Sept. 2, 1984: Tigers 6 – A’s 3

W: Dan Petry (16-8) – L: Tim Conroy (1-4) – S: Willie Hernández (27) | Boxscore

Record: 88-49 — 8.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

Peaches had to grind it out. He gave up 11 hits in 5^1/3 innings; meanwhile, three Oakland pitchers allowed 10 hits in seven inning.

Lance Parrish, B á rbaro Garbey and Rusty Kuntz each had two hits, and Garbey homered in the fourth.

This game was filled with former and future Tigers: Dwayne Murphy, Dan Meyer, Mike Heath and Tony Phillips. (Plus Detroit natives Jim Essian and Lary Sorensen.)

Miscellany

Venue: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Umpires: HP – Dave Phillips, 1B – Steve Palermo, 2B – Rick Reed, 3B – Jerry Neudecker
Time of Game: 3:01
Attendance: 20,393

Birthdays

Dusty Ryan, Johnny Paredes, Nate Snell and Luke Walker

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 519 9/9 — Rarity: 19

See you tomorrow.

Aug. 21, 1984: Tigers 12 – A’s 6

W: Milt Wilcox (14-7) – L: Lary Sorensen (5-12) | Boxscore

Record: 83-44 — 11.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

Alan Trammell (3 for 4) and Darrell Evans (4 for 5 and a three-run homer) accounted for half the Tigers’ hits and Lance Parrish drove in four with a first-inning grand slam. Larry Herndon also homered.

Another hometown kid, Macomb County’s Lary Sorensen, was ambushed in two innings of work: six hits, seven runs and five walks.

Wilcox worked six innings, allowed two runs on four hits and struck out seven.

Miscellany

Venue: Tiger Stadium
Umpires: HP – Dan Morrison, 1B – Tim Welke, 2B – Marty Springstead, 3B – Durwood Merrill
Time of Game: 3:04
Attendance: 34,065

Birthdays

Dustin Molleken, J.D. Martinez, Dean Crow, and the late Andujar Cedeño and Gerry Staley

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 507 9/9 — Rarity: 4

See you tomorrow.

Aug. 20, 1984: Tigers 14 – A’s 1

W: Jack Morris (16-8) – L: Curt Young (6-2) | Boxscore

Record: 82-44 — 10.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

The Tigers blasted Oakland starter, Saginaw native and Central Michigan product, Young in his two innings: eight hits, six earned runs and two homers. He was replaced by Chuck Rainey who fared worse: 4^1/3 innings, 10 hits and eight runs.

All told, the Tigers amassed 20 hits. Larry Herndon, Darrell Evans and Doug Baker each had three hits, and Alan Trammell, Kirk Gibson and Chet Lemon contributed two each. Lemon, Gibby and Lance Parrish had homers.

The most-notable part of this game? Former Tigers infielder Mark Wagner pitched the final inning and two-thirds, allowing just two hits, a walk and striking out one (Johnny Grubb.)

Miscellany

Venue: Tiger Stadium
Umpires: HP – Durwood Merrill, 1B – Dan Morrison, 2B – Tim Welke, 3B – Marty Springstead
Time of Game: 2:45
Attendance: 38,431

Birthdays

Gene Kingsale, Jose Paniagua and the late George Zuverink, Beau Bell and Ross Reynolds

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 506 8/9 — Rarity: 123

See you tomorrow.

Aug. 18, 1984: Tigers 4 – Mariners 3

W: Juan Berenguer (6-8) – L: Dave Geisel (0-1) – S: Willie Hernández (26) | Boxscore

Record: 81-43 — 11 games up on Toronto

Highlights

Juan Berenguer dominated: 8^1/3 innings, three hits, 12 strikeouts.

The Tigers had just five hits and Kirk Gibson had the big one: a three-run homer in the sixth off Mariners’ starter Geisel. Marty Castillo and Lance Parrish both doubled.

