Air-tight relief pitching by Rollie Fingers enabled the Brewers to prevail over the A's, 6-5, in a loosely played game. The veteran righthander preserved the victory by hurling hitless ball and striking out four batters in the final two frames. The Brewers trailed, 5-4, in the seventh but rallied on a single by Jim Gantner, run-scoring triple by Cecil Cooper and RBI infield out by Ben Oglivie. [The Sporting News]

Milwaukee Brewers 6, Oakland Athletics 5

Game Played on Saturday, May 16, 1981 (Night game) at County Stadium

A's 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 5 8 2 Brewers 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 x - 6 8 3 A's AB R H RBI BB SO AVG Brewers AB R H RBI BB SO AVG Henderson lf 3 2 0 0 2 1 .292 Gantner 2b 4 2 1 0 0 0 .283 Murphy cf 4 1 2 0 1 1 .264 Howell 3b 3 1 1 0 1 1 .260 Johnson dh 4 0 0 1 0 2 .256 Cooper 1b 4 1 2 2 0 0 .232 Armas rf 4 1 1 0 0 0 .311 Edwards pr,cf 0 1 0 0 0 0 .136 Heath c 4 1 1 0 0 0 .256 Thomas cf 2 0 0 0 2 0 .280 Newman 1b 3 0 2 1 0 0 .206 Bando 1b 0 0 0 0 0 0 .125 Revering ph,1b 1 0 0 0 0 0 .241 Oglivie lf 4 1 0 2 0 1 .244 Babitt 2b 3 0 1 1 0 1 .286 Simmons dh 4 0 0 0 0 0 .178 Gross ph,3b 1 0 0 0 0 0 .203 C. Moore c 4 0 2 1 0 0 .378 McKay 3b,2b 4 0 1 0 0 1 .233 Brouhard rf 4 0 2 1 0 0 .270 Picciolo ss 2 0 0 0 1 0 .254 Romero ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 .158 Patterson ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .348 Lerch p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Kingman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Cleveland p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Owchinko p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Fingers p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Totals 34 5 8 3 4 7 Totals 33 6 8 6 3 3 Time of Game: 3:16 Attendance: 33,937 Left on Base: A's 7, Brewers 6 DP: A's 0, Brewers 0 Errors: Babitt, Kingman, Cooper, Oglivie, C. Moore Doubles: Cooper (6) Triples: Cooper (1) Stolen Bases: Henderson 2 (23), Murphy (7), Armas (2) Caught Stealing: Henderson (8), C. Moore (2) Sacrifice Flies: Johnson (2) A's IP H R ER BB SO HR BFP ERA Kingman 6 7 5 1 2 2 0 28 2.06 Owchinko L(1-1) 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 8 1.46 Totals 8 8 6 2 3 3 0 36 Brewers IP H R ER BB SO HR BFP ERA Lerch 1.2 5 5 1 2 1 0 13 4.68 Cleveland W(2-0) 5.1 3 0 0 1 2 0 19 4.95 Fingers SV(6) 2 0 0 0 1 4 0 7 1.11 Totals 9 8 5 1 4 7 0 39 Wild Pitches: Kingman (1) Umpires: HP - Terry Cooney, 1B - John Shulock, 2B - Dallas Parks, 3B - Bill Kunkel ATHLETICS 1ST: Henderson walked; Henderson stole second; Murphy struck out; Johnson flied out to left; Armas reached on an error by Oglivie [Henderson scored (unearned) (no RBI)]; Heath singled to left [Armas to second]; Newman singled to right [Armas scored (unearned), Heath to third]; Babitt singled to right [Heath scored (unearned), Newman to third]; McKay flied out to left; 3 R (0 ER), 3 H, 1 E, 2 LOB. Athletics 3, Brewers 0. BREWERS 1ST: Gantner reached on an error by Babitt; Howell singled to center [Gantner to second]; Cooper doubled to right [Gantner scored (unearned), Howell to third]; Thomas made an out to shortstop; Oglivie reached on an error by Kingman (assist by Newman) [Howell scored (unearned) (RBI), Cooper to third]; Simmons made an out to third; C. Moore singled to center [Cooper scored (unearned), Oglivie to second]; Brouhard singled to right [Oglivie scored (unearned), C. Moore to third]; Romero struck out; 4 R (0 ER), 4 H, 2 E, 2 LOB. Athletics 3, Brewers 4. ATHLETICS 2ND: Picciolo grounded out (pitcher to first); Henderson walked; Murphy singled to right [Henderson to third]; Johnson hit a sacrifice fly to left [Henderson scored]; Armas singled to third [Murphy to second]; CLEVELAND REPLACED LERCH (PITCHING); Murphy stole third and