Seattle native Wally Bunker continued his dominance over his hometown team, holding the Pilots to four hits and one walk in the Royals’ 2-1 win at Municipal Stadium.
Bunker finished the season with a 3-0 mark against the Pilots, in addition to a 1.67 ERA and .163/.243/.228 line for Seattle hitters. Bunker pitched a complete game in all three of his starts against Seattle, striking out 13 and walking eight in those 27 innings.
In this game, however, Seattle must have surprised themselves when they scored in the second inning. With one out, Don Mincher walked and Jerry McNertney singled. Fred Stanley’s sacrifice fly gave the Pilots a 1-0 lead.
It didn’t last long. Seattle starter Bob Meyer, who also pitched a complete game, surrendered a double to Chuck Harrison to start the bottom of the second. A passed ball advanced Harrison to third, and he scored on Lou Piniella’s sacrifice fly.
From there, Meyer and Bunker battled through five scoreless innings. Meyer walked Bunker to start the sixth but got three groundouts to end the inning. Harrison singled to start the seventh but was stranded at second. Bunker gave up a leadoff double to Stanley in the eighth but the runner never even reached third.
Finally, the Royals broke through in the bottom of the eighth. Bob Oliver led off with a single before Bunker capped off his bedevilment of the Pilots with an RBI double for the 2-1 lead. Bunker then pitched a perfect ninth inning to finish off his 11th win.
The win lifted the Royals to 62-85 on the season, and also ended the season series between the two teams with the Royals holding a 10-8 advantage over their expansion brethren. Kansas City was in fourth place in the AL West, 27 games behind Minnesota.
Box score and play-by-play: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA196909160.shtml
Today’s birthdays: Desi Relaford (1973), Chris George (1979), Brandon Moss (1983), Jakob Junis (1992)
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