Game 1 – Medich vs Perry
The start of the series in Texas looked like it would be a pitching duel between Don Medich and Gaylord Perry. In the first five innings the teams combined for no runs and three hits. Mickey Rivers opened the sixth with a 343-foot solo home run but Perry got a fly-out and two popups to finish the inning. In the bottom of the inning Toby Harrah walked to open the inning and Jim Spencer drove him home with a triple, and then scored himself on a ground-ball out to the second baseman. No one else would reach base. Graig Nettles tied the game in the seventh with his seventh home run of the season, and then New York took the lead on an RBI single from Rivers. Medich gave way to Sparky Lyle in the eighth Lyle would only allow one walk. He faced seven batters and retired six of them, including a perfect ninth. New York pulls out a 3-2 win.
Game 2 – Hunter vs Alexander
Jim “Catfish” Hunter started the game for New York and it was not an auspicious start as he would only last four and two-thirds innings. Fortunately for the Yankees their bats would make up the difference. Bump Wills gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead in the third with a two out, two run homer, only to have the Yankees tie the game on an RBI double from Willie Randolph. The Rangers got three in the bottom of the fourth on three hits and a sac fly and Hunter was clearly in trouble. A Jim Hargrove home run in the fifth made is 6-5 and a walk to Toby Harrah finished Hunter’s night. Dick Tidrow came in and stopped the bleeding, getting Harrah to fly out to center to end the inning. Tidrow would go on to pitch three and a third, and while he would allow four hits and two walks none of them scored. Jim Shellenback came in to pitch the seventh for Texas hoping to hold the slim lead. Instead Graig Nettles and Chris Chambliss hit back-to-back jacks and Willie Randolph made an RBI single to score four runs in the inning. A double by Mickey Rivers in the eighth chased Shellenback, and Rivers would score on a Reggie Jackson single that was compounded by an error by Jeff Burroughs. The Yankees would tack on a run in the ninth to leave no doubt and they won the game 11-6 for their tenth win of the season.
Game 3 – Bibby vs Guidry
The series returned to New York with Ron Guidry on the mound to face the Rangers’ Jim Bibby. A two-RBI double by Frank Howard greeted Guidry rudely in the first. The Yankees would score in the second on a Bucky Dent RBI single, but Bibby held firm. With Guidry straightening things out, the game went into the eighth with a 2-1 Texas lead. The Rangers loaded the bases in the eighth but Guidry survived the inning with only one run coming across, leaving two men on. Horacio Pina came on to pitch for Texas and the floodgates opened. Graig Nettles would open the inning with his ninth homer (3rd in successive games) but it looked like Pina would get out of it after two quick outs. Unfortunately for the Rangers Pina would not retire another hitter. Before he was pulled, Pina allowed three more hits and a walk, Roy White would plate two on a single with the bases loaded, and Bobby Murcer would provide the coup-de-grace with his first home run, a two-run shot that sent Pina to the showers. In all six runs scored in the Yankee eighth. Sparky Lyle came in in a non-save situation in the ninth and gave up one hit, which he left stranded on first. The Yankees would complete the sweep winning 7-3 to go to 11-3 on the year. Next up for New York is the White Sox, while the Rangers face Detroit.
Jim “Catfish” Hunter started the game for New York and it was not an auspicious start as he would only last four and two-thirds innings. Fortunately for the Yankees their bats would make up the difference. Bump Wills gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead in the third with a two out, two run homer, only to have the Yankees tie the game on an RBI double from Willie Randolph. The Rangers got three in the bottom of the fourth on three hits and a sac fly and Hunter was clearly in trouble. A Jim Hargrove home run in the fifth made is 6-5 and a walk to Toby Harrah finished Hunter’s night. Dick Tidrow came in and stopped the bleeding, getting Harrah to fly out to center to end the inning. Tidrow would go on to pitch three and a third, and while he would allow four hits and two walks none of them scored. Jim Shellenback came in to pitch the seventh for Texas hoping to hold the slim lead. Instead Graig Nettles and Chris Chambliss hit back-to-back jacks and Willie Randolph made an RBI single to score four runs in the inning. A double by Mickey Rivers in the eighth chased Shellenback, and Rivers would score on a Reggie Jackson single that was compounded by an error by Jeff Burroughs. The Yankees would tack on a run in the ninth to leave no doubt and they won the game 11-6 for their tenth win of the season.
Game 3 – Bibby vs Guidry
--submitted by Michael Hopcroft--
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