Friday September 16 at the Tigers

Opponent: Detroit Tigers
Outcome: L
Score: 7-8
Streak: L4
Record: 51-94
Rank: 7th
GB: 31

Two days after the Orioles were beaten by a former teammate on the mound (Mike Boddicker) they were victimized by another ex-teammate.  Fred Lynn, who had been traded to the Tigers just over two weeks earlier, went 3 for 5 tonight, scoring two runs and knocking in four.

Lynn and the Tigers drew first blood in this game.  After Gary Pettis lead off the bottom of the first with a triple and Luis Salazar was hit by a pitch, Lynn hit a ground ball to second baseman Bill Ripken that forced Salazar at second but also brought Pettis in with the game's first run.

The Tigers lead didn't last long.  Larry Sheets led off the second inning with a solo home run off Tigers starter Jack Morris.  Morris would run into more trouble in the third.  After Bill Ripken flew out to start the frame, Joe Orsulak singled and came around to score on Brady Anderson's double.  After Cal Ripken walked, Eddie Murray came up and connected for his 26th home run of the season - a three run shot that put the Birds up 5-1.  The home run knocked Morris out of the game after 2 1/3 innings - Tigers manager Sparky Anderson went to the bullpen and brought in Paul Gibson who got out of the inning without giving up any more runs.

The Tigers got a run back in their half of the third off the bat of Lynn again.  Two batters after Pettis led off the inning with a double, Lynn hit a single that brought him in from second.  The Orioles though scored another run in the fourth inning on an RBI single from Anderson, keeping the Birds lead at four runs.

The Tigers started coming back against Orioles starter Jeff Ballard.  Larry Herndon led off the fourth with a home run.  Two batters later Tom Brookens tripled and then came into score on Jim Walewander's sacrifice fly.  The O's lead was now only 6-4.

In the next inning the Tigers tied the game up and Lynn was involved of course.  He singled with one out and then scored when Dwayne Murphy followed with a two run home run.  The blast knocked Ballard out of the game.  Jay Tibbs came in to relieve him and like Gibson a little earlier he got out of the inning without any more damage.

The game remained tied at six until the top of the ninth.  With one out, Anderson hit his second double of the game and moved to third when Tigers shortstop Salazar misplayed the throw from the outfield.  Cal Ripken was intentionally walked and Eddie Murray hit a ground ball to first baseman Dave Bergman that looked like it was going to be an inning ending double play,  Bergman threw the ball to Salazar covering second to force Ripken but Salazar threw the ball away for his second error of the inning - Anderson scored the go-ahead run and Murray ended up at second.  Sparky Anderson went to his bullpen again and replaced Mike Henneman with Willie Hernandez who got Sheets to ground out on his first pitch to close out the inning.

I'm curious now about a decision that Orioles manager Frank Robinson made going into the bottom of the ninth.  Or rather a decision he didn't make.  With a one run lead I would have expected him to have brought in Tom Neidenfuer, the closer, to close out the game.  He didn't though.  He left Mark Thurmond on the mound.  Thurmond had relieved Tibbs in the seventh and hadn't given up any hits although he did walk two batters in the ninth.  I'm not sure why Robinson didn't bring in Neidenfuer though.

Of course, the way 1988 went for the Orioles it probably didn't matter.  Salazar led off the bottom of the ninth with a single and Lynn completed his night of tormenting his former team by crushing a two run game winning home run to deep right field, making the final score 8-7.  Willie Hernandez got credit for the win after throwing only one pitch.

Sabra and I went out this evening to the Power Plant in Baltimore which at the time was a night club - it's now a Barnes & Noble.  I was able to win a free beer by knowing that Curt Schilling and Pete Harnisch were the answer to the question "Who are the two pitchers who made their big league debuts this month for the Orioles?"  It's nice that occasionally paying constant attention to this stuff pays off...