Sept. 3, 1984: Orioles 7 – Tigers 4

W: Sammy Stewart (7-2) – L: Jack Morris (17-10) | Boxscore

Record: 88-50 — 8.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

  • Morris was lifted from this one in eighth*, with the score tied at three and two outs. The problem was, he walked the bases loaded. Sparky brought in Aurelio López who coughed up a grand slam to Mike Young.

*According to Roger Craig’s entry in his “Inside Pitch” diary, The Cat had thrown 128 pitches.

  • All told, Morris gave up six earned runs on nine hits and four walks; he struck out six.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Tiger Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – Joe Brinkman, 1B – Nick Bremigan, 2B – Vic Voltaggio, 3B – Larry McCoy
  • Time of Game: 3:14
  • Attendance: 36,797

Birthdays

Nate Robertson, Luis Gonzalez, Dave Clark, and the late Bill Gilbreth, Steve Boros and Bill Moore.

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 520 9/9 — Rarity: 19

See you tomorrow.

Aug. 31, 1984: A’s 7 – Tigers 6 (13)

W: Keith Atherton (7-5) – L: Dave Rozema (7-5) | Boxscore

Record: 87-48 — 9.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

  • Sparky had a short leash on Milt Wilcox, with good reason, pulling him after 32/3 innings in which he gave up five runs on four hits and five walks. Aurelio López  and Willie Hernández pitched the next eight and a third, allowing just three hits and combining for eight strikeouts.
  • The Tigers let four leads slip away, including in the ninth when they took a 6-5 lead. Rozema’s wild pitch with two out in the 13th allowed Mike Davis to score from third with the winning run.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
  • Umpires: HP – Rick Reed, 1B – Jerry Neudecker, 2B – Dave Phillips, 3B – Steve Palermo
  • Time of Game: 4:19
  • Attendance: 15,836

Birthdays

John Hicks, Ramon Santiago, Shane Loux, Hideo Nomo, Morris Madden, Bill Nahorodny, former Tigers coach Boots Day, and the late Jack Burns and Norman Glaser.

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 517 7/9 — Rarity: 276

See you tomorrow.

Aug. 29, 1984: Mariners 5 – Tigers 1

W: Mark Langston (13-9) – L: Dan Petry (15-8) | Boxscore

Record: 87-46 — 11.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

  • Surprise, surprise: Langston shut down the Tigers again. The rookie allowed just two hits, four walks and struck out 12.
  • The Tigers had to feel good about themselves, taking a 1-0 lead in the second. Seattle tied it in the bottom half and then scored four more runs of Petry in the fifth.
  • Peaches’ final line: 41/3, 10 hits, five earned, one strikeout. He allowed a three-run homer to Ken Phelps in that fifth inning before giving way to Dave Rozema and Aurelio López. They gave up just one hit combined, and each struck out one.

Miscellany

  • Venue: The Kingdome
  • Umpires: HP – Marty Springstead, 1B – Durwood Merrill, 2B – Dan Morrison, 3B – Tim Welke
  • Time of Game: 2:11
  • Attendance: 10,863

Birthdays

Wayne McLeland, Buck Marrow and Jack Warner; and Frank Cox of the Detroit Wolverines

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 515: 9/9 — Rarity: 28

See you tomorrow.

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

W: Willie Hernández (7-2) – L: John Curtis (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: 32/3 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, 31/3 scoreless; Aurelio López, 11/3 scoreless; and Willie Hernández 32/3 scoreless. I still can’t get over Sparky using his closer for nearly four innings.

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. 14, 1984: A Doubleheader Letdown

Game 1: Angels 6 – Tigers 4

W: Don Aase (2-1) – L: Willie Hernández (6-2) – S: Luis Sánchez (11) | Boxscore

Record: 77-42

Highlights

  • A decent start from Juan Berenguer, six innings, five hits, six strikeouts, is wasted by the bullpen. The Tigers were up 4-3 in the seventh until Bob Boone homered off Aurelio López to tie it. Then Willie surrendered two runs on three hits and a walk.
  • Both teams had 10 hits; Juan Beníquez had four of them for California.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Tiger Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – Rich Garcia, 1B – Tim McClelland, 2B – Don Denkinger, 3B – Mike Reilly
  • Time of Game: 2:53

Game 2: Angels 12 – Tigers 1

W: Bruce Kison (3-1) – L: Dave Rozema (7-4) | Boxscore

Record: 77-43 — 7.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

  • Rozema started and last two innings, giving up five runs on seven hits. Doug Bair wasn’t good either: 31/3 innings, five runs, five hits and three walks.
  • Darrell Evans drove in the Tigers lone run on an RBI single in the eighth.

