For the second straight day, the Tigers edge the Indians 6-5, but this one was a 12-inning affair.
Milt Wilcox started opposite Bert Blyleven. Milt went five innings, giving up eight hits and five runs.
The bullpen, Dave Rozema, Willie Hernández and Aurelio López, held the Tribe scoreless over the next seven. Blyleven pitched seven and a third yielding seven hits, five walks and struck out seven.
Dave Bergman led off the 12th with a double and Tom Brookens sacrificed him to third. Lou Whitaker singled to score Bergman with the go-ahead and eventual winning run.
Bergman and Alan Trammell each had three hits, and Johnny Grubb had two singles to go with three walks.
Miscellany
Venue: Cleveland Municipal Stadium
Umpires: HP – Jim McKean, 1B – Durwood Merrill, 2B – Dan Morrison, 3B – Marty Springstead
Time of Game: 4:20
Attendance: 16,125
Dave Gumpert #43
The Tigers signed 6′ 1″ righty Dave Gumpert on Nov. 4, 1980 as an amateur free agent out of Aquinas College in Grand Rapids.
He quickly moved up the ladder in 1981, starting in Single-A Lakeland, Double-A Birmingham and the Triple-A Evansville. In 1982, he appeared in 42 games for Birmingham and two for Evansville before getting the call to Detroit.
He pitched in five games for the ’82 Tigers, including one brief start on Aug. 8: getting just one out and giving up three runs on four hits, including a homer to Ernie Whitt.
His final line for 1982: Five appearances, two innings pitched, 13 batters faced, one start, one save, and a 27.00 ERA.
In 1983, he began the season in Evansville and was promoted in time to again face the Blue Jays, on May 30. Gumpert relieved starter Dan Petry with one out in the ninth and the Tigers trailing 4-0. He escaped the inning and the Tigers scored four in the bottom half to push it to extras. Gumpert was charged with two runs in the 10th and the Tigers lost, 6-4.
Gumpert appeared in 26 games for the ’83 Tigers, finishing with a record of 0-2, an ERA of 2.94 and a pair of saves.
He spent all of 1984 in Evansville, posting a 7-4 record with a 4.96 ERA. The Tigers released him at the end of Spring Training in 1985 and he signed with the Cubs a week later. His final numbers with Detroit: 0-2, 3.69 ERA, two saves.
Gumpert spent the ’85 and ’86 seasons in Chicago, before being traded to the Royals for his final big-league season in 1987.
On a cold and wet Easter Sunday, Juan Berenguer delivered one of his best Tigers starts, at least that I can remember. He gave up just two hits — and didn’t allow one until the fifth — with one walk. He struck out seven.
Michigan native and fellow WMU alum first baseman Mike Squires was pressed into pitching duty, with two gone in the five-run eighth, for the final out.
Miscellany
Umpires: HP – Nick Bremigan, 1B – Vic Voltaggio, 2B – Joe Brinkman, 3B – Larry McCoy
He appeared in parts of three seasons, 1976-78, as a reliever and spot starter.
Crawford made his Tigers debut on April 20, 1976 against the A’s in Oakland. He came into the game in the ninth, relieving starter Joe Coleman, with the Tigers clinging to a 5-3 lead. Crawford got Bill North to line out but the next batter, Joe Rudi, singled to tie the game. Crawford was lifted for rookie Mark Fidrych who gave up a single to Don Baylor and the A’s won, 6-5.
His final game came on July 27, 1978 against the Orioles. Starter Jim Slaton gave up five runs on nine hits in three innings and Crawford came in to pitch the fourth — and gave up two runs of his own on three hits. Jack Morris relieved him with four scoreless.
Crawford’s final line in Detroit: 10-19, 4.62 ERA and 3 saves.
Whitaker reached on an error by Jerry Remy, scoring Kuntz and Brookens. (8-0)
Trammell doubled.
Dave Bergman, pinch-hit for Garbey — how often does that happen in the first inning? — and walks.
Parrish grounds into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
Milt Wilcox takes the mound with an 8-0 lead … and allows the first seven hitters to reach. He gets one more out than Hurst, but after yielding five runs, gives way to Doug Bair.
