before exiting. Mickey Mantle, who had a 2-run homer against Tanana earlier in the game, took Rockets reliever Urban Shocker deep for 2 more runs in the 6th. Light rain fell, but it wasn’t enough to delay this game. Meanwhile, Pedro Martinez allowed just one run on 6 hits while striking out 7 in 8 innings of work for the Splinters to earn his 1st win in two starts. With the 10-2 win, Boston retook the lead in the American League. They are now 12-9, while Detroit fell back to 12-10.

Boston @ Detroit – 4/23/22

The Boston Splinters resumed their rain-postponed game against the Detroit Rockets. The Splinters’ Dennis Eckersley was tasked with holding a 1-0 lead that Jim Palmer gave him with a stellar performance yesterday, but it only took one inning for him to lose it. Eckersley walked Kenny Lofton and allowed a one-out single to Charlie Blackwell before Alex Rodriguez took him deep with his 6th homer of the year. Adrián Beltré had an RBI double a few batters later to give the Rockets a 4-1 lead. Luis Tiant took the mound for Detroit and allowed a run in the 7th and 8th before handing things over to Rockets closer Tom Henke, who shut down the Splinters for the 4-3 win. Yesterday’s starter, Bret Saberhagen, picked up the win on a day he didn’t pitch. Boston fell to 11-9, while Detroit improved to 12-9 to take 1st place in the American League. The teams will play again later this afternoon.

Boston @ Detroit – Resumed Game from 4/22/22

For the first two innings, the Los Angeles Dynamos and the Chicago Docs traded runs and leads at Wrigley Field. But then Dynamos starter Jim Bunning settled down while the Docs’ Jerry Koosman continued to struggle. LA put up 5 runs in the 3rd, aided by Barry Larkin’s 2nd homer of the game, and never looked back. They were Larkin’s first homers of the season. Bunning allowed 4 runs in those first two innings, all driven in by Barry Bonds, but held Chicago scoreless in the next 5. In fact, 6 of the Docs’ 7 hits were in those first two innings. Bunning picked up his first win in this outing. Meanwhile, Chicago’s Koosman was shelled for 10 runs. He fell to 1-4. LA inched closer to .500 and is now 10-11. Chicago has fallen to 7-14. The Docs’ Todd Helton was ejected in the 7th for arguing a 3rd strike call.

Los Angeles @ Chicago – 4/22/22

The Detroit Rockets will have a day to regroup. Boston starter Jim Palmer had held them scoreless with two hits in 5 innings when heavy rains led the game to be suspended. The Splinters’ Carlton Fisk hit a solo homer off Detroit starter Bret Saberhagen in the top of the 6th, just as rain started to fall. Rickey Henderson and Tony Oliva followed with singles as heavier rains moved in, but Saberhagen got the next three Boston batters to ground out, keeping the Splinters to just one run. With no end to the bad weather in sight, umpires suspended the game. Per MLB rules, the game will resume tomorrow before the clubs’ already scheduled game.

Boston @ Detroit – 4/22/22 – SUSPENDED TO RESUME 4/23/22

When the St. Louis Wizards had back-to-back doubles from Rogers Hornsby and Orlando Cepeda to break a scoreless tie in the 5th, it seemed like a familiar script for another Wizards win. But Houston’s Gary Carter answered with a solo homer in the 6th, and starter Tom Seaver retired the next 11 batters. Duke Snider’s solo shot in the 8th against Juan Marichal was only Houston’s 3rd hit of the game, but it put them up 2-1. In the 9th against St. Louis reliever Fergie Jenkins, Jeff Bagwell hit a 2-run homer to add some insurance, and Billy Williams hit another in the next at-bat to make it 5-1. The Wizards’ Stan Musial hit a 2-run homer of his own off Rube Marquard in the bottom of the 9th to narrow the gap to 5-3, but Lee Smith came in to close it out and hand the Wizards just their 4th loss this year. Houston improved to 8-13 with Smith’s 5th save. Seaver pitched 8 innings, allowing just 3 hits and walk while striking out 7 to improve to 3-1. Marichal got the tough loss, also allowing just 3 hits in 8 innings.

Houston @ St. Louis – 4/22/22