O's take 3 of 4 from Motown

 

Gerald and I had a fun sereis this afternoon, if the rest of the season plays out like this one, it is going to be one competitive KOD!

Game 1

Memorial Stadium

Jim Palmer vs Dan Petry

Detroit came out swinging in the top of the 1st inning as Chet Lemon hit a Palmer 1-2 pitch 378 feet to left center to post Detroit to a 1-0 lead and quieting the opening day crowd in Baltimore.  Not to be outdone, and much to the approval of the home town fans, the O's countered in their half of the inning with a 2 run shot 324 feet down the left field line. to make it 2-1 Baltimore after 1.   In the top of the 5th Enos Cabell (former Oriole) tripled and scored on a fielders choice to put Det back on top 2-1.  Detroit added another run in the 6th as John Wockenfuss took Plamer deep for a solo shot...Det 3-1.  At this point Petry was dealing and teh O's bats were shut down.  Holding a 3-1 lead with the O's down to their last at bats, the usually very good Aurelio Lopez came in for Detroit to close out the game.  Well, that was the plan, but what followed was this:  Lee May grounded out (1away), Eddie Murray single, Pat Kelly walk, pinch hitter Tony Muser grounds into a fielders choice and now it was Murray at third, Muser at first (I have no idea how Muser beat that one out - call it "Oriole Magic")  Two down.  Pinch hitters Billy Smith and Dave Skaggs walk and the score is tied at 3 on Skaggs walk.  Bases loaded, two outs and Lopz is tired.  In comes Juan Berenguer to face Baltimore lead off hitter Al Bumbry.  He its a grounder to third and Castillo boots it to allow the winning run to score.  The fans go wild and the home opener at Memoiral Stadium is a success!   Baltimore 4 Detroit 3.

Game 2

Memorial Stadium

Rudy May vs Jack Morris

Both teams put up 2 in their halves of the 1t inning (Chet Lemon drives in 2 for Detroit, Lee May does the same for Baltimore).  Baltimore takes the lead in the bottom of the 2nd on a adds a 3rd run in the bottom of the second on a Pat Kelly lead off home run.  Baltimore 3-2.  IN the Detroit half of teh 4th Chet Lemon hits a two run shot to put the Tigers back on top 4-3.  Baltimore reclaims the lead in the bottom of the 5th on a Lee May 2 run homer followed by an Eddie Murray solo home run.  Baltimore 6 Detroit 4.   Baltimore tacks on 3 more the next inning on a walk, two doubles and a fielders choice to open up the lead 9-4.  Game ends on another Pat Kelly solo shot with Baltimore winning this one 10-4  And so the series heads to Motor City.

 

Game 3

Tiger Stadium

Milt Wilcox vs Mike Flanagan

For the first three innings no one could get on the board, and in the fourth Ken Sigleton posted Baltimore to a 1-0 lead with his first home run of the season.  And this is when Detroit got mad and their heavy artillery started finding their mark.  In the bottom of the 6th John Wockenfuss hit a two run shot Detroit the 2-1 lead.  In the bottom of the 7th Enos Cabel  singled and Alan Trammel was intentionally walked with two down and Tippy Martinez came in to put out the fire.  Instead Chet Lemon greeted him with an RBI single.  Larry Herndon was intentionally walked and John Wockenfuss was unintentionally walked to drive in the second run on the inning.  Detroit  4-1 over Baltimore.  In the bottom of the 8th Detroit got really mad and added 5 more runs to seal the victory on the strength of 3 singles, 2 walks and a Larry Herndon 3 run home run.  Detroit wins their home opener 9-1 over the Orioles.

Game 4

Tiger Stadium

Dave Rozema vs Dennis Martinez

Rozema got the call by Detroit manager Gerald Lancaster on short rest and pitched very well indeed.   Niether team was able to get on the board through 5 innings.  IN the top of the 6th Mark Belanger walked, stole second and advanced to third on Lance Parrish's throwing error.  He eventually scored on an Al Bumbry single to make the score 1-0 Baltimore. In the top of the 8th Baltimore backup catcher Dave Skaggs hit a solo home run to provide a very valuable insurance run as Dennis Martinez continued a solid outing by keeping the Tigers off the board until giving up a triple to Lou Whitaker who scored on an Alan Trammel fielders choice to get the Orioles lead down to 1 heading into the 9th inning.  In the bottom of the ninth Martinez struck out Kirk Gibson and got Lemon to ground out.  Mark NIxon then pulled Martinez and replaced him with Martinez (Tippy that is) who got Detroit pinch hitter Johnny Grubb to ground out to third baseman Doug DeCinces.  Baltimore 2 Detroit 1

Excellent series with Gerald!  I'm glad I've played my 4 games against the Tigers cause them boys can sure hit when they get mad!  :-)

--submitted by Mark Nixon--