Miscellany

  • Umpires: HP – Tim McClelland, 1B – Don Denkinger, 2B – Mike Reilly, 3B – Rich Garcia
  • Time of Game: 2:33
  • Attendance: 38,597

Birthdays

Colt Keith and the late Mark Fidrych and Skinny Graham

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 500: 5/9 — Rarity: 426

A clunker compared to yesterday.

See you tomorrow.

Aug. 13, 1984: Off Day in Detroit

The Angels are coming to town for a three-game series, starting with a doubleheader to make up for a May 13 rainout.

Aug. 13, 1980: Tigers 2 – Red Sox 1

W: Dan Petry (8-6) – L: John Tudor (3-2) – S: Aurelio López (17) | Boxscore

Record: 59-50 — Third place, 8.5 games behind the Yankees

Highlights

  • Petry pitched seven innings, scattered nine hits and struck out four. Tudor was good, too: six innings, four hits and two unearned runs.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Tiger Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – Fred Spenn, 1B – Al Clark, 2B – Steve Palermo, 3B – Larry McCoy
  • Time of Game: 2:56
  • Attendance: 24,565

Birthdays

Dustin Garneau, Román Colón, Jarrod Washburn, Eddie Gaillard and the late George Susce

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 499 5/9 — Rarity: 6

A mic-drop Grid.

See you tomorrow.

Aug. 12, 1984: Tigers 8 – Royals 4

W: Milt Wilcox (12-7) – L: Bret Saberhagen (6-9) | Boxscore

Record: 77-41 — 9 games up on Toronto

Highlights

  • Detroit sprinted to a 4-0 lead in the first, thanks to Ruppert Jones‘s two-run homer off Kansas City starter Bret Saberhagen.
  • In the bottom of the seventh, Milt allowed a single, double and a walk, and was tagged for three of the Royals’ four runs that inning, before being replaced by Aurelio López.
  • The Tigers continued their 1984 mastery* of Dan Quisenberry scoring three in the eighth to pull away for good.

*He pitched 12 innings against Detroit in the regular season and allowed 14 hits and six runs, including two homers.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Royals Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – Dale Ford, 1B – Larry Barnett, 2B – Rocky Roe, 3B – Ken Kaiser
  • Time of Game: 2:47
  • Attendance: 32,753

Birthdays

Kyle Lobstein, Urbano Lugo, the late Fred Hutchinson, Marc Hall

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 498 9/9 — Rarity: 54

See you tomorrow.

Aug. 11, 1984: Tigers 9 – Royals 5

W: Jack Morris (15-8) – L: Charlie Leibrandt (6-5) – S: Aurelio López (12) | Boxscore

Record: 76-41 — 8 games up on Toronto

Highlights

  • The Cat was this close to a complete game win, but he allowed three ninth-inning runs and Sparky pulled him with two outs. Lopez came in and struck out Willie Wilson to end the game.
  • Former Tiger Lynn Jones had three hits off Morris.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Royals Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – Ken Kaiser, 1B – Dale Ford, 2B – Larry Barnett, 3B – Rocky Roe
  • Time of Game: 2:42
  • Attendance: 40,501

Birthdays

Al Pedrique, and the late Bill Monbouquette and Bobo Newsom

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 497 8/9 — Rarity: 184

See you tomorrow.

Aug. 10, 1984: Tigers 5 – Royals 4

W: Aurelio López (10-0) – L: Joe Beckwith (5-3) – S: Willie Hernández (25) | Boxscore

Record: 75-41 — 8 games up on Toronto

Highlights

  • The Royals had a 4-3 lead before solo home runs in the sixth, by Kirk Gibson, and the eighth, Ruppert Jones, put the Tigers up for good.
  • Dan Petry started and last until two out in the seventh, striking out five. López and Hernández combined for 21/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Royals Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – Rocky Roe, 1B – Ken Kaiser, 2B – Dale Ford, 3B – Larry Barnett
  • Time of Game: 2:54
  • Attendance: 32,181

Birthdays

Matt den Dekker, Anthony Gose, Josh Anderson, Jeff Frazier, Brandon Lyon, Tom Brookens and Rocky Colavito

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 496 9/9 — Rarity: 12

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.
  • Dan Petry started and last 42/3 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 42/3 innings and allowed five runs on six hits.

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.