Fri 9-8-72: Bal 6, DET 2

Baltimore, MD- The Baltimore Orioles exploded for four runs in the eighth inning, snapping a 2-2 tie, and went on to beat the Tigers, 6-2, at Memorial Stadium.

The Orioles strung together five hits, a walk, a wild pitch and a sacrifice bunt to cobble together four runs after the Tigers scored twice in the seventh inning to tie the game, 2-2.

Chris Zachary (6-2) took the loss in relief.

Dick McAuliffe and Aurelio Rodriguez each had two hits for Detroit (79-54), which saw its lead in the AL East shaved to 3.5 games over surging Boston.

****************************************
DET 000 000 200 2-10-1
BAL 000 002 04x 6-9-0

WP: Watt
LP: Zachary (6-2)

Tigers overall: 79-54
Home: 38-27
Away: 41-27
Last 10: 4-6

Thu 9-7-72: DET 2, Bal 1

Baltimore, MD- Fred Scherman pitched seven strong innings in a spot start, and Frank Howard hit his first home run as a Tiger as Detroit beat the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1, at Memorial Stadium.

Boog Powell hit a solo homer for the Orioles in the ninth inning off reliever Chris Zachary, but John Hiller came on to get the game's final out.

Howard's shot in the fourth inning opened the scoring. Detroit (79-53) added a run in the seventh on an RBI single from Tony Taylor.

Scherman (4-1) walked three, struck out six and scattered five hits.

**************************************
DET 000 100 100 2-8-1
BAL 000 000 001 1-7-1

WP: Scherman (4-1)
SV: Hiller (6)
HR: Howard (DET; 1); Powell (BAL)

Tigers overall: 79-53
Home: 38-27
Away: 41-26
Last 10: 5-5

Wed 9-6-72: Bal 2, DET 1

Baltimore, MD- Jim Palmer pitched a complete game, scattering eight hits, and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Tigers, 2-1, at Memorial Stadium.

The loss, combined with another win by the Boston Red Sox, shaved the Tigers' lead to 4.5 games in the AL East. The lead had been as high as nine games as recently as 10 days ago.

Jim Northrup had two hits for Detroit (78-53).

Mickey Lolich (21-10) took the loss for the Tigers. He pitched six innings.

Don Baylor's RBI single in the fifth inning made the score 2-0 and was the eventual game-winner. Dick McAuliffe's triple in the seventh provided the Tigers' lone run.

Palmer walked two and struck out nine.

*****************************************
DET 000 000 100 1-8-0
BAL 010 010 00x 2-5-0

WP: Palmer
LP: Lolich (21-10)

Tigers overall: 78-53
Home: 38-27
Away: 40-26
Last 10: 4-6

Tue 9-