Reliever Lerrin LaGrow's first pitch in the seventh inning and his first pitch in the ninth both wound up in homers that carried the A's to a 4-3 victory over the White Sox. Ken Kravec, who started for the White Sox, had a 3-0 lead before being removed in favor of LaGrow in the seventh after walking Wayne Gross and Dwayne Murphy.

Jeff Newman then came up as a pinch-hitter and tagged LaGrow's first pitch for a game-tying homer. Gross led off the ninth and ended the game with a homer on the first pitch served up by LaGrow to start the inning. [The Sporting News]



Oakland Athletics 4, Chicago White Sox 3
Game Played on Saturday, May       20, 1978 (Day game) at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
White Sox    0  0  0    2  0  0    1  0  0  -   3  5  0
A's          0  0  0    0  0  0    3  0  1  -   4  6  0


White Sox            AB   R   H RBI    BB  SO    AVG      A's                  AB   R   H RBI    BB  SO    AVG
Garr lf               3   1   1   0     1   1   .261      Burke cf              3   0   0   0     0   0   .259
Kessinger ss          4   1   1   0     0   0   .284      Staggs 2b             3   0   1   0     1   0   .348
Orta 2b               4   0   1   1     0   0   .262      Page lf               3   0   1   0     1   0   .263
Blomberg dh           3   0   0   0     0   0   .175      Guerrero ss           3   0   0   0     0   0   .292
Lamar Johnson 1b      2   1   1   1     0   0   .250      Revering 1b           4   0   1   0     0   1   .276
Molinaro rf           3   0   0   0     0   0   .370        Edwards pr          0   0   0   0     0   0   .231
Cruz cf               3   0   1   1     0   0   .211        Picciolo 3b         0   0   0   0     0   0   .000
Soderholm 3b          3   0   0   0     0   0   .222      Alexander dh          4   0   0   0     0   2   .238
Nahorodny c           3   0   0   0     0   2   .265      Gross 3b,1b           2   2   1   1     2   1   .240
Kravec p              0   0   0   0     0   0   .000      Essian c              2   0   0   0     1   0   .218
  LaGrow p            0   0   0   0     0   0   .000        Murphy pr,rf        0   1   0   0     0   0   .115
                                                          Dilone rf             2   0   1   0     0   0   .210
                                                            Newman ph,c         1   1   1   3     0   0   .353
                                                          Wirth p               0   0   0   0     0   0   .000
                                                            Langford p          0   0   0   0     0   0   .000

Totals               28   3   5   3     1   3             Totals               27   4   6   4     5   4

Time of Game: 2:02   Attendance:  4,177
Left on Base: White Sox 2, A's 6
DP: White Sox 0, A's 1
Triples: Cruz (1)
Home Runs: Newman (2), Gross (4)
Stolen Bases: Dilone (13)
Caught Stealing: Lamar Johnson (1), Edwards (5)
Sacrifice Hits: Blomberg (1), Burke (1), Guerrero (7)
Sacrifice Flies: Lamar Johnson (1)
GIDP: Kessinger (2)
Hit by Pitch: Lamar Johnson (1,by Wirth)


White Sox              IP     H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR BFP    ERA
Kravec                  6     3   2   2   5   3   0  26   5.53
LaGrow L(1-1)           2     3   2   2   0   1   2   8   4.05
Totals                  8     6   4   4   5   4   2  34

A's                    IP     H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR BFP    ERA
Wirth                   6.2   5   3   3   1   2   0  25   3.69
Langford W(1-2)         2.1   0   0   0   0   1   0   7   2.80
Totals                  9     5   3   3   1   3   0  32

Hit by Pitch: Wirth (2)

Umpires: HP - George Maloney, 1B - Jim McKean, 2B - Greg Kosc, 3B - Jerry Neudecker


WHITE SOX 1ST: Garr singled to center; Kessinger grounded into a
double play (shortstop to second to first) [Garr out at second];
Orta grounded out (first unassisted); 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.
White Sox 0, Athletics 0.

ATHLETICS 1ST: Burke flied out to left; Staggs flied out to
right; Page walked; Guerrero popped to first in foul territory;
0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  White Sox 0, Athletics 0.

