A homer by Carney Lansford with two men on base in the eighth inning lifted the Angels to a 4-3 victory and carried them within 3½ games of the pace-setting Royals in the West division. A two-run homer by Frank White paced the Royals to a 3-1 lead before Bobby Grich drew a pass from Marty Pattin to open the Angels' eighth. Al Hrabosky took over in relief and walked Rick Miller with one out. Lansford then hit his homer.

In anger, Hrabosky threw two pitches over the head of Lyman Bostock, who was the next batter. Bostock charged the mound, setting off a melee that brought both teams on the field. After order was restored, Bostock and Hrabosky exchanged words and went after each other again. Both players were ejected from the game. LaRoche, who pitched the last 1 1/3 innings for the Angels, set a California club record with his 23rd save of the season. [The Sporting News]

California Angels 4, Kansas City Royals 3

Game Played on Saturday, September 16, 1978 (Night game) at Royals Stadium

Angels 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 - 4 5 1 Royals 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 3 12 0 Angels AB R H RBI BB SO AVG Royals AB R H RBI BB SO AVG R. Miller cf 4 1 0 0 1 3 .265 Braun lf 3 0 2 0 1 0 .269 Lansford 3b 4 2 2 3 0 0 .285 Wilson pr,lf 0 1 0 0 0 0 .217 Bostock rf 3 0 1 0 0 0 .295 Zdeb ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .254 Landreaux ph,rf 0 0 0 0 1 0 .222 Brett 3b 4 0 1 0 1 0 .278 Baylor dh 3 0 0 1 0 0 .259 Otis cf 5 0 3 1 0 0 .297 Rudi lf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .249 Porter c 5 0 2 0 0 0 .278 Jackson 1b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .294 LaCock 1b 3 0 0 0 0 0 .301 Downing c 3 0 1 0 1 0 .261 Wathan ph,1b 1 0 0 0 0 1 .321 Grich 2b 3 1 1 0 1 0 .234 McRae dh 4 0 2 0 0 0 .271 Chalk ss 2 0 0 0 0 1 .257 Cowens rf 4 1 0 0 0 0 .277 Goodwin ph 0 0 0 0 0 0 .278 Patek ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 .260 Rettenmund ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .267 Quirk ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 .208 Anderson ss 0 0 0 0 1 0 .214 Washington pr,ss 0 0 0 0 0 0 .270 Hartzell p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 White 2b 3 1 1 2 0 0 .274 Frost p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Hurdle ph 0 0 0 0 0 0 .263 Brett p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Cripe ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .333 D. Miller p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Terrell 2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 .198 LaRoche p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Pattin p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Hrabosky p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 McGilberry p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Totals 31 4 5 4 5 4 Totals 38 3 12 3 2 3 Time of Game: 3:16 Attendance: 40,237 Left on Base: Angels 6, Royals 10 DP: Angels 0, Royals 0 Errors: Lansford Doubles: Downing (14), Quirk (2) Home Runs: Lansford (6), White (5) Stolen Bases: Bostock (15), Landreaux (7), Wilson (40), Otis (30) Caught Stealing: Brett (6) Sacrifice Flies: Baylor (9) Angels IP H R ER BB SO HR BFP ERA Hartzell 2.2 8 2 2 0 0 1 15 3.45 Frost 3.2 2 1 1 2 0 0 15 2.89 Brett 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4.92 D. Miller W(6-1) 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 4 2.30 LaRoche SV(23) 1.1 1 0 0 0 2 0 5 2.79 Totals 9 12 3 3 2 3 1 40 Royals IP H R ER BB SO HR BFP ERA Pattin 7 3 2 2 2 3 0 26 3.63 Hrabosky L(8-7) 0.1 1 2 2 2 0 1 4 3.10 McGilberry 1.2 1 0 0 1 1 0 7 3.10 Totals 9 5 4 4 5 4 1 37 Umpires: HP - Marty Springstead, 1B - Rich Garcia, 2B - Jim Evans, 3B - Durwood Merrill ANGELS 1ST: R. Miller struck out; Lansford singled to shortstop; Bostock singled to left [Lansford to third]; Bostock stole second; Baylor hit a sacrifice fly to right [Lansford scored, Bostock to third]; Rudi flied out to right; 1 R, 2 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Angels 1, Royals 0. ROYALS 1ST: Braun singled to left; Brett was credited with a single when a runner was hit by the batted ball to first [Braun out at second (first unassisted)]; Brett was caught stealing second (catcher to second); Otis reached on an error by Lansford; Porter singled to center [Otis to third]; LaCock forced Porter (pitcher to shortstop to second); 0 R, 3 H, 1 E, 2 LOB. Angels 1, Royals 