Editor’s note: The 1980 Tournament games are being played with Strat-o-Matic cards and dice. The designated hitter will be used for any games involving American League teams. Injuries will only be used during the game when they occur. For this tournament, the rules include a three-man pitching rotation using the best lineups available.
Dan Meyer took care of business as he led the Seattle Mariners to a 6-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals in the first round of the 1980 American League Tournament.
Meyer had a double to drive in the first tally of the contest and then blasted a two-run homer to put the game away.
With the win, the Mariners move on to the second round to face the winner of the Chicago White Sox at Detroit Tigers.
Seattle scored a pair of runs in the second inning against Kansas City starter Larry Gura. Meyer had a run-scoring double, which was followed by Marc Hill‘s RBI ground out.
Mariners starter Floyd Bannister dominated the Royals until George Brett broke up the no-hitter with a one-out single in the sixth.
Bannister went the distance allowing three hits in the affair with six strikeouts.
The Royals scored their only run in the eighth when John Wathan doubled to close the cap to 2-1.
In the ninth, the Mariners exploded on Gura.
Leon Roberts picked up his fourth single of the game to begin the ninth. Meyer’s homer deflated the Royals and their fans and it was 4-1.
Dan Quisenberry came on for Gura, but the problems for the Royals didn’t stop as the Mariners sent 10 batters to the plate and added two more runs on RBI singles from Larry Milbourne and Tom Paciorek.
1980 AL Tournament
First Round Pairings and Results
(1) New York Yankees (103-59), bye
(8) Oakland Athletics 8, (9) Minnesota Twins 2
(13) California Angels 11, (4) Milwaukee Brewers 4
(5) Boston Red Sox 9, (12) Toronto Blue Jays 3
(2) Baltimore Orioles (100-62), bye
(7) Cleveland Indians 10, (10) Texas Rangers 8
(14) Seattle Mariners 6, (3) Kansas City Royals 1
(11) Chicago White Sox (70-90) at (6) Detroit Tigers (84-78)
1980 NL Tournament
First Round Pairings
(1) Houston Astros (93-70), bye
(9) St. Louis Cardinals (74-88) at (8) San Francisco Giants (75-86)
(4) Montreal Expos (90-72), bye
(12) Chicago Cubs (64-98) at (5) Cincinnati Reds (89-73)
(2) Los Angeles Dodgers (92-71), bye
(10) San Diego Padres (73-89) at (7) Atlanta Braves (81-80)
(3) Philadelphia Phillies (91-71), bye
(11) New York Mets (67-95) at (6) Pittsburgh Pirates (83-79)