Sept. 30, 1984: Yankees 9 – Tigers 2

W: Dennis Rasmussen (9-6) – L: Randy O’Neal (2-1) | Boxscore

Record: 104-58 — 15 games up on Toronto

Highlights

O’Neal started and lasted only three and two-thirds, getting knocked around for nine hits, four walks and seven runs.

Bárbaro Garbey, Chet Lemon and Doug Baker each had two hits.

Doug Bair, Aurelio López, Bill Scherrer and Willie Hernández each pitched an inning of post-season tune up. Sid Monge made his final big-league appearance: one inning, two runs, two hits and a walk.

Miscellany

Venue: Yankee Stadium
Umpires: HP – Al Clark, 1B – Mike Reilly, 2B – Don Denkinger, 3B – Rich Garcia
Time of Game: 2:35
Attendance: 30,602

Birthdays

Travis Demeritte, Danny Worth, Carlos Guillen, John DeSilva, Scott Lusader, Dan Gonzales and the late Jose Lima, Johnny Podres and Ben Taylor

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 547 9/9 — Rarity: 74

See you tomorrow.

Sept. 25, 1984: Tigers 9 – Brewers 1

W: Randy O’Neal (2-0) – L: Bob Gibson (1-5) | Boxscore

Record: 102-55 — 15^1/2 games up on Toronto

Highlights

Howard Johnson hit a first-inning grand slam and the Tigers built a 9-0 lead before the Brewers scored in the seventh.

O’Neal went five innings, giving up just two hits and striking out three. Sparky trotted out four pitchers to each toss an inning of relief: Sid Monge, Bill Scherrer, Aurelio López and Willie Hernández.

Johnson also had a double and Kirk Gibson tripled as part of a two-hit, two-RBI night.

Miscellany

Venue: County Stadium
Umpires: HP – Durwood Merrill, 1B – Dan Morrison, 2B – Jim McKean, 3B – Marty Springstead
Time of Game: 2:34
Attendance: 8,804

Birthdays

Kyle Ryan, Steve Wapnick, Ed Putman, Sal Butera and the late Dick Harley

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid #542: 9/9 — Rarity: 39

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 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.

🇺🇲 July 4, 1984: White Sox 8 – Tigers 2 🇺🇲

July 4, 1984: White Sox 8 – Tigers 2

W: Richard Dotson (11-4) – L: Milt Wilcox (8-6) | Boxscore

Record: 55-25 — 7 games up on Toronto

Highlights

Detroit’s skid hits four games in a pitcher’s duel-turned-blowout.

Wilcox and Dotson matched zeroes through five innings, and in the sixth the wheels came off of Milt and the Sox took an 8-0 lead.

Aurelio López relieved Wilcox, who’d given up six runs, but he managed to get just one out before handing it over to Sid Monge. Poor Isidro gave up two runs and a homer in his two innings of work.

Dotson allowed just three of the Tigers five hits.

Darrell Evans and Johnny Grubb hit homers.

Miscellany

Venue: Comiskey Park
Umpires: HP – Jim Evans, 1B – Greg Kosc, 2B – Ted Hendry, 3B – Drew Coble
Time of Game: 2:34
Attendance: 37,665

Birthdays

Francisco Cruceta and the late Bill Tuttle, Babe Birrer and George Mullin

See you tomorrow.

July 1, 1984: Twins 9 – Tigers 0

W: Frank Viola (8-7) – L: Juan Berenguer (4-6) | Boxscore

Record: 55-22 — 9 games up on Toronto

Highlights

Not much good in this one. Juan Berenguer with a quintessential Juan Berenguer start: five innings, seven hits, six earned runs.

Only four hits for the Tigers, who were silenced by Viola’s complete game. He walked one and struck out three.

Three errors did not help the cause; one each by Sid Monge, Marty Castillo and Tom Brookens.

Miscellany

Venue: Tiger Stadium
Umpires: HP – Larry McCoy, 1B – Nick Bremigan, 2B – Mark Johnson, 3B – Joe Brinkman
Time of Game: 2:21
Attendance: 43,484

Birthdays

Jamie Walker, Ron Nischwitz and the late Boots Poffenberger, Louis Brower and Bert Cole

See you tomorrow.

June 21, 1984: Brewers 4 – Tigers 3

W: Don Sutton (4-7) – L: Juan Berenguer (4-5) – S: Rollie Fingers (12) | Boxscore

Record: 49-18 – 6.5 up on Toronto

Highlights

The Brewers tagged Berenguer for four runs on seven hits over 5^1/3.

Sid Monge pitched 2^2/3 scoreless, one-hit innings to keep the Tigers in it.

Detroit scored three in the seventh, two on Larry Herndon‘s pinch-hit home run, and got the tying run on base in the ninth but Fingers doused that flame.

Miscellany

Venue: Tiger Stadium
Umpires: HP – Dan Morrison, 1B – Marty Springstead, 2B – Jim McKean, 3B – Durwood Merrill
Time of Game: 2:30
Attendance: 32,291

Gene Pentz RHP #39

I’m again stretching the boundaries of this site to feature Gene Pentz on his birthday. Here are five things to know about the Johnstown, Pa. native:

His Tigers debut came on July 29, 1975 against the Yankees — at Shea Stadium! — pitching three innings of scoreless relief for starter Joe Coleman.