“Juan Berenguer pitched the game of his career. It certainly was the best game we’ve pitched in the last two months.” — Sparky, “Bless You Boys”

Miscellany

Venue: Tiger Stadium
Umpires: HP – John Hirschbeck, 1B – Dave Phillips, 2B – Steve Palermo, 3B – Rick Reed
Time of Game: 2:41
Attendance: 36,719

Birthdays

Justin Wilson, Bobby Higginson, Bob James, Bob Humphreys and the late Bob Kennedy

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 504 7/9 — Rarity: 260

See you tomorrow.

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. 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.

The Tigers tagged Angels starter Mike Witt with four solo homers: Lou Whitaker, Alan Trammell, Lance Parrish and Howard Johnson.

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

A seven-run third inning put this one out of reach in a hurry, making it 8-0. Doug DeCinces drove in four, Bobby Grich plated three and the Angels got three hits each from Rob Wilfong and Reggie Jackson.

Rozema started and last two innings, giving up five runs on seven hits. Doug Bair wasn’t good either: 3^1/3 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. 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.

Larry Herndon, Kirk Gibson and Lance Parrish homered. Alan Trammell had four hits and an RBI.

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. 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. 3, 1984: Royals 9 – Tigers 6

W: Bret Saberhagen (5-8) – L: Milt Wilcox (11-7) – S: Dan Quisenberry (28) | Boxscore

Record: 72-35 — 10.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

Milt gave up six runs on six hits, one of them a Frank White grand slam, in three innings of work — though he pitched to five hitters in the fourth inning. At that point, the Royals handed their starter Bud Black an 8-2 lead.

The Tigers chipped away, thanks to home runs by Alan Trammell and Tom Brookens and a two-run triple from Lance Parrish, to cut the lead to 8-5.

Saberhagen relieved Black and pitched an inning and two-thirds to earn the win. Quisenberry allowed only two hits in his 2^2/3 innings.

Lou Whitaker had four hits in five at bats.

Miscellany

Venue: Tiger Stadium
Umpires: HP – Bill Kunkel, 1B – Terry Cooney, 2B – Derryl Cousins, 3B – Richard Shulock
Time of Game: 2:37
Attendance: 39,480

Birthdays

Pat McCoy, Matt Joyce, Wendell Magee, Dan Meyer and the late Jim Hegan and Harry Heilmann, who hit .342 in 15 years with the Tigers. He hit over .390 four times, including .403 in 1923. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1952.

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 489 9/9 — Rarity: 32

See you tomorrow.

Aug. 2, 1984: Tigers 2 – Indians 1

W: Jack Morris (14-7) – L: Bert Blyleven (10-5) – S: Willie Hernández (22) | Boxscore

Record: 72-34 — 11.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

This is a special game for me. My Dad treated me, my brother and my friend Gordie to this one to celebrate my 16th birthday. We ate at the greasiest of greasy spoons on Trumbull, in the Checker (?) Cab building. Then we made our way to our box seats — an absolute rarity — down the left field line, above the Tigers’ bullpen.

Morris and Blyleven were evenly matched and homers supplied all the runs: Andre Thornton hit a solo home run in the top of the fourth, and Lou Whitaker hit a two-run shot in the fifth to cap the scoring.

Blyleven threw six innings and allowed seven hits and struck out two. Morris tossed eight innings and also allowed seven hits with one strikeout.

Willie allowed a leadoff single in the ninth and then retired the next three batters to earn the save.

Lance Parrish went 3 for 4.

Miscellany

Venue: Tiger Stadium
Umpires: HP – Ted Hendry, 1B – Drew Coble, 2B – Jim Evans, 3B – Greg Kosc
Time of Game: 2:39
Attendance: 28,700

Birthdays

Colby Lewis, Matt Miller, the pride of Macomb Community College, Art “Spider” James, and the late William “Kid” Nance.

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 488 9/9 — Rarity: 63

See you tomorrow.