Aug. 16, 1984: Tigers 8 – Angels 7 (12)

W: Willie Hernández (7-2) – L: John C urtis (0-1) | Boxscore

Record: 79-43 — 10 games up on Toronto

Highlights

At the end of the second inning it was 5-0 Tigers. At the end of the fourth inning, it was 7-5 Angels.

Jack Morris has another miserable outing: 3^2/3 innings, nine hits, four walks, and seven earned runs. A trio of Tigers relievers held the Angels in check for the next eight innings — Doug Bair, 3^1/3 scoreless; Aurelio López, 1^1/3 scoreless; and Willie Hernández 3^2/3 scoreless. I still can’t get over Sparky using his closer for nearly four innings.

Alan Trammell, Kirk Gibson, Lance Parrish and Chet Lemon each had two hits. Brian Downing had three hits and five RBI for California.

Miscellany

Venue: Tiger Stadium
Umpires: HP – Mike Reilly, 1B – Rich Garcia, 2B – Tim McClelland, 3B – Don Denkinger
Time of Game: 4:02
Attendance: 37,779

Birthdays

Akil Baddoo, Roger Cedeño and Damian Jackson

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 502 9/9 — Rarity: 27

See you tomorrow.

Aug. 6, 1984: Doubleheader Madness Begins

Thanks to April rainouts, the Tigers and Red Sox played back-to-back doubleheaders in Boston. These follow the schedule doubleheader against the Royals on Aug. 5.

Game 1: Tigers 9 – Red Sox 6

Rescheduled from the April 15 rainout.

W: Aurelio López – L: Bob Ojeda (9-9) – S: Willie Hernández (23) | Boxscore

Record: 73-39 — 8.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

A classic 198o’s slugfest: 16 runs on 31 hits.

Five Tigers had two or more hits, and Chet Lemon had three including his 15th home run of the year. Lance Parrish and Tom Brookens also homered.

Dan Petry started and last 4^2/3 innings and gave up six runs on 11 hits and two walks.

Miscellany

Venue: Fenway Park
Umpires: HP – Jim McKean, 1B – Durwood Merrill, 2B – Dan Morrison, 3B – Tim Welke
Time of Game: 3:17

Game 2: Red Sox 10 – Tigers 2

W: Roger Clemens (6-4) – L: Carl Willis (0-2) | Boxscore

Record: 73-39 — 8.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

Yikes. The Red Sox battered three Tigers pitchers — primarily starter Willis and relief man Doug Bair — for 15 hits.

Willis got only one batter out and it was a productive one for Jim Rice, who drove in the game’s first run. All told: 1/3 of an inning, five hits and four earned runs.

Bair pitched the next 4^2/3 innings and allowed five runs on six hits.

Wade Boggs (4 for 5) and Tony Armas (3 for 4) had almost half of Boston’s hits. Boggs had two homers, and he and Mike Easler both drove in three runs.

Howard Johnson hit a solo home run off Clemens in the seventh.

Miscellany

Venue: Fenway Park
Umpires: HP – Durwood Merrill, 1B – Dan Morrison, 2B – Tim Welke, 3B – Jim McKean
Time of Game: 2:55
Attendance: 31,055

See you tomorrow.

Aug. 4, 1984: Royals 9 – Tigers 5

W: Joe Beckwith (4-2) – L: Doug Bair (4-3) | Boxscore

Record: 72-36 — 9.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

Let’s see, the Tigers had a 4-2 lead at one point in this one, then the Royals scored seven runs across the sixth and seventh innings and that was it. K. C. had 15 hits, with Don Slaught and Pat Sheridan each collecting three.

Doug Bair allowed just two runs — half of starter Glenn Abbott‘s total, and less than Sid Monge‘s three — but took the loss anyway. He faced five batters in the sixth: two walked, two got hits.

Kirk Gibson had three hits, including two triples, and Ruppert Jones homered.

The Royals’ win got them within four games of the .500 mark … and 20 fewer wins than the Tigers.

Miscellany

Venue: Tiger Stadium
Umpires: HP – Terry Cooney, 1B – Derryl Cousins, 2B – Richard Shulock, 3B – Bill Kunkel
Time of Game: 2:57
Attendance: 41,714

Birthdays

John Farrell, Terry Humphrey, Johnny Grubb, Frank Kostro, and the late Kevin Collins, Ray Oyler, Tuck Stainback, George Caster and Chick Galloway.

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 490 9/9 — Rarity: 23

See you tomorrow.

July 31, 1984: Doubleheader versus Cleveland

Game 1: Tigers 5 – Indians 1

W: Juan Berenguer (5-7) – L: Roy Smith (4-3) | Boxscore

Record: 71-32

Highlights

This was a makeup game from the previous week’s rainout in Cleveland.