Pentz made his final appearance on Sept. 26 against the Brewers; another scoreless relieve stint.

The 1975 Tigers were awful, so don’t read too much into the fact that they were 0-13 in games that Pentz appeared.

His final line: 0-4, 3.50 ERA, 25^1/3 innings pitched.

On Dec. 6, 1975, the Tigers sent him, Terry Humphrey, Mark Lemongello and Leon Roberts to the Astros for Jim Crawford, Milt May and Dave Roberts.

Birthdays

Jefry Marté, Jeff Baker, Sean Runyan and Gene Pentz

See you tomorrow.

June 12, 1984: Blue Jays 12 – Tigers 3

W: Jim Clancy (5-6) – L: Jack Morris (11-3) | Boxscore

Record: 44-15 — 7 games up on Toronto

Highlights

All the highlights in this one belonged to the Blue Jays. They took it to all three Tigers pitchers.

Morris: Three innings, eight hits, six runs.

Sid Monge: Four innings, six hits, three runs.

Aurelio López: One inning, two hits (one homer), three runs.

Oh, here’s one Tigers highlight: Lou Whitaker went three for four with a single, double and triple

Miscellany

Venue: Exhibition Stadium
Umpires: HP – Jerry Neudecker, 1B – John Hirschbeck, 2B – Steve Palermo, 3B – Dave Phillips
Time of Game: 2:43
Attendance: 40,437

Elias Sosa #36

Here are five things to know about right-hander Elias Sosa, who spent one year in Detroit:

Sosa was sent to the Tigers by the Expos on March 30, 1982 as part of a conditional deal. I have no idea what that means.
He made his Tigers debut on April 12, 1982, pitching the ninth inning in a 9-5 Tigers loss.
Of his 38 appearances, 23 were multiple innings, and he averaged 1^2/3 innings of work.
Sosa’s longest outing was a five-inning stint on July 12 against the White Sox.
His final line: 3-3 record, 4.43 ERA and four saves. The Padres purchased his contract from the Tigers on Oct. 7, 1982.

Birthdays

Avisaíl García, Scott Aldred and the late Matty McIntyre

See you tomorrow.

June 11, 1984: Tigers 5 – Blue Jays 4

W: Dave Rozema (2-0) – L: Luis Leal (6-1) – S: Willie Hernández (10) | Boxscore

Record: 44-14 — 8 games up on Toronto

Highlights

Detroit knocked around Leal with nine hits in six innings: three doubles, a triple and a Kirk Gibson home run.

Rozema went five, allowing three runs on four hits. Newcomer Sid Monge was immediately pressed into duty; he faced one batter, threw two pitches and gave up a single.

Willy pitched 2^1/3 scoreless, yielding a hit and striking out three.

Miscellany

Venue: Exhibition Stadium
Umpires: HP – Dave Phillips, 1B – Jerry Neudecker, 2B – John Hirschbeck, 3B – Steve Palermo
Time of Game: 3:04
Attendance: 35,062
Start Time Weather: 75° F / 24° C

Birthdays

Ezequiel Carrera, Adam Pettyjohn, John Doherty and the late Archie Yelle

See you tomorrow.

June 10, 1984: Doubleheader in Baltimore

June 10, 1984: Game 1 Tigers 10 – Orioles 4

W: Doug Bair (3-0) – L: Mike Boddicker (7-5) – Save: Willie Hernández (9) | Boxscore

Record: 42-14

Highlights

The Tigers got to Boddicker early, five runs on seven hits in 4^1/3 innings. Glenn Abbott faired slightly less bad: three runs, seven hits in 2^2/3.

Bair threw 3^1/3 scoreless, one-hit innings.

Lou and Gibby both had three hits and four RBI. Tram and Howard Johnson had a pair of hits each.

The game featured 24 hits — 13 by Detroit — and the Orioles made four errors.

Miscellany

Venue: Memorial Stadium
Umpires: HP – Jim Evans, 1B – Greg Kosc, 2B – Ted Hendry, 3B – Drew Coble
Time of Game: 2:48

Game 2 Tigers 8 – Orioles 0

W: Dan Petry (9-3) – L: Dennis Martínez (1-3) | Boxscore

Record: 43-14 — 7 games up on Toronto

Highlights

Alan Trammell, Kirk Gibson and Howard Johnson each had three hits, including a homer, part of a 13-hit attack on El Presidente.

Petry was stellar: a complete-game three-hitter.

All told: Gibby had six hits and six RBI in the two games‚ while Tram and Johnson each had five hits. Lou scored five runs in the first game.

Miscellany

Venue: Memorial Stadium
Umpires: HP – Greg Kosc, 1B – Ted Hendry, 2B – Drew Coble, 3B – Jim Evans
Time of Game: 2:44
Attendance: 51,764

Then, After the Doubleheader …

George Kell informed us that “the Tigers just announced they have acquired the rights to left-handed pitcher … (and it seemed like an eternity before revealing it was …) Sid Monge.”

Birthdays

Al Alburquerque, Elias Sosa and Hank Foiles

See you tomorrow.