Phil Niekro Knuckles His Way to SPB4 Win #300!!!
 
After the Legends' bullpen let a lead slip away in Wright Patt, East Kenosha pitcher Phil Niekro took win #300 into his own hands until 2 outs in the 9th.  The Legends hitters muscled up for 9 runs, and the ancient knuckleballer was running on empty when manager Dave Lauer allowed his ace to take a slow walk to the dugout as the East Kenosha faithful game him a standing ovation.
 
Niekro thus becomes the first SPB4 pitcher to reach the 300-win mark.  He's sure to be joined by Tom Seaver and Don Sutton before they are through, but September 13, 1985 was Phil Niekro's night for glory.  Senor Smoke, Aurelio Lopez, got the last out by getting King Kong Kingman to pop out to Steve Lake on the first pitch to seal the historic win.
 
 
9/13/1985, CED85-EKL85, Riverfront Stadium
 
                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP
1985 Hired Guns        0  0  0  0  0  2  0  0  2     4 10  2     9  0
1985 Legends           4  0  3  0  0  2  0  0  x     9 11  1     6  3
 
Hired Guns           AB  R  H BI   AVG    Legends              AB  R  H BI   AVG
Harper T          lf  4  0  1  0  .300    Brookens          3b  4  1  2  0  .239
Teufel            2b  5  1  1  1  .269    Salas             c   4  1  1  0  .283
Nixon             cf  3  1  0  0  .198     Lake             c   0  0  0  0  .194
 Little           ph  1  0  1  1  .331    Ward              lf  5  3  2  0  .300
Kingman           1b  4  0  0  0  .206    Winfield          rf  4  1  2  4  .273
Dwyer             rf  3  1  2  0  .139    Lemon             cf  4  2  2  4  .300
Wynegar           c   4  0  2  0  .260    Garvey            1b  4  1  1  1  .265
Garner            3b  4  0  1  1  .240    Russell B         ss  3  0  1  0  .319
Griffin A         ss  3  0  1  1  .236     Owen S           ss  0  0  0  0  .292
 Staub            ph  1  1  1  0  .205    Whitaker          2b  4  0  0  0  .268
Mason M           p   1  0  0  0  .237    Niekro P          p   4  0  0  0  .171
 Willis           p   0  0  0  0  .000     Lopez            p   0  0  0  0  .000
 Knight           ph  1  0  0  0  .201                         36  9 11  9
 Tanner           p   0  0  0  0  .143
 Paciorek         ph  1  0  0  0  .238
                     35  4 10  4
 
Hired Guns                       INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Mason M          L 3-9           2.1  6  7  7  2  4  52  29  4.37
Willis                           2.2  2  0  0  1  1  44  29  5.09
Tanner                           3.0  3  2  0  0  1  34  23  3.31
                                 8.0 11  9  7  3  6 130  81
 
Legends                          INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Niekro P         W 19-8          8.2 10  4  4  5  5 129  78  2.83
Lopez                            0.1  0  0  0  0  0   1   1  2.40
                                 9.0 10  4  4  5  5 130  79
 
CED: Knight batted for Willis in the 6th
     Staub batted for Griffin A in the 9th
     Paciorek batted for Tanner in the 9th
     Little batted for Nixon in the 9th
EKL: Owen S inserted at ss in the 8th
     Lake inserted at c in the 9th
 
E-Teufel, Tanner, Garvey. 2B-Teufel(12), Staub(4), Ward(22), Winfield 2(26).
3B-Little(3). HR-Lemon 2(16), Garvey(10). RBI-Teufel(36), Garner(35),
Griffin A(34), Little(30), Winfield 4(84), Lemon 4(72), Garvey(76).
K-Harper T, Nixon 2, Wynegar, Garner, Ward, Winfield, Russell B, Whitaker 2,
Niekro P. BB-Harper T, Nixon, Kingman, Dwyer, Willis, Brookens, Salas,
Russell B.
GWRBI: Winfield
Temperature: 60, Sky: clear, Wind: in from right at 7 MPH.