25th ANNIVERSARY: Game 6 Recap

1985 World Series

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Kansas City Royals

Game 6 – October 26, 1985

Location: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Mo.

Attendance: 41,628

Recap: This game is remembered for “The Call,” an infamous blown call by umpire Don Denkinger in the ninth. But few fans now remember another blown call that went the Cardinals’ way: in the fourth inning, Royals second baseman Frank White was called out attempting to steal second base, even though replays showed he beat the tag (the next batter hit a single, meaning White may have scored if the call had been correct). The Cardinals scored the first run of the game in the eighth, and with a 1-0 lead the Cardinals progressed to the bottom of the ninth with the championship hanging in the balance. Kansas City manager Dick Howser sent pinch hitter Jorge Orta to the plate to lead off the inning against Todd Worrell. Orta hit a squibbler down the first base line to Jack Clark, and Clark flipped the ball to Worrell covering first. Worrell beat Orta to the bag by a step, but umpire Denkinger called Orta safe. The next batter, Steve Balboni, hit a routine pop-up in foul territory, but the catch was bungled by Clark and catcher Darrell Porter. Balboni then hit a single, advancing Orta to first. When Jim Sundberg tried to bunt the runners over, a quick-thinking Worrell threw to third and got the lead runner (Orta), leaving a runner on first and second with one out. But Porter allowed a passed ball, and the runners advance. Pinch hitter Hal McRae was walked to set up the double play. With the bases loaded, pinch hitter Dane Iorg hit a single to right. Onix Concepcion, running for Balboni, scored, and Sunberg slid around Porter’s tag for the winning run.

Line Score:

TEAM R H E

St. Louis 1 5 0

Kansas City 2 10 0

Winning pitcher: Dan Quisenberry

Losing pitcher: Todd Worrell

Notables: The Royals piled on 10 hits in the game, despite scoring only two runs; pinch hitter Brian Harper knocked in the only run for the Cardinals; The Cardinals’ Danny Cox and Kansas City’s Charlie Leibrandt started the game, and both pitched extremely well: Cox gave up no earned runs and struck out eight in seven innings, while Leibrandt gave up a single run in 7.2 innings; according to reports, a bad coincidence added insult to injury for the Cardinals: in preparation of their pending victory, the team’s locker room was filled with champagne on ice – and the champagne was waiting for them when the Cardinals walked into the locker room after the loss.

Tomorrow: A recap of Game 7.

Matt Kelsey is a Royals writer and the content editor for I-70 Baseball. He can be reached at mattkelsey@i70baseball.com.