Armas stole second [Murphy scored (error by C. Moore) (unearned), Armas to third]; Heath grounded out (third to first); 2 R (1 ER), 2 H, 1 E, 1 LOB. Athletics 5, Brewers 4. BREWERS 2ND: Gantner flied out to left; Howell walked; Cooper forced Howell (shortstop to second); Thomas walked [Cooper to second]; Kingman threw a wild pitch [Cooper to third, Thomas to second]; Oglivie struck out; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 2 LOB. Athletics 5, Brewers 4. ATHLETICS 3RD: Newman singled to left; Babitt struck out; McKay singled to right [Newman to second]; Picciolo forced McKay (second to shortstop) [Newman to third]; Henderson lined to second; 0 R, 2 H, 0 E, 2 LOB. Athletics 5, Brewers 4. BREWERS 3RD: Simmons grounded out (first unassisted); C. Moore popped to catcher in foul territory; Brouhard singled to left; Romero flied out to left; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Athletics 5, Brewers 4. ATHLETICS 4TH: Murphy singled to right [Murphy to second (error by Cooper)]; Johnson flied out to left; Armas flied out to center; Heath flied out to left; 0 R, 1 H, 1 E, 1 LOB. Athletics 5, Brewers 4. BREWERS 4TH: Gantner flied out to left; Howell flied out to right; Cooper grounded out (third to first); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Athletics 5, Brewers 4. ATHLETICS 5TH: Newman grounded out (shortstop to first); Babitt grounded out (pitcher to first); McKay grounded out (third to first); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Athletics 5, Brewers 4. BREWERS 5TH: Thomas grounded out (third to first); Oglivie flied out to center; Simmons grounded out (shortstop to first); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Athletics 5, Brewers 4. ATHLETICS 6TH: Picciolo walked; Henderson forced Picciolo (shortstop to second); Henderson stole second; Henderson was caught stealing third (catcher to third); Murphy grounded out (first unassisted); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Athletics 5, Brewers 4. BREWERS 6TH: C. Moore singled to pitcher; C. Moore was caught stealing second (catcher to shortstop); Brouhard flied out to center; Romero made an out to shortstop; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Athletics 5, Brewers 4. ATHLETICS 7TH: Johnson struck out; Armas grounded out (third to first); Heath flied out to left; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Athletics 5, Brewers 4. BREWERS 7TH: Gantner singled to center; OWCHINKO REPLACED KINGMAN (PITCHING); Howell was called out on strikes; Cooper tripled to right [Gantner scored]; EDWARDS RAN FOR COOPER; Thomas was walked intentionally; Oglivie forced Thomas (second to shortstop) [Edwards scored]; Simmons flied out to right; 2 R, 2 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Athletics 5, Brewers 6. ATHLETICS 8TH: EDWARDS STAYED IN GAME (PLAYING CF); BANDO REPLACED THOMAS (PLAYING 1B); FINGERS REPLACED CLEVELAND (PITCHING); REVERING BATTED FOR NEWMAN; Revering flied out to right; GROSS BATTED FOR BABITT; Gross popped to first in foul territory; McKay struck out; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Athletics 5, Brewers 6. BREWERS 8TH: REVERING STAYED IN GAME (PLAYING 1B); GROSS STAYED IN GAME (PLAYING 3B); MCKAY CHANGED POSITIONS (PLAYING 2B); C. Moore made an out to first; Brouhard grounded out (shortstop to first); Romero made an out to second; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Athletics 5, Brewers 6. ATHLETICS 9TH: PATTERSON BATTED FOR PICCIOLO; Patterson struck out; Henderson struck out; Murphy walked; Johnson was called out on strikes; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Athletics 5, Brewers 6.

The information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet.
Interested parties may contact Retrosheet at "www.retrosheet.org".