New York’s Rudy May dominated the Baltimore Orioles as the Yankees posted a 6-0 victory in the division semifinals of the 1975 Strat-O-Matic Tournament presented by Press Room Pass.
May limited the Orioles to a double by Brooks Robinson in the fourth and a single by Bobby Grich in the ninth.
Tippy Martinez got the final two outs to pick up a save, which was his second of the tourney.
The Yankees got started early as Bobby Bonds led off the game with a double against Baltimore starter Jim Palmer. With the first his his three hits, Elliott Maddox knocked in Bonds with a triple and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Thurman Munson.
Graig Nettles homered in the second to give the Yankees a 3-0 advantage.
In the seventh, Roy White and Chris Chambliss had run-scoring singles. Fred Stanley hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth for the final run.
Tiant and Rice Lead Red Sox
Boston’s Luis Tiant tossed a complete game as the Red Sox defeated Cleveland 3-2.
Tiant allowed nine hits and had four strikeouts, but he surrendered just two runs in the eighth inning. George Hendrick knocked in a run on a ground out and then Boog Powell added a RBI single.
The Red Sox got on the scoreboard first the a pair of runs in the fifth off Cleveland starter Jim Bibby. Denny Doyle tripled to drive in a run before he scored on a single by Carl Yastrzemski.
Jim Rice‘s fourth hit of the affair was a run-scoring double in the seventh that turned out to be the winning tally in the contest.
American League East Results and Schedule
(1) Red Sox 3, (4) Indians 2
(3) Yankees 6, (2) Orioles 0
(3) Yankees at (1) Red Sox, championship
IN REAL LIFE:
Rudy May was 14-12 for the New York Yankees in 1975. He appeared in three games against Baltimore with a 0-2 record. His top performances of the season were a pair of three-hit complete game victories against Detroit.
The lefty began his 16-year big league career in 1965 with the California Angels. After three seasons in the minors, he was back with the Angels from 1969 to the middle of 1974 when he was sold to the Yankees.
Midway through the 1976 season, May was part of a 10-player trade that landed him in Baltimore. He went 18-14 in 1977 with the Orioles to post a career-high total in victories.
In 1978 and 1979, May pitched for Montreal before joining the Yankees as a free agent in 1980, which was perhaps his best season with a 15-5 mark as he topped the American League with a 2.46 ERA.
After playing with the Yankees in the post-season in 1980 and 1981, May retired in 1983 with a 152-156 mark. He was under .500 with the Angels at 51-76, but posted a 101-80 record with his other teams.