Messersmith Loses Control, Temper in loss to Braves

Atlanta, GA -  Dodgers 20+ game winner Andy Messersmith was the story of this game, but he may not want to show his face for a while after today's performance, so we picture Atlanta's victorius John Montefusco instead. Messersmith exploded on the home plate umpire after issuing his 5th walk of the game to lead off the bottom of the 3rd. Maligned Doug Rau filled in admirably in relief but the damage was already done as the Braves led 5-1 and prevailed 5-2. Darrell Evans ripped a three-run home run in the bottom of the 2nd to administer much of the damage that Messersmith didn't do to himself.





Atlanta 5, Los Angeles 2

4/5/1976, LAD76-ATL76, Fulton County Stadium
 
                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP
1976 Los Angeles       0  1  0  0  0  0  0  1  0     2  7  0     7  0
1976 Atlanta           0  5  0  0  0  0  0  0  x     5  6  1     7  0
 
Los Angeles          AB  R  H BI   AVG    Atlanta              AB  R  H BI   AVG
Garner            2b  4  0  0  0  .000    Perez             2b  4  1  2  1  .500
Buckner           1b  4  0  0  0  .000    Montanez          1b  2  1  0  0  .000
Dempsey           c   4  0  1  0  .250    Evans             3b  3  1  1  3  .333
Cey               3b  4  1  1  1  .250    Burroughs         rf  3  0  0  0  .000
Monday            cf  4  1  1  0  .250     Beard            p   0  0  0  0  .000
Baker             lf  4  0  2  1  .500    May               cf  3  0  0  0  .000
Lyttle            rf  3  0  0  0  .000     Office           cf  0  0  0  0  .000
 Lacy             ph  1  0  0  0  .000    Pocoroba          c   3  1  0  0  .000
Russell           ss  3  0  2  0  .667    Spikes            lf  3  0  1  0  .333
Messersmith       p   1  0  0  0  .000    Chaney            ss  4  1  1  0  .250
 Rau              p   1  0  0  0  .000    Montefusco        p   3  0  1  1  .333
 Wynn             ph  1  0  0  0  .000     Gaston           rf  1  0  0  0  .000
 Downing          p   0  0  0  0  .000                         29  5  6  5
 Yeager           ph  1  0  0  0  .000
                     35  2  7  2
 
Los Angeles                      INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Messersmith      L 0-1           2.0  4  5  5  5  1  62  30 22.50
Rau                              4.0  0  0  0  1  1  40  27  0.00
Downing                          2.0  2  0  0  1  2  44  26  0.00
                                 8.0  6  5  5  7  4 146  83 
 
Atlanta                          INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Montefusco       W 1-0           7.2  6  2  2  1  9 113  76  2.35
Beard            S 1             1.1  1  0  0  0  0  21  14  0.00
                                 9.0  7  2  2  1  9 134  90 
 
LAD: Wynn batted for Rau in the 7th
     Lacy batted for Lyttle in the 9th
     Yeager batted for Downing in the 9th
ATL: Office inserted at cf in the 8th
     Gaston inserted at rf in the 8th
 
E-Chaney. 2B-Monday, Baker, Montefusco. HR-Cey(1), Evans(1). SB-Russell(1), 
Spikes(1). K-Garner, Dempsey, Cey 2, Monday 2, Lyttle, Messersmith, Wynn, 
May, Chaney, Montefusco, Gaston. BB-Russell, Montanez 2, Evans, Burroughs, 
May, Pocoroba, Spikes. WP-Messersmith. 
GWRBI: Perez
Andy Messersmith was ejected from this game