SERIES #40. THREE GAMES, SWEPT SERIES. CHICAGO AT MILWAUKEE
The White Sox had a terrific series against the Milwaukee Brewers. They won all three games, while Oakland won one and lost one vs the Baltimore Orioles. Currently, Chicago has a 2.5 game lead over the A’s in the A.L. West. Here are the game recaps:
Game one: Wilbur Wood(11-8) spun a two hit shutout; his third whitewash of the season, in a 2-0 victory. The Chicago starter did issue five walks, but none of those free passes would come around to score. Two White Sox double plays helped that cause. Wood struck out seven Brewers. Carlos May’s(10) two run blast in the first inning was all Chicago needed, thanks to Wood’s stingy performance.
Game two: This game was an 11 inning battle, which saw Chicago score twice in the top of the eleventh inning, then hold on as Goose Gossage surrendered a run in the bottom of that inning, yet he was able to hold on for the save. The White Sox won the game, 3-2, largely thanks to an incredible job by Dave Lemonds(3-5). Dave has been the spot starter for Chicago this year. He has pitched fairly well in a few starts and has gotten shelled in others, but in any case, rarely goes over four or five innings. In this game, he started and pitched an incredible 10 full innings, leaving with the score tied at one. The very first inning was his toughest, as Brewers leadoff hitter, Rick Auerbach doubled, then scored on a Ron Theobald single. Lemonds then fell into a groove, allowing just two more hits and three walks over the next nine innings. He never reached his tiredness point, as he would walk a batter, then pitch a couple one, two, three innings and maybe issue another walk. He struck out seven and both the strikeouts and innings pitched were season highs for him. After Millwaukee’s initial run, Chicago tied it in the top of the sixth on Dick Allen’s (35th) homer of the year. The White Sox finally broke the tie in the top of the eleventh. Chuck Brinkman singled, then Tony Muser pinch hit for Lemonds and delivered a clutch triple. Pat Kelly then singled in Muser, giving the White Sox an insurance run, which turned out to be a very good thing indeed. Gossage took the reins and the first batter he faced, Auerbach, stroked a triple of his own. Theobald’s sacrifice fly cut Chicago’s lead to one. But the Goose settled down, despite it being a closer situation and retired Dave May and George Scott to nail it down.
The last game saw Tom Bradley(14-6) finally pick up a win, his first since July 16th, as Chicago won, 9-5. It’s a good thing they had plenty of offense, though, as the bullpen coughed up four runs in the bottom of the ninth. Pat Kelly and Allen each had a pair of doubles, the former scoring twice, Allen scoring three times. Ed Spiezio and Ed Herrmann added two hit apiece. The aforementioned bullpen really struggled late. Bradley went seven, then Vincente Romo pitched a clean eighth, but after that, was a disaster. He worked a third of an inning in the ninth, giving up a homerun to Scott, plus a double and a walk. Cy Acosta then took over and walked two more, in another third of an inning. Finally, Terry Forster came in and got the last out.
This is Chicago’s biggest lead of the year. They now head to Boston to play three against the Red Sox, while Oakland heads to Cleveland.
American League West Division Standings(August 27, 1972)
Chicago/120/71/49/.592/—
Oakland/121/69/52/.570/2.5
Minnesota/118/63/55/.534/7
Kansas City/120/61/59/.508/10
California/121/52/69/.430/19.5
Texas/121/50/71/.413/21.5
Stratastic Baseball Replays 
Leave a comment