Outcome: L
Score: 4-7
Streak: L4
Record: 52-99
Rank: 7th
GB: 33.5
The Orioles returned to Baltimore tonight to take on the Tigers, opening an eight game home stand - the final one of the season. Tonight was the last "Three Buck Night" of the year so of course I was in attendance. I had made it to all eleven "Three Buck Nights" that weren't rained out this season.
It was a very sloppy game by the Orioles. They had 15 hits this evening along with a walk but only scored 4 runs. They left 10 men on base and went 3 for 10 with runners in scoring position. They also made three errors in the game.
The first error came on the very first pitch of the game. Dave Bergman led off for the Tigers and hit Dave Schmidt's first pitch for a ground ball to third baseman Craig Worthington who made a bad throw to first that pulled first baseman Rick Schu off the bag. Dwayne Murphy followed with a ground ball that moved Bergman to second. An Alan Trammell single moved Bergman to third which allowed him to score when Fred Lynn hit a line drive to center field for a sacrifice fly. The Birds second error of the game came when center fielder Ken Gerhart attempted to double Trammell off first on Lynn's liner - no one was covering first. Trammell was able to move up to second on Gerhart's error and then scored on Matt Nokes' single. 2-0 Tigers.
The Orioles cut the lead in half when Pete Stanicek led off the bottom of the first with a home run. The Birds actually briefly took the lead in the third inning (and ended up knocking Tigers starter Frank Tanana out of the game) on Eddie Murray's 28th home run of the season - a two run shot.
The Tigers took the lead back in fourth inning. Nokes led off with a double. After Darrell Evans struck out, Chet Lemon drew a walk. Tom Brookens then knocked both Nokes and Lemon in with a double. After Jim Walewander struck out for the second out, Bergman hit the third double of the innin which scored Brookens. Jay Tibbs now came in to relieve Schmidt and Murphy greeted him with a single that brought in Bergman before Trammell struck out to end the inning. It was now 6-3 Tigers. A Bergman RBI single in the sixth would extend the Tigers lead to 7-3.
The Orioles blew a golden opportunity to have a big inning in the seventh. Singles from Bill Ripken, Cal Ripken and Murray loaded the bases with no outs. Mickey Tettleton then singled to score Bill Ripken. The key play of the inning came next - Brady Anderson hit a fly ball to center field that Murray, expecting that Cal Ripken would score on it, tagged up and tried to advance. When he realized that Cal was still on third he had to beat a hasty retreat and was doubled up by the Tigers. Rick Schu then flied out to end the threat. The score was 7-4 and that's how it ended.
I have to confess that I didn't make it to the end of the game this evening. I was pretty anal about always staying for the entire game but I was pretty tired this week after the concert on Monday night and a couple other late nights. And this game was dragging. I remember ducking out after what seemed like an interminable Chet Lemon at bat in the top of the sixth but I'm not sure now that that's what happened. My scorecard doesn't have anything in it after the top of the fifth so maybe I remember hearing the Lemon at bat on the radio on the way home. Regardless I did get an Evening Sun the next day and I saved the clippings about the game:
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