WHITE SOX 2ND: Blomberg grounded out (second to first); Lamar
Johnson singled to left; Molinaro popped to second; Lamar
Johnson was caught stealing second (catcher to shortstop); 0 R,
1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  White Sox 0, Athletics 0.

ATHLETICS 2ND: Revering flied out to center; Alexander struck
out; Gross walked; Essian forced Gross (third to second); 0 R, 0
H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  White Sox 0, Athletics 0.

WHITE SOX 3RD: Cruz flied out to right; Soderholm grounded out
(pitcher to first); Nahorodny struck out; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.
White Sox 0, Athletics 0.

ATHLETICS 3RD: Dilone singled to left; Dilone stole second;
Burke out on a sacrifice bunt (pitcher to first) [Dilone to
third]; Staggs walked; Page reached on a fielder's choice
[Dilone out at home (pitcher to catcher to third), Staggs to
second]; Guerrero flied out to right; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 2 LOB.
White Sox 0, Athletics 0.

WHITE SOX 4TH: Garr walked; Kessinger singled to right [Garr to
third]; Orta singled to right [Garr scored, Kessinger to
second]; Blomberg out on a sacrifice bunt (pitcher to first)
[Kessinger to third, Orta to second]; Lamar Johnson hit a
sacrifice fly to left [Kessinger scored]; Molinaro made an out
to third; 2 R, 2 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  White Sox 2, Athletics 0.

ATHLETICS 4TH: Revering grounded out (pitcher to first);
Alexander popped to first; Gross was called out on strikes; 0 R,
0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  White Sox 2, Athletics 0.

WHITE SOX 5TH: Cruz flied out to center; Soderholm flied out to
right; Nahorodny flied out to right; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.
White Sox 2, Athletics 0.

ATHLETICS 5TH: Essian flied out to center; Dilone popped to
first; Burke grounded out (shortstop to first); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0
LOB.  White Sox 2, Athletics 0.

WHITE SOX 6TH: Garr struck out; Kessinger popped to first in
foul territory; Orta popped to third in foul territory; 0 R, 0
H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  White Sox 2, Athletics 0.

ATHLETICS 6TH: Staggs singled to left; Page singled to left
[Staggs to second]; Guerrero out on a sacrifice bunt (third to
second) [Staggs to third, Page to second]; Revering was called
out on strikes; Alexander made an out to shortstop; 0 R, 2 H, 0
E, 2 LOB.  White Sox 2, Athletics 0.

WHITE SOX 7TH: Blomberg made an out to second; Lamar Johnson was
hit by a pitch; Molinaro popped to third in foul territory; Cruz
tripled to center [Lamar Johnson scored]; LANGFORD REPLACED
WIRTH (PITCHING); Soderholm flied out to center; 1 R, 1 H, 0 E,
1 LOB.  White Sox 3, Athletics 0.

ATHLETICS 7TH: Gross walked; Essian walked [Gross to second];
LAGROW REPLACED KRAVEC (PITCHING); MURPHY RAN FOR ESSIAN; NEWMAN
BATTED FOR DILONE; Newman homered [Gross scored, Murphy scored];
Burke lined to shortstop; Staggs flied out to center; Page flied
out to left; 3 R, 1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  White Sox 3, Athletics 3.

WHITE SOX 8TH: MURPHY STAYED IN GAME (PLAYING RF); NEWMAN STAYED
IN GAME (PLAYING C ); Nahorodny struck out; Garr grounded out
(second to first); Kessinger flied out to center; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E,
0 LOB.  White Sox 3, Athletics 3.

ATHLETICS 8TH: Guerrero grounded out (shortstop to first);
Revering singled to right; EDWARDS RAN FOR REVERING; Edwards was
caught stealing second (catcher to second); Alexander struck
out; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  White Sox 3, Athletics 3.

WHITE SOX 9TH: PICCIOLO REPLACED EDWARDS (PLAYING 3B); GROSS
CHANGED POSITIONS (PLAYING 1B); Orta flied out to right;
Blomberg lined to second; Lamar Johnson made an out to third; 0
R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  White Sox 3, Athletics 3.

ATHLETICS 9TH: Gross homered; 1 R, 1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.  White Sox
3, Athletics 4.