0. ANGELS 2ND: Jackson flied out to left; Downing walked; Grich singled to right [Downing to second]; Chalk struck out; R. Miller struck out; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 2 LOB. Angels 1, Royals 0. ROYALS 2ND: McRae singled to shortstop; Cowens forced McRae (shortstop to second); Patek flied out to right; White homered [Cowens scored]; Braun singled to third; Brett flied out to left; 2 R, 3 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Angels 1, Royals 2. ANGELS 3RD: Lansford popped to catcher in foul territory; Bostock grounded out (second to first); Baylor lined to center; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Angels 1, Royals 2. ROYALS 3RD: Otis flied out to center; Porter singled to right; LaCock popped to third in foul territory; McRae singled to center [Porter to second]; FROST REPLACED HARTZELL (PITCHING); Cowens lined to left; 0 R, 2 H, 0 E, 2 LOB. Angels 1, Royals 2. ANGELS 4TH: Rudi flied out to center; Jackson grounded out (shortstop to first); Downing popped to second in foul territory; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Angels 1, Royals 2. ROYALS 4TH: Patek flied out to center; White grounded out (first unassisted); Braun flied out to center; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Angels 1, Royals 2. ANGELS 5TH: Grich flied out to center; Chalk flied out to left; R. Miller grounded out (first to pitcher); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Angels 1, Royals 2. ROYALS 5TH: Brett lined to second; Otis singled to center; Porter flied out to right; LaCock flied out to right; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Angels 1, Royals 2. ANGELS 6TH: Lansford flied out to left; Bostock grounded out (first unassisted); Baylor flied out to left; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Angels 1, Royals 2. ROYALS 6TH: McRae grounded out (shortstop to first); Cowens grounded out (third to first); Patek flied out to center; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Angels 1, Royals 2. ANGELS 7TH: Rudi popped to first in foul territory; Jackson lined to right; Downing grounded out (shortstop to first); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Angels 1, Royals 2. ROYALS 7TH: White grounded out (third to first); Braun walked; WILSON RAN FOR BRAUN; Wilson stole second; Brett was walked intentionally; Otis singled to left [Wilson scored, Brett to third]; BRETT REPLACED FROST (PITCHING); Porter popped to second; D. MILLER REPLACED BRETT (PITCHING); WATHAN BATTED FOR LACOCK; Otis stole second; Wathan struck out; 1 R, 1 H, 0 E, 2 LOB. Angels 1, Royals 3. ANGELS 8TH: WILSON STAYED IN GAME (PLAYING LF); WATHAN STAYED IN GAME (PLAYING 1B); Grich walked; GOODWIN BATTED FOR CHALK; HRABOSKY REPLACED PATTIN (PITCHING); RETTENMUND BATTED FOR GOODWIN; Rettenmund flied out to left; R. Miller walked [Grich to second]; Lansford homered [Grich scored, R. Miller scored]; Al Hrabosky threw two pitches over the head of Lyman Bostock, who charged the mound; both benches cleared; after order was restored, the two players exchanged words and starting fighting; Bostock and Hrabosky ejected by HP umpire Marty Springstead; MCGILBERRY REPLACED HRABOSKY (PITCHING); LANDREAUX BATTED FOR BOSTOCK; Landreaux walked (walk was charged to Hrabosky); Baylor popped to catcher in foul territory; Landreaux stole second; Rudi flied out to right; 3 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Angels 4, Royals 3. ROYALS 8TH: LANDREAUX STAYED IN GAME (PLAYING RF); ANDERSON REPLACED RETTENMUND (PLAYING SS); McRae grounded out (second to first); Cowens popped to first; QUIRK BATTED FOR PATEK; Quirk doubled to left; WASHINGTON RAN FOR QUIRK; HURDLE BATTED FOR WHITE; LAROCHE REPLACED D. MILLER (PITCHING); CRIPE BATTED FOR HURDLE; Cripe struck out; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Angels 4, Royals 3. ANGELS 9TH: WASHINGTON STAYED IN GAME (PLAYING SS); TERRELL REPLACED CRIPE (PLAYING 2B); Jackson flied out to right; Downing doubled to right; Grich flied out to center; Anderson walked; R. Miller struck out; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 2 LOB. Angels 4, Royals 3. ROYALS 9TH: ZDEB BATTED FOR WILSON; Zdeb struck out; Brett lined to shortstop; Otis singled to center; Porter flied out to right; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Angels 4, Royals 3.

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