With one out in the ninth, Dave Bergman tied it at four with a pinch-hit solo homer off Ron Davis.
The Tigers scored two in the 12th to take a 6-4 lead. Hernández pitched three innings and allowed a two-out home run to Tim Teufel in the 12th, before getting Ron Washington (!) for the final out.
Milt Wilcox started and pitched 52/3 allowing four runs on eight hits; Doug Bair pitched a flawless 31/3.
Carl Willis made his major-league debut, pitching the final 21/3, giving up just one hit and a walk.
Miscellany
Venue: Memorial Stadium
Umpires: HP – Drew Coble, 1B – Jim Evans, 2B – Greg Kosc, 3B – Ted Hendry Time of Game: 2:41 Attendance: 44,404
John Pacella #27 and #43
Here are a few things to know about John Pacella, who spent part of the year with the 1986 Tigers:
The Brooklyn-born right-hander made his major-league debut on Sept. 15, 1977, his 21st birthday, for the Mets against the Phillies.
Fast forward to Dec. 28, 1984 when the Tigers signed Pacella. He spent the ’85 season with the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate in Nashville posting a 7-7 mark with a 3.23 ERA. In 1986, he started the year with the Sounds notching a 7-6 record and 2.90 ERA before getting called up to Detroit.
His first Tigers appearance came on June 16 at Baltimore. He pitched 11/3 scoreless innings and earned the save. Pacella pitched four more times for the Tigers that year; his longest outing was 52/3 innings against the Yankees in which he allowed seven walks.
His final major-league appearance was on July 12, 1986, at Kansas City. He faced Greg Pryor in the bottom of the seventh and gave up an RBI single. The Tigers lost, 7-4.
Pacella started the 1987 season with Detroit’s new Triple-A club, the Toledo Mud Hens. On June 30, 1987, the Yokohama Bay Stars purchased his contract from Detroit. In 1988 he was back in the States pitching at the Triple-A level for the Brewers, Orioles and then, hey now, the Tigers.
After 19 professional seasons, six major league, 13 minor league, Pacella finished with a mark of 4-10, 5.73 ERA in the majors, 71-86, 3.94 in the minors.
Homers for Tram, his fourth, off Ed Vande Berg, in the first inning; and Rusty, his first, also off Vande Berg, in the fourth.
Miscellany
Venue: Tiger Stadium
Umpires: HP – Bill Kunkel, 1B – Terry Cooney, 2B – Richard Shulock, 3B – Derryl Cousins
Time of Game: 3:05
Attendance: 18,830
Les Moss #28
In 1979, John Lester Moss took over for the retired Ralph Houk as Tigers manager. The Tigers finished Houk’s final season at 86-76, and the club seemed ready to make a move in an albeit stacked* American League East.
*Six of the seven teams finished over .500, and three had 90+ wins.
Moss had been in the Tigers farm system managing the Triple-A Evansville Triplets in the American Association and presumably his familiarity with the Tigers’ young core made him a logical choice.
Moss managed the Tigers for just 53 games in ’79. Detroit sat at a 27-26, on the morning of June 14 and before the day over, he was out of a job and Sparky Anderson was the Tigers’ new manager.
dailyfungo.com 