4/6/73: Ryan uneven as Royals spoil Presidential opener, 4-1

President Nixon "helped" a recently returned POW throw out the ceremonial 1st pitch of Opening Night at the Big "A," but The Ryan Express came out a bit uneven as the Royals put a little tarnish on the Halos, 4-1.

Ryan pitched 8 innings, striking out 8, but missed the zone quite a few times for the uneven 8 K/7 BB line, with the brunt of the damage in the 4th, as the Royals scored 3 times with Freddie Patek chasing home 2 on a bases-loaded single and Cookie Rojas bringing in one more to give the Royals a manageable 4-0 cushion after 3-1/2.

Beautiful Downtown Burbank native Steve Busby made sure the Angels wouldn't be "Laughing-in" as he throttled the Halos for 8 scoreless innings with 3 strikeouts before giving way to Bruce Dal Canton in the 9th, who allowed the lone Halo run on a 2-out single by Vada Pinson before getting would-be tying run Frank Robinson to bounce to Paul Schaal at 3rd to end the game. 

KCR 4-9-1 CAL 1-11-0 WP-Busby (1-0) LP-Ryan (0-1) SV-Dal Canton (1) KCR 1-0 CAL 0-1 

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