Rival Help and Resurgent Kison Clinches Title for Sox

American League:
Detroit 1 at Boston 9
-A resurgent Bruce Kison (17-11, 3.69) pitches a gem and takes the pressure off a tired Red Sox bullpen in the process by going seven strong in the victory. The Sox blow it open late with five in the 8^th capped emphatically by a grand slam by Jim  Rice-  his 49^th home run of the season. The Sox clinch a tie for 1^st with the Orioles
Baltimore 0 at New York 5
-Tom Underwood (14-12, 3.77) with a three hit shutout as the Yankees help out the arch-rival Red Sox by eliminating the Orioles . The Yankees were only up 2-0 in the 8^th, leaving twelve men on base, but  five walks issued by Dyar Miller & Grant Jackson allowed them to put the game away
Cleveland 2 at Milwaukee 5
-Cecil Cooper (.267) drives in three runs as the Brewers win despite two solo home runs by Oscar Gamble (43HR). Gamble -  a pending free agent - hit fifteen home runs in September
Oakland 4 at Minnesota 1
-Cliff Johnson (25) and Willie Horton (15) homer and Tommy Sandt (.263) had three hits for the A’s
California 2 at Kansas City 3
-Another pitcher enters the 20 win club in the AL as  Dennis Leonard (20-9, 2.87)  joins teammate Paul Splittorff and the Angels Frank Tanana who had won his 20^th in last night’s opner. George Brett went 2-for-5 to raise his batting average to .352. Ken Singleton leads the AL with a .357 mark.
Chicago 4 at Texas 5
-Jerry Koosman fails in his bid to win 20 games on a last place team. Darrell Porter’s 12^th home run of the season was a walk-off blast off Stan Bahnsen (5-6, 5.19) in the bottom of the 9th

AL East: The defending World Series champion Red Sox hold off the Orioles to repeat as AL East champs
AL West:  The Royals have clinched the division crown and will have home-field advantage in the ALCS

National League
St. Louis 4 at Chicago 1
-Lou Brock goes 0-for-5, lowering his average to a league leading .339. Several players – including teammate Bake McBride (.333) – have a chance to beat him out for the title tomorrow.
New York 9 at Montreal 6
-Dave Kingman reaches the 30 home run plateau in consecutive seasons and Rick Baldwin (3-4, 4.29) pitches 2.2 innings of excellent relief for the win\
Pittsburgh 9 at Philadelphia 3
-Dave Parker goes 2-for-4 to raise his average to .337; .002 behind NL leader Lou Brock
Atlanta 3 at Houston 1
-Dick Ruthven (12-15, 3.79) fans ten in the complete game win in Houston.
Los Angeles 2 at San Diego 8
-Steve Garvey (.324) and Mike Hargrove (.295) had three hits each and rookie Rick Sawyer (2-3, 3.96) went the distance as the Padres down the Dodgers
Cincinnati 1 at San Francisco 4
-Pete Rose went 2-for-3 with his 8^th home run and more importantly raised his average to .336 - .003 behind Lou Brock – but that was the only highlight in the Reds loss.

NL East: The Pirates have won the division for the second straight season
NL West: The Astros have won the West and will have home-field versus the Pirates

 Boston 9, Detroit 1

10/2/1976, DET76-BOS76, Fenway Park
 
                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP
1976 Detroit           0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0     1  7  3    10  0
1976 Boston            0  1  0  2  0  1  0  5  x     9 11  0    10  0
 
Detroit              AB  R  H BI   AVG    Boston               AB  R  H BI   AVG
Collins           cf  5  0  2  0  .327    Remy              2b  4  0  1  1  .314
Knox              2b  5  0  1  0  .309    Burleson          ss  4  1  0  0  .269
Wockenfuss        rf  4  0  2  0  .296    Rice              lf  5  1  2  4  .337
 Bare             p   0  0  0  0  .059    Watson            1b  5  2  4  1  .300
 Monge            p   0  0  0  0  .000    Yastrzemski       cf  4  0  0  0  .279
Madlock           1b  4  0  0  0  .322     Cleveland        p   1  0  1  0  .148
Meyer             3b  0  1  0  0  .272    Evans             rf  4  2  1  1  .233
Johnson           lf  4  0  1  0  .258    Dillard           3b  3  1  0  0  .279
Humphrey          c   4  0  1  1  .260    Rader             c   3  1  1  2  .283
Scrivener         ss  2  0  0  0  .232    Kison             p   3  0  0  0  .163
 Hebner           ph  1  0  0  0  .252     Miller,R         cf  1  1  1  0  .254
 DeJesus          ss  1  0  0  0  .172                         37  9 11  9
Crawford          p   2  0  0  0  .188
 Freehan          ph  1  0  0  0  .283
 Abbott           p   0  0  0  0  .167
 Herndon          cf  1  0  0  0  .258
                     34  1  7  1
 
Detroit                          INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Crawford         L 4-8           5.0  4  3  2  3  3  94  55  3.85
Abbott                           1.1  2  1  1  1  1  23  12  5.02
Bare                             1.1  5  5  1  1  1  46  25  3.73
Monge                            0.1  0  0  0  1  1  10   5  4.53
                                 8.0 11  9  4  6  6 173  97 
 
Boston                           INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Kison            W 17-11         7.0  7  1  1  3  8 113  69  3.69
Cleveland        S 1             2.0  0  0  0  1  1  25  14  2.50
                                 9.0  7  1  1  4  9 138  83 
 
DET: Hebner batted for Scrivener in the 6th
     Freehan batted for Crawford in the 6th
     DeJesus inserted at ss in the 6th
     Collins moved to lf in the 7th
     Johnson moved to rf in the 7th
     Herndon inserted at cf in the 7th
BOS: Miller,R inserted at cf in the 8th
 
E-Madlock, Johnson, Scrivener. 2B-Miller,R. HR-Rice(49), Watson(26), 
Evans(21). SB-Meyer(8). CS-Remy. K-Knox 2, Wockenfuss, Johnson 2, Humphrey, 
Crawford, Hebner, DeJesus, Remy, Burleson, Watson, Evans, Dillard, Kison. 
BB-Meyer 4, Remy, Burleson, Evans, Dillard 2, Rader. PB-Humphrey. 
BALK-Abbott. 
GWRBI: Watson