Boston scores again in the second, to make it 8-6, and the Tigers in the fourth, on a Parrish solo shot.
The Tigers tack on four more in the eighth off Bob Stanley and give Willie Hernandez a 13-6 lead to protect.
Instead, the Red Sox tag him with three runs in the bottom of the eighth.
Mercifully, the ninth is scoreless, but not exactly clean, and Tigers hold on.
Record: 8-0
Miscellany
Umpires: HP – Drew Coble, 1B – Jim Evans, 2B – Greg Kosc, 3B – Ted Hendry
The late* left-handed hitting outfielder John Webber “Jerry” Turner played seven-ish seasons with the Padres and part of one with the White Sox before signing with the Tigers on Feb. 12, 1982.
Here are five things to know about his one year in Detroit:
When Brookens started the game at third, chances are he didn’t expect to finish it as part of the Tigers’ battery.
A routine Saturday evening game at Tiger Stadium, with Jack Morris pitching a typical eight and two thirds, and Willie Hernandez entering in relief of a 3-3 tie in the ninth got interesting in the top of the 11th when, given limited bench flexibility, to say the least, Sparky was forced to move Tom Brookens from third base to catcher … where he stayed for five innings.
Here’s how it happened:
In the bottom of the eighth, and the Tigers down 2-1, Alejandro Sánchez pinch hit for Bob Melvin with one out and pinch runner Dave Bergman on first — and homers! A two-run shot to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.
Then, in the top of the ninth, Marty Castillo replaced Sánchez in the lineup at catcher.
Morris allowed the tying run in the top of the ninth and the Tigers failed to score in the bottom half.
Bottom of the 10th: Johnny Grubb pinch hits for Castillo.
Bottom of the 11th: Aurelio López replaces Hernández pitching, and Brookens moves from third to catcher, and Doug Flynn replaces Grubb playing third batting ninth.
So, Brookens caught three innings for Señor Smoke and two for lefty Bill Scherrer — talk about two different type of pitchers — and was flawless. No passed balls and no errors.
The teams traded runs in 10th and 13th, and the Tigers scored in the bottom of the 15th to win it.
Alan Trammell singled and went to second on an error by Rangers left fielder (and future Tiger) Gary Ward. The next hitter, Barbaro Garbey, singled Tram home.
A great win, but the story of the game was Brookens. His 1 for 6 night is a mere footnote in what was undoubtedly one of the most memorable games of his career.
Miscellany
Umpires: HP – Ken Kaiser, 1B – Rocky Roe, 2B – Larry McCoy, 3B – Larry Barnett.
The core of the ’84 team was aging or playing elsewhere, and the farm system was dried up.
Thanks to the mirage of 1988’s 88-win, second-place finish, one game behind the Red Sox, there was only the flimsiest of hope that the ’89 team could contend.
Looking back, it’s obvious the club’s immediate and long-term futures were bleak.
So, they made curious deals like trading Tom Brookens to the Yankees for Charles Hudson, on March 23, 1989.
Three or four years earlier, Hudson would have been a shrewd pickup for Bill Lajoie: a veteran arm for rotation insurance or long relief.
Alas, 1989 was the late ‘80s not the middle, and Hudson was too little too late for a bad, bad team. It wasn’t his fault!
Here are a few things to know about the right-hander’s time in Detroit:
Hudson made his Tigers debut on April 11 agains the Twins. Jack Morris started and lasted only until two outs in the fourth — he gave up eight hits, four walks and five runs. Hudson came in and settled things down, tossing three and a third innings, allowing just three hits and a run. Final score: Twins 14 – Tigers 0.
His final major-league appearance came on Aug. 11, 1989, against the Rangers in relief of Frank Tanana, was not a bad one: 3.1 IP, two hits, one run, two walks and four strikeouts. The Tigers lost, 7-3.
Hudson’s Tigers career: 18 appearances, 7 starts, a 1-5 record with a 6.35 ERA.
On this date in 1984, the Tigers clinched the American League East title, beating the Brewers 3-0.
Randy O’Neal pitched seven shutout innings, allowing four hits, one walk and striking out six. As he often did, Willie Hernandez earned a two-inning save, his 30th of the year.
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