Saturday September 13 at Tiger Stadium
With one on and one out in the 4th Graig Nettles hit his 7th homer of the season off Tiger starter Dave Rozema. But Yankee starter Jim Hunter couldn't hold that lead as the Tigers scored five times in the the bottom of the frame. 3 came in on Chet Lemon's 1st homer of the season. Johnny Grubb then walked and, with one out , was tripled home by Kirk Gibson. Gibby then scored on Lou Whitaker's ground out. The Yankees added a run in the 5th when Lou Piniella grounded into a double play with the bases loaded and no outs. Three singles to lead off the 8th by Piniella, Thurman Munson and Nettles scored a run and sent reliever Aurelio Lopez to the showers. Willie Hernandez, who thus far this season was as perfect as a pitcher could hope to be, struck out Reggie jackson. Hernandez then threw a wild pitch which allowed Nettles to move to second. Roy White then singled both runs home to give the Yankees a 6-5 lead and to give Hernandez his first blown save (though he was not responsible for any of the runs). With one out, Barbar Garbey walked and that was it for Hunter. Goose
Gossage came on. He threw a wild pitch allowing Garbey to reach second but eventually struck out Lemon. Pinchhitter Rupert Jones singled and Larry Herndon hit his first dinger of the year to give the Tigers the lead. Hernandez closed out the 9th for the win (3-0, 0.00). Gossage took the loss (0-2, 5.40, 2 blown saves). Tigers 8 Yankees 6
Sunday September 14 at Tiger Stadium
Mickey Rivers led off the game with a single. Willie Randolph walked. Tiger starter Juan Bereguer thought he caught a break when Rivers was thrown out at third on the front end of a double steal. But Munson singled home Randolph for a 1-0 lead. The Tigers got that right back when Whitaker led off the bottom of the 1st with his 4th homer of the season, off Dick Tidrow. Jackson led off the 2nd with a single, went to second on Berenguer's second balk of the game and scored when Gibson misplayed Chris Chambliss' single to right. Three more were added in the fifth on Reggie Jackson's three run homer (5). The Tiger scored twice in the bottom of the 8th to close to 6-3 but Nettles put the game away with a two run homer in the 9th (8) Trammell's three run homer in the bottom of the frame only served to raise Sparky Lyle's e r a. (1 save 8.31) Dick Tidrow was the winner (4-1, 2.58. Berenguer took the loss (4-1, 1.90) "It was my fault. Juan didn't
look rested enough, we have asked him to throw a lot of innings so far this season. But I didn't want to use one of those rookies in front of a home crowd against the Yankees. Now I will probably have to have him skip at least his next start when I could have as easily ost this game with a rookie arm on the mound. Oh well, hindsight will always tell you if someone is gaining on you." Yankees 9 Tigers 6
Monday September 15 at Yankee Stadium. Jack 
Morris would take the mound in the rubber game of the series, looking for his 5th win of the season. Opposing him would be Jim Beattie, making his third start with an 0-2 record and a 9.72 e r a. The two pitchers matched each other shutout inning for shutout inning through the first 5. In the bottom of the 6th, Rivers led off with a single. Randolph struck out but Piniella doubled Rivers to 3rd. With Munson at the plate, the infield moved in. Munson obliged by hitting a ground ball right to Tom Brookens. Yankee Manager Joe Mach ordered Rivers to stay (Rivers had a 23% chance to score). Brookens threw to first and Rivers went through the stop sign and scored. The Yankees took a 1-0 lead. In the Tiger 7th Darrell Evans and Jones led off with singles. Beattie threw a wild pitch and walked Lemon and he was done for the night. Rawley Eastwick came in to strike out Gibson but another wild pitch and the game was tied. Eastwick closed out the 8th with no further damage. In the top of the 9th, the ever dramatic Kirk Gibson
hit his 7th home run of the season to give the Tigers the lead. Morris had retired 7 in a row coming into the 9th but when he walked Nettles and Munson with one out, Willie Hernandez was called. Hernandez got the next two hitters to close out the game. (5 saves, 0.00). Morris was the winner (5-1, 317), Eastwick took the loss (0-1, 4.70, 1 blown save) Tigers 2 Yankees 1
--submitted by Tom “Crash” Davis--
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