Both starters threw complete games, and only a Dwight Evans leadoff homer in the eighth spoiled another gem by Morris, handing him his first loss of the year.
Morris scattered five hits with eight strikeouts; Ojeda allowed six hits — all singles — and struck out 10.
A pair of two-run homers off Berenguer, one by Dwight Evans, the other by Jim Rice, gave the Red Sox a 4-0 lead in the third. Boston tacked on a run in the fifth to go up 5-0.
The Tigers scratched back with a run in the sixth and eighth, and then two in the ninth off Stanley.
Kirk Gibson went 4 for 5 with a double, triple and an RBI.
Dave Bergman had a 3 for 4 day and drive in a run.
Miscellany
Venue: Tiger Stadium
Umpires: HP – Rocky Roe, 1B – Larry Barnett, 2B – Dale Ford, 3B – Ken Kaiser
As most seasoned Tigers fans remember, the club’s leadership, or at least GM Jim Campbell — whose opinion was the only one that mattered — hated free agency. In fact,Campbell hated paying for his own free agent players and loved to trade them before their walk year. He certainly wasn’t going to spend on someone else’s players.
That changed in 1983 when Evans chose a Detroit offer which was, of course, lower than those of the Yankees, Giants and other clubs that tried to sign, or in the case of San Francisco, re-sign him. The allure of joining a team poised to win right away made Detroit the choice.
As we’ve covered, in his first game as a Tiger, April 3, 1984, Evans homered of the Twins’ Keith Comstock, a three-run jack, and Detroit was off to the races. A week later, on Opening Day in Detroit, he homered in his first Tiger Stadium at bat, an upper-deck blast off the Rangers’ Dave Stewart.
He’d hit only 14 more home runs in 1984, but quickly became a fan favorite. In 1985, he hit 40 homers, 29 in ’86 and then 34, at age 40!, in 1987. Even in 1988, his final year in Detroit, at age 41, he hit 22.
In five seasons with the Tigers, Evans hit 141 of his career 414 home runs. In 1989, he finished his career where it began: with the Atlanta Braves.
The Red Sox scored once in the bottom of the first but it was all Tigers after that: dropping a dozen runs on 16 hits on Hurst and Oil Can Boyd.
Rusty Kuntz, Bárbaro Garbey and Chet Lemon led the offense with three hits apiece. Lemon and Garbey drove in four each — Chet had two home runs — and Kuntz drove in three.
Wilcox tossed eight solid innings, giving up seven hits and just one earned run with five strikeouts.
Miscellany
Venue: Tiger Stadium
Umpires: HP – Ken Kaiser, 1B – Rocky Roe, 2B – Larry Barnett, 3B – Dale Ford
Time of Game: 2:31
Attendance: 17,495
Dan Gakeler #32
Here are a few things to know about right hander Dan Gakeler:
A former 31st-round draft pick of the Brewers (1983) and a year later a number-one pick of the Red Sox (secondary phase), Gakeler made it to the majors in 1991 with the Tigers, appearing in 31 games, seven of them starts.
He made his major-league debut on June 9, 1991 against the Angels. He started opposite Chuck Finley and lasted three innings: seven hits, five runs and two walks.
Gakeler made his final appearance on Oct. 5, 1991 against the Orioles. He pitched one-third of an inning and struck out the only batter he faced: Cal Ripken.
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