KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A tall, gangling, power pitcher who grew up in Philadelphia during the 1970's would obviously have only one baseball idol -- Steve Carlton -- right?
Wrong. Mark Gubicza, a 6-6, 215-pound right-hander and a 1981 graduate of William Penn Charter High School in Philadelphia, picked his idol 100 miles down the road in Baltimore. He chose Jim Palmer.
And probably out of respect for his idol, Gubicza waited until Palmer left the Orioles before posting his first victory over Baltimore. The 21-year-old rookie scattered seven hits and struck out a season-high eight batters Thursday night to pitch the Kansas City Royals to a 6-3 victory over the Orioles.
'I grew up an Orioles fan,' Gubicza said. 'The Phillies weren't too good back then. I remember during the 1971 World Series betting on the Orioles instead of the Pirates, even though they were a Pennsylvania team.
'I also played a little infield growing up and my idols were Palmer and Brooks Robinson. I never threw like Palmer -- he had a higher leg kick and was more of a finesse pitcher -- but I always liked him. I liked their whole staff; they had great pitching. They didn't have much offense; they had a couple of players who carried the load, kind of like this (Kansas City) team. But those guys could really pitch.'
Baltimore's John Shelby must have thought he was facing Palmer Thursday night. Gubicza struck out him out four times and Eddie Murray, Al Bumbry, Wayne Gross and Floyd Rayford once apiece to deliver the Royals only their second victory in 10 games since the All-Star break. He improved his record to 6-8 with his fourth complete game of the season.
'That's as well as Gubicza can pitch,' Kansas City manager Dick Howser said. 'He pitched a helluva game. I like the way he goes after the hitters. He threw the ball hard for nine innings.'
'He (Gubicza) threw some pitches that made me cringe,' Baltimore manager Joe Altobelli said. 'He's a challenging pitcher who doesn't give in to anybody.'
Gubicza scattered three hits and struck out six over the first five innings but ran into trouble in the sixth. Cal Ripken led off with a single and Murray knocked him in with a double. Murray took third on a groundout and scored on a single by Gross.
Kansas City got to Baltimore starter Mike Flanagan, 9-8, in its half of the sixth to tie the score 2-2. Willie Wilson beat out a bunt single, took third on a double by Darryl Motley and scored on a sacrifice fly by George Brett. Hal McRae then doubled home Motley.
Greg Pryor then opened the seventh off Flanagan with a single off the glove of second baseman Lenn Sakata. Onix Concepcion sent Pryor to third with a single, and Wilson followed with a single off the left-field wall to give Kansas City a 3-2 lead. Concepcion took third on a double-play ball and, after reliever Sammy Stewart walked Brett intentionally, McRae stroked a single to right-center to score Concepcion.
The Royals added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth on RBI singles by Motley and Pryor but Gross countered for Baltimore with a solo home run in the ninth, his 13th of the season.