Berenguer was solid: 6^1/3 innings, four hits, two walks and four strikeouts — and just one run.

The Tigers jumped all over Indians’ starter Smith with five runs in the second inning. Doug Baker hit a bases-loaded triple and Ruppert Jones hit a solo shot which sent Smith to the showers.

Doug Bair pitched 2^2/3 flawless innings.

Miscellany

Venue: Tiger Stadium
Umpires: HP – Drew Coble, 1B – Jim Evans, 2B – Greg Kosc, 3B – Ted Hendry
Time of Game: 2:30

Game 2: Indians 6 – Tigers 4

W: Neal Heaton (8-10) – L: Dave Rozema (7-3) – S: Tom Waddell (5) | Boxscore

Record: 71-33 — 12 games up on Toronto

Highlights

Cleveland chased Rozey with six runs on seven hits in 2^1/3 innings.

At the time, I wish I had better appreciated the freak of nature that was Aurelio López. Sparky used him in every situation except for spot starter — and he probably would have excelled in the role. In this one, he pitched 6^2/3 of shutout relief, allowing just four hits, one walk and striking out five.

Bárbaro Garbey went three for four and Lou Whitaker had two hits and an RBI.

Miscellany

Venue: Tiger Stadium
Umpires: HP – Jim Evans, 1B – Greg Kosc, 2B – Ted Hendry, 3B – Drew Coble
Time of Game: 2:50
Attendance: 32,158

Birthdays

Reese Olson, Andy Van Hekken, Gabe Kapler, Howard Bailey, Dave Dombrowski, Terry Fox and the late Al Aber, Harry Malmberg and Billy Hitchcock

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 486 9/9 — Rarity: 37

See you tomorrow.

July 23, 1984: Tigers 4 – Indians 1

W: Jack Morris (13-6) – L: Bert Blyleven (9-4) – S: Doug Bair (4) | Boxscore

Record: 67-29: 10.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

The Tigers ambushed Bert Blyleven with back-to-back first-inning homers from Kirk Gibson and Lance Parrish to take a 3-0 lead.

Morris more or less cruised over his six scoreless innings, though the five walks to go with the five hits were suboptimal.

Gibby had a single and his two-run homer.

Miscellany

Venue: Cleveland Stadium
Umpires: HP – Greg Kosc, 1B – Ted Hendry, 2B – Drew Coble, 3B – Jim Evans
Time of Game: 3:09
Attendance: 16,576

Birthdays

The late Johnny Groth, Ray Scarborough and Frank Croucher

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 478: 9/9 — Rarity: 44

See you tomorrow.

July 21, 1984: Tigers 7 – Rangers 6

W: Sid Monge (3-1) – L: Dickie Noles (3-3) – S: Willie Hernández (19) | Boxscore

Record: 65-39 — 9 games up on Toronto

Highlights

You could file this one under “winning ugly.” The Tigers gave Glenn Abbott a 2-0 lead but he couldn’t hold it — he was pulled with one out in the third after giving up five runs on five hits.

Thankfully, Rangers’ starter Dickie Noles was worse: 4^2/3 innings, six hits, five walks and seven runs.

Sid Monge pitched four strong innings of middle relief before handing it over to Doug Bair and Willie Hernández.

Chet Lemon, Tom Brookens, Kirk Gibson each made an error.

Ruppert Jones, Chet, Howard Johnson and Dave Bergman each had two hits.

Miscellany

Venue: Tiger Stadium
Umpires: HP – Dale Ford, 1B – Larry Barnett, 2B – Rocky Roe, 3B – Ken Kaiser
Time of Game: 2:38
Attendance: 46,219

Birthdays

Kimera Bartee and Denny Harriger

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 476 9/9: Rarity: 17

See you tomorrow.

The Sunday Fungo: July 14

July 14, 1984: Tigers 6 – Twins 5 (12)

W: Willie Hernández (6-0) – L: Mike Walters (0-3) | Boxscore

Record: 59-28 — 7 games up on Toronto

Highlights

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 5^2/3 allowing four runs on eight hits; Doug Bair pitched a flawless 3^1/3.

Detroit had a dozen hits, two apiece for Bárbaro Garbey, Chet Lemon and Howard Johnson.

Miscellany

Venue: Metrodome
Umpires: HP – Vic Voltaggio, 1B – Joe Brinkman, 2B – Larry McCoy, 3B – Nick Bremigan
Time of Game: 3:40
Attendance: 46,017

Birthdays

Enrique Gonzalez and the late John Peters

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 469 8/9: Rarity: 128

See you tomorrow.