On this date (July 9), fifty years ago, the California Angels were in Oakland to take on the A’s. It didn’t seem like much of a matchup. The A’s were 55-29 in first place in the AL West, while the Angels were in fourth place, nine games under .500 (40-49) and 17 ½ games out. Further, the A’s were starting ace Vida Blue 17-3, 1.51 at the time, while the Angels starter was Rudy May at 4-5, 3.24. Side note: The 21-year-old Blue was on his way to a 24-8, 1.82 season that would earn him the AL Cy Young and MVP Awards. The 26-year-old May would end the season 11-12, 3.02.
It proved, however, to be a very competitive matchup – going just over five hours (20 innings) and ending in a 1-0 score. Ironically the Angels lost to the A’s on a walk-off, run-scoring single by a player named Angel (A’s rookie RF Angel Mangual). In the process:
- The two teams fanned a total of 43 times, at the time the MLB record for combined whiffs in a game (since broken) – and still the American League record. (On May 7, 2017, the Yankees and Cubs fanned a combined 48 times.)
- Angels’ batters whiffed 26 times – still a single-game, single-team record, but since tied by the: Yankees (vs. White Sox – May 7, 2017); Dodgers (vs. Brewers – June 2, 2017); and Mets (vs. Braves – August 8, 2019).
- Career MLB strikeout leader Reggie Jackson started for the A’s, but did not strikeout in four plate appearances (one walk).
- Twenty different batters struck out during the game (nine for the Angels, 11 for the A’s); 12 of those 20 struck out more than once.
- The number-three and number-four Angels’ hitters accounted for just over one-quarter of all the strikeouts: LF Billy Cowan, batting third, went 0-for-8, with six strikeouts and RF Tony Conigliaro, batting cleanup, went 0-for-8 with five strikeouts.
- There were 18 hits in the contest – 17 singles and one double (Angels’ catcher Jerry Moses).
- The hitting “star” of the game was the A’s Angel Mangual, not only did he drive in the winning run, he had three hits and a walk in nine plate appearance and did not strikeout. (The only other player to play the full game and not fan at least once was A’s 3B Sal Bando – four walks in four plate appearances).
- 36 players were used: 20 by the A’s; 16 by the Angels.
- A couple of A’s pitchers with good nicknames appeared, but not on the mound. Blue Moon Odom was used as a pinch runner and Catfish Hunter as a pinch hitter.
- Tony LaRussa came into the game for the A’s at SS in the tenth, struck out in his only at bat (to end the 12th) and was lifted for a pinch hitter with the bases loaded and two out in the 14th.
In the game, Vida Blue threw 11 scoreless frames (seven hits, no walks, 17 strikeouts; while May went 12 innings (just three hits, six walks and 13 strikeouts). Rollie Fingers pitched seven innings in relief (zero runs, two hits, one walk, seven strikeouts). The win went to Darold Knowles, the loss to Mel Queen.
Twenty Strikeouts by One Team in a Nine-Inning Game.
The record for strikeouts by a team in a nine-inning game is twenty and it’s been done six times. Five of those were AL teams and one was an NL squad (and the NL team that fanned twenty times has since moved to the AL). Notably, in four of those games the starting pitcher went the distance.
In the four nine-inning games in which a single pitcher recorded 20 strikeouts – not a single walk was issued.
Side note: On May, 2001, Randy Johnson of the Diamondbacks fanned 20 batters (no walks) over nine innings, but left the game with the scored tied 1-1. The Diamondbacks eventually won 4-3 in 11 innings, with five D-backs’ relievers fanning only more batter over two innings.
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