1975 Oakland A's: What Should Have Been

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Vida Blue went the distance as the A's beat Boston 7-2. Joe Rudi was 2-5, with a homer and 3 RBI. Billy North was 2-3 with 2 RBI. The A's traded Blue Moon Odom to Cleveland for Dick Bosman and Jim Perry. The A's are off Thursday, then conclude their road trip with 4 games in 3 days at Cleveland.

WED MAY 21

OAK_____7___11___0
BOS_____2____5___0

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Ken Holtzman and Rollie Fingers combined to shut out the Indians 2-0. Billy Williams drove in both runs, with an RBI double in the 1st and a solo homer in the 9th. Dennis Eckersley took the loss for Cleveland.

FRI MAY 23

OAK_____2___5___0
CLE_____0___5___1

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Duane Kuiper singled in the winning run with 1 out in the bottom of the 10th as the Indians beat the A's 1-0. Catfish Hunter pitched 9 scoreless innings. Fritz Peterson went all the way for Cleveland. Paul Lindblad was charged with the loss.

SAT MAY 24

OAK_____0___7___0
CLE_____1___6___0

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Jim Perry pitched 7 scoreless innings and won the battle with brother Gaylord as the A's took the opener of a Sunday doubleheader 4-3. In his Oakland debut, Jim Perry allowed only 5 hits, struck out 2 and walked no one. Ray Fosse was 3-3 with a walk.

SUN MAY 25 (1)

OAK_____4___11___1
CLE_____3___10___0

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The A's completed the doubleheader sweep by pounding the Indians 9-3. Vida Blue pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings. Claudell Washington was 5-6 with a homer and 3 RBI. Phil Garner was 3-5, and Billy Williams added a 3-run homer. The A's now host the Baltimore Orioles for a 3-game series.

SUN MAY 25 (2)

OAK_____9___14___0
CLE_____3___10___0

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Dick Bosman shut out the Orioles in his Oakland debut. Bert Campaneris' 2-out single scored pinch-runner Matt Alexander in the 7th with the game's only run. Mike Cuellar took the loss. Bosman allowed 8 hits, struck out 5 and walked 2. The Oakland defense turned 3 double plays behind him.

MON MAY 26

BAL_____0___8___0
OAK_____1___5___1

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Ken Holtzman won his 5th straight decision, as he shut out the Orioles 4-0. The crafty lefty allowed 5 hits and a walk. Sal Bando smacked a solo homer and Reggie Jackson was 3-4. Oakland starting pitchers have not allowed a run in their last 53 1/3 innings. The last run scored off an A's starter was Carlton Fisk's solo homer off Vida Blue in the 6th inning on May 21.

TUE MAY 27

BAL_____0___5___1
OAK_____4___9___0

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Catfish Hunter completed the 3-game whitewash of the Orioles, as the A's won their 5th straight game, 6-0. Hunter allowed 5 hits and walked 2. The Oakland ace is now 7-3 on the season with a 1.55 ERA. Joe Rudi went 2-3 with a homer and 2 RBI. Following an off-day on Thursday, the A's welcome Cleveland for a 3-game series.

WED MAY 28

BAL_____0___5___0
OAK_____6___8___0

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Make it 4 straight shutouts for the A's and 71 1/3 straight innings without a run allowed by a starting pitcher. Vida Blue outdueled Dennis Eckersley as the A's blanked the Indians 2-0. Blue allowed only 2 hits, while striking out 6 and walking 4. Both of the A's runs scored in the 4th inning, on sacrifice flies by Joe Rudi and Sal Bando.

FRI MAY 30

CLE_____0___2___0
OAK_____2___5___0

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Rick Manning's 2-run triple in the 4th gave the Indians the lead, as Cleveland topped the A's 3-2. Oscar Gamble's sacrifice fly with one out in the top of the 1st snapped the starting pitchers' scoreless streak at 72 innings. Dick Bosman allowed 3 runs in 8 innings and took the loss. The A's conclude the month of may with a successful 17-9 record. They are 27-19 overall.

SAT MAY 31

CLE_____3___7___0
OAK_____2___7___0

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League standings at the end of May:

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Rico Carty smacked a pair of 2-run homers and Gaylord Perry held the A's off the board late as Cleveland beat the A's 4-3. The A's welcome the Milwaukee Brewers for a three-game series starting Monday.

SUN JUN 1

CLE_____4___8___1
OAK_____3___9___0

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Milwaukee edged Oakland 6-5 as the A's dropped their 3rd straight. The Brewers chased Catfish Hunter in the 7th inning. Hunter dropped to 7-4 on the season. Gorman Thomas smacked a 3-run homer for the Brewers. Claudell Washington was 3-5 for the A's.

MON JUN 2

MIL_____6___8___0
OAK____5___12___0

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Vida Blue and Rollie Fingers combined to shut down the Brewers, as the A's won 3-1. Blue improves to 7-3 on the season, while Fingers earned his 7th save. Sal Bando was 2-3 with 2 RBI.

TUE JUN 3

MIL_____1___6___2
OAK____3___4___0

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Dick Bosman logged 6 scoreless innings as the A's defeated the Brewers 6-3. Claudell Washington was 3-3 with 2 stolen bases. Reggie Jackson was 2-3 with 2 RBI. The A's are off Thursday, then welcome Detroit for a 3-game series.

WED JUN 4

MIL_____3___7___0
OAK____6___10___0

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Ken Holtzman fired his 3rd shutout of the season, improving to 6-4, as the A's blanked Detroit 2-0. Holtzman allowed only 4 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 9. Claudell Washington accounted for both runs with his 1st inning 2-run homer, as part of a 3-for-4 day. Claudell is now hitting .345 on the season, 2nd in the American League behind Rod Carew's .366. He leads all of baseball in runs scored with 44.

FRI JUN 6

DET_____0___4___0
OAK_____2___8___0

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Reggie Jackson doubled home Billy North with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th as the A's won their 4th straight, 3-2 over Detroit. Detroit led 2-1 going into the bottom of the 10th, but Gene Tenace belted his second solo homer of the game to tie the score at 2-2. Mickey Lolich went the distance for the Tigers. Catfish Hunter pitched into the 10th inning before tiring. Rollie Fingers picked up the win in relief.

SAT JUN 7

DET_____2___8___0
OAK_____3___9___1

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The A's swept the Tigers for their 5th straight win behind 7 1/3 strong innings from Vida Blue. The young lefty improved his record to 8-3 for the season in the 7-2 victory. Gene Tenace and Billy Williams drove in 2 runs apiece and Sal Bando added a solo homer. Jim Perry pitched the final 1 2/3 innings and collected a save. The A's now take to the road for two-game sets in Baltimore and Milwaukee.

SUN JUN 8

DET_____2___6___2
OAK_____7___8___1

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Former Athletic Dave Duncan delivered the game-winning hit in the bottom of the 10th as he laced a bases-loaded single to left off Dave Hamilton. Tommy Davis had 3 hits and 3 RBI as the Orioles beat the A's 7-6.

MON JUN 9

OAK_____6___12___0
BAL_____7___14___0

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Joe Rudi was 4-6 with a triple and an RBI. Gene Tenace was 2-4 with a double and 2 RBI to pace the A's in a 6-3 win over the Orioles. Ken Holtzman went 8 innings for the win. Rollie Fingers allowed a run on 4 hits in the 9th and was replaced by Jim Perry, who earned his second save. The A's now head to Milwaukee for a 2-game series against the Brewers.

TUE JUN 10

OAK_____6___14___0
BAL_____3___14___0