1970 Great Eight League

Through Game #36.

Game Results:

Baltimore 7 Boston 1

WP- Jim Hardin (1-0) LP- Bill Lee 1-1)

HR- Davey Johnson (3); Reggie Smith (10)

With the game tied at one, Red Sox reliever, Bill Lee set the stage for disaster by giving up two singles and a double in succession. Bobby Bolin fared no better. He surrendered a three-run blast to Davey Johnson, as the Orioles won a key matchup by a 7 to 1 margin and gained back a full game on Boston.

New York 1 Minnesota 2 Twelve innings

WP- Ron Perranowski (2-0) LP- Ron Klimkowski (2-2)

HR- John Ellis (3)

Cesar Tovar stroked a game winning single in the bottom of the twelfth inning, as the Twins edged the Yankees, 2 to 1.

Oakland 2 Los Angeles 3

WP- Jim Brewer (3-3) LP- Jim Roland (0-2)

HR- Bert Campaneris (7); Tom Haller (4)

Oakland’s Sal Bando committed a key error in the bottom of the ninth, which led to the Dodgers defeating the Athletics, 3 to 2. Los Angeles was held scoreless until the seventh, then they scored a run in each of the last three innings.

Pittsburgh 3 Cincinnati 7

WP- Pedro Borbon (2-1) LP- Orlando Pena (2-1)

HR- Lee May gs (3); Bill Mazeroski (1)

Cincinnati snapped a seven-game skid by beating up on last place Pittsburgh, with a 7 to 3 victory. The Reds never trailed and Lee May’s grand slam in the seventh put the Pirates to bed for good. Bill Mazeroski collected his first home run of the season for Pittsburgh.

Standings and Leaderboard courtesy of http://www.cardanddicebaseball.com

Game #36 Recap:

The Orioles won a huge game against the first place Red Sox, thus picking up a full game and getting within two games. It was a mandated spot start for Jim Lonborg, who was excused from pitching in Game #35. It wasn’t Lonborg’s fault Boston lost; he didn’t pitch too badly. The Reds finally snapped their losing skid by beating the last place Bucs. Lee May hit a grand slam; that’s the third one hit this season in the Great Eight League. Speaking of the Pirates, they have dropped four straight and look completely lost in all three phases of the game. The Twins are solidly in third place, with the Dodgers, Yankees and Reds all tied at 17-`19 and battling to get into the first division. Just a note: The Yankees and Twins had a twelve-inning game, so for game #37, they will have to start as many players as possible, who didn’t start in game #36.

Individually, Reggie Smith hit home run #10, tying Oakland’s Don Mincher for the league lead. Smith trails Bob Tolan of the Reds for the batting crown by six hundredths of a percentage point. On the pitching front, Gary Peters still leads in wins, with 7, while Diego Segui has the ERA lead for starters with 1.73. Ray Culp paces the strikeout leaders with 60.

Game #37. Schedule and Probable Pitchers:

Los Angeles (Sutton 1-4, 4.91) at Cincinnati (Nolan 4-3, 3.45)

Minnesota (Perry 3-2, 2.15) at Boston (Culp 4-0, 1.80)

New York (Peterson 1-3, 2.60) at Pittsburgh (Ellis 2-3, 4.28)

Oakland (Hunter 3-3, 3.92) at Baltimore (Palmer 5-2, 2.37)