Tag: Steve Grilli

The Thursday Fungo: July 11

July 11, 1984: The All-Star Break Continues

‘Twas the final day of the 1984 All-Star Break and the Tigers prepared to start the second half with a four-game series against the Twins at the Metrodome.

So, let’s look at a game from this date in another season: 1977.

July 11, 1977: Tigers 9 – Blue Jays 7

W: Steve Grilli (1-0) – L: Dennis DeBarr (0-1) | Boxscore

Record: 38-46 — 6th place, 10.5 games behind Boston

Highlights

  • The Blue Jays tagged Tigers starter Dave Roberts with five runs in the top of the first. Detroit answered with a run of their own in the first, and another four in the second to make it 5-5 heading to the third.
  • Rusty Staub led the Tigers’s 10-hit attack, with a two-for-three night — including a second-inning three-run homer — and four RBI.
  • Roberts pitched 62/3, allowing seven runs on nine hits, and gave way to Steve Grilli who pitched 21/3 hitless innings to secure the win.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Tiger Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – Vic Voltaggio, 1B – Marty Springstead, 2B – Larry Barnett, 3B – Jim Evans
  • Time of Game: 2:30
  • Attendance: 9,057

Dickie Noles – RHP #27

The first, and perhaps last, thing to know about Dickie Noles‘ Tigers career is that he was the player to be named later in the trade that brought him to Detroit. On Sept. 21, 1987, he was traded by the Cubs to the Tigers for a player to be named later.

He appeared in four games:

Sept. 22: He entered the game against Boston with bases load and two out in the bottom of the ninth, and got Dwight Evans to hit into a 1-3 ground out. Noles earned the save.

Sept. 25: Facing the Blue Jays, he pitched 11/3 innings, allowing a hit, a walk and a run. The Tigers lost 3-2.

Sept. 26: This one still hurts. The Tigers took a 9-7 lead into the bottom of the ninth. Mike Henneman allowed a leadoff double to Jesse Barfield, an infield single to Willie Upshaw and then hit former Tiger Rick Leach. The next batter, Juan Beníquez, laced a triple to left off Noles and the Jays won, 10-9. We sobbed.

Sept. 27: Noles’ final Tigers appearance came in a huge, season-saving Tigers win. Doyle Alexander pitched the first 102/3 innings, and four relievers covered the final 21/3. Noles was the fourth; he entered with two out in the bottom of the 13th and they tying run on first. He got Barfield to hit it to shortstop for a force out at second. Tigers won 3-2 and that was it for Noles in Detroit.

On Oct. 23, 1987, he was returned to the Cubs. That’s a 32-day Tigers career. But given the mayhem of those final 10 days of the 1987 season, those were pretty good days to be with Detroit.

Birthdays

Johnny Barbato, Yorman Bazardo and the late Al Federoff

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 466 7/9: Rarity: 285

Ugly.

See you tomorrow.

The Thursday Fungo: May 2

May 2, 1984: Red Sox 5 – Tigers 4

W: Mike Brown (1-2) – L: Juan Berenguer (1-1) – Save: Bob Stanley (4) | Boxscore

Record: 19-3

Highlights

  • 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.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Tiger Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – Rocky Roe, 1B – Larry Barnett, 2B – Dale Ford, 3B – Ken Kaiser
  • Time of Game: 2:33
  • Attendance: 23,085

Darrell Evans #41

Before Pudge Rodriguez and Magglio Ordoñez, the Tigers’ big splash in the free agent market came on Dec. 17, 1983, when they signed 36-year-old* slugger Darrell Evans.

*He turned 37 in May 1984.

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.

Birthdays

Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Neftali Feliz, Mark Johnson, Jim Walewander, Keith Moreland, Steve Grilli and the late Gates Brown 

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 396 8/9 – Rarity: 129

See you tomorrow.

The Tuesday Fungo: April 16

April 16, 1984: Another Rainout in Boston

The Patriots’ Day game at Fenway was washed out, so the Tigers packed up and went home to begin a two-game set against the Royals on April 17.

Record: Still 8-0.

Bruce Taylor – #32

The Tigers selected right-hander Bruce Taylor from the Reds in the December 1975 Rule 5 draft. He spent the entire 1976 season at Evansville, which means the Tigers swung a deal with Cincinnati to keep him and not have him on the big-league roster. I guess?

Taylor made his major-league debut at 24 on Aug. 5, 1977, in relief of Steve Grilli. He got the final out of the eighth and pitched a clean ninth in a 6-0 loss to the Rangers.

He appeared in 19 games his rookie season, tossing 29.1 innings. He finished with 1-0 record, two saves and a 3.38 ERA.

In 1978, he appeared in just one game with the Tigers, pitching a single inning: on April 14 against the Blue Jays. He spent the rest of the season in Evansville.

The 1979 season was Taylor’s last with the Tigers and in the majors. He pitched in 10 games, the last on May 22 against the Yankees in which he tossed the last three innings of a 12-8 loss, and finished with a 1-2 record and a 4.82 ERA.

His final major league line: 2-2, 3.86 ERA and two saves.

Birthdays

Fernando Vina, Bruce Taylor, the late Dutch Leonard and Gene Ford

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 380 9/9 – Rarity: 17

By pure happenstance I slotted Fernando Vina into the grid before knowing it was his birthday. He’s one of four former Tigers in today’s offering.

See you tomorrow.