Nowhere to go but up, right?
Many of you probably weren't even born the last time the Jays went 0-6 on a road trip, so let's wallow in the bad times...
It was the 3rd of September, 1979. The Jays had just finished splitting a 10 game homestand with an 8-5 victory over Seattle. Rookie right-hander Dave Stieb, making his 13th major league start, took an 8-2 lead into the eighth inning before running out of gas and allowing five straight hits. But with the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate, Jesse Jefferson coaxed a double play ball to end the threat. And so the young Jays hit the road...
There was a time, young Bauxites, when the Orioles were a Great and Mighty Power in the land. This was one of them. As the Jays arrived in Baltimore, Earl Weaver's Orioles held a comfortable 8 game lead over Milwaukee in the AL East. The Orioles normally went with a four man rotation, but just two weeks earlier had begun using five starters. Jim Palmer had returned after being out for six weeks, with Scott McGregor taking his place in the rotation while he was out. With a comfortable lead in the division, Weaver decided to go with five starters the rest of the way and left McGregor in the rotation along with Dennis Martinez, Mike Flanagan, Steve Stone, and Palmer. The five starters were supported by a four man bullpen - Don Stanhouse (who led the team with 52 appearances), Sammy Stewart, Tippy Martinez, and Tim Stoddard.
Ah, those were the days.
The two teams played on a double-header on Monday the 3rd of September. Jays LH Tom Underwood hooked up with Steve Stone in the opener. The Jays struck first when catcher Rick Cerone led off the 3rd with a home run. Singles by Rookie of the Year Alfredo Griffin and Roy Howell put runners on the corners, but Stone struck out Tony Solaita to end the threat. The Orioles tied it up in the bottom half of the inning; with two out, Rich Dauer doubled and scored when Ken Singleton, of all people, hit a triple. Then the two pitchers took over. Both teams threatened to score in the sixth - Dave Stieb, pinch-running, was stranded on third when Al Woods flied out to end the inning. Singleton led off the bottom half with a double, but was erased when Alfredo Griffin turned Eddie Murray's liner into an unassisted double play. The two teams went into extra innings, and Underwood and Stone stayed out there. Finally,. in the 11th, both teams went to the pen. Tippy Martinez retired the Jays in order. In the bottom half, Tom Buskey came in for Toronto. Pat Kelly pinch hit for Mark Belanger and singled to right. Dauer tried to bunt him over but Buskey threw the ball away, putting runners on second and third with no one out. They walked Singleton to set up the force at every base, but Eddie Murray's single cashed in the winning run.
In the night-cap, Mike Flanagan, in quest for his 20th win was opposed by Toronto's all-star, Dave Lemanczyk. This was settled quickly. The Orioles scored four times in the second inning, driving Lemanczyk from the game - Pat Kelly's leadoff homer was followed by three doubles and a single. Balor Moore pitched 6.2 innings of one-run ball the rest of the way, but it didn't matter as Flanagan scattered seven hits for the complete game victory.
The teams didn't play on Tuesday or Wednesday - they wrapped up the series on Thursday as 23 year old Butch Edge made the fifth of his 9 major league starts for Toronto. Pitching for the Orioles was the young right-hander from Nicaragua, Dennis Martinez. Edge gave up a run on a walk and two hits in the first inning. DeCinces led off the second with a homer, and Edge was yanked after three more hits, trailing 2-0. Martinez didn't need anything else, as he pitched a five hit shutout. The Orioles took the 5-0 win, and the Jays moved on to Cleveland.
On Friday night, rookie RH Phil Huffman matched up with Cleveland lefty Rick Waits, and after four scoreless innings, they Jays exploded for six runs in the top of the sixth. The Beeg Blow was a grand slam by the Beeg Mon, Rico Carty, immediately after Otto Velez had walked with the bases loaded. The Jays tacked on two more in the sixth, to strecth the lead to 8-0. Huffman allowed a single run in the sixth, and two in the seventh, one unearned, but still took an 8-3 lead to the bottom of the ninth. Alas - Toby Harrah led off with a homer to make it 8-4. Andre Thornton walked. Cliff Johnson reached second on an error by Howell. Ron Hassey singled to score Thornton and make it an 8-5 game. Tom Buskey came in to relieve Huffman. He struck out the first pinch-hitter, Gary Alexander; but the second pinch-hitter, Wayne Cage, singled to score Johnson and make it an 8-6 game. Next up was first baseman Mike Hargrove - his single scored Dell Alston, running for Hassey, and now it was 8-7. Rick Manning's ground ball was misplayed by Mayberry for the Jays' second error of the inning and fourth of the game, and Cage scored to tie the game at 8-8. There was still only one out, and runners on first and second. The third pinch-hitter of the inning, Ron Pruitt, singled to left field and Hargrove came charging around third with the winning run... except the Blue Jays actually made a play. Joe Cannon, inserted as a defensive replacement for Velez, gunned down Hargrove at the plate, and now there were two out and the game was still tied. Or it was until Toby Harrah, who had started all this trouble with his home run, ended it all with a single to score the winning run.
Now that was a ninth inning meltdown!
On Saturday afternoon, Dave Stieb and Rick Wise hooked up in a see-saw affair. Again, the game was scoreless through the first four innings. The Jays broke on top in the fifth, but this time with just a single run, Al Woods' leadoff homer. The Indians scored two in the bottom half on a two run single by Hargrove to take the lead, but the Jays tied it in the sixth when Bailor singled, stole second, and scored on Solaita's double. The Indians went ahead again in the bottom half when Bobby Bonds homered off Stieb; the Jays came back again in the seventh, as Tim Johnson tripled to plate Woods' leadoff single, and scored the go-ahead run on Griffin's sac fly. Again Stieb couldn't hold the lead - Veryzer bunted for a hit, took third on Hargrove's single, and scored on Manning's sac fly. They went again to the bottom of the ninth, this time tied up at 4-4. Hargrove led off with a walk, and Rick Manning singled to right. And that was it - Hargrove scored on an error by Griffin. Presumably, he was heading for third, Griffin thought he had a play on him, and threw the ball away. Final, 5-4.
The finale pitted Balor Moore, coming off his outstanding long relief performance, against Cleveland's young Len Barker. The Jays got to Barker early, knocking him out of the game in the third and taking a 6-1 lead. But Cleveland struck back with five runs in the fourth to tied the game at 6-6, getting rid of Moore in the process. They added two more against Jesse Jefferson and one against Jackson Todd to lead 9-6 after six innings. The Jays rallied for four runs in the top of the eighth to go on top again, and Tom Buskey took a 10-9 lead to the bottom of the ninth. Another disaster was in store. Pinch-hitter Ron Hassey led off with a single. A sac bunt moved the pinch-runner Alston to second base. The next pinch-hitter was Cliff Johnson, who drew a walk, and MIke Hargrove then tied the game with a single. Hargrove took second on the throw to the plate, so with first base open, the Jays gave Rick Manning an intentional walk to load the bases. That brought up Bobby Bonds, and Barry's dad whacked a grand slam, for the Jays third walk-off loss in as many days.
Bad times....
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20070506221613743