4/18/84: M's catch A's, Rickey in Kingdome thriller, 5-4

Even when Rickey Henderson doesn't start, he still makes a difference. Henderson, pinch-hitting for the man who replaced him, Garry Hancock, stepped up to the plate against Mariners' reliever Ed Vande Berg to lead off the 9th inning. Vande Berg greeted him with an inside pitch and on to 1st came Rickey with a chance to tie. Rickey got his lead, catcher Bob Kearney got off a perfect throw to catch Rickey and the M's went on to stun the A's by a 5-4 final at the Kingdome.

The A's struck first on a pair of walks and a single in the 1st and Dave Kingman turned it into a 2-run double off starter Bob Stoddard for a 2-0 lead. The A's struck for 2 more in the 3rd on a 1-out double by Bruce Bochte and 2-run homer by Mike Davis. But before you can say "The Rout is on," on came the Mariners in the bottom of the 3rd, starting with a lead-off double by Larry Milbourne, which was followed by a 2-run blow by Kearney, making the score 4-2 after 3. 

Bob Stoddard settled down after that sluggish start, retiring 12 in a row after that Davis homer. He walked Donnie Hill with 2 outs in the 7th, but nothing came of that. 

Lary Sorensen was flying right along until he ran into some turbulence in the bottom of the 7th, starting with a lead-off single by Kearney, his 3rd hit of the game. Spike Owen bunted Kearney to 2nd, setting up Jack Perconte, whose "+" single scored Kearney cutting the lead to 4-3. Phil Bradley then singled to right, Perconte advancing to 2nd. Then the "+" struck again as Keith Atherton took over for Sorensen and allowed a"+" single by Alvin Davis scoring Perconte and tying the score at 4. 

Bradley, now at 3rd after the Davis single would then score on a sac fly by Pat Putnam, giving the M's a 5-4 lead after 7. Stoddard lasted until 2 outs in the 8th when Carney Lansford doubled and Mike Davis singled him to 3rd. Ed Vande Berg took over at that point with Dave Kingman and promptly got "Kong" to hit a weak foul pop to Kearney. Then came the 9th, the HBP to Rickey and the subsequent caught stealing. Mike Heath flied to center, PH Bill Almon bounced to short, securing the come-from-behind Mariners win.

SEA 5-11-0 OAK 4-6-0 WP-Stoddard LP-Sorensen SV-Vande Berg HR-M. Davis, Kearney GWRBI-Putnam SEA 5-9 OAK 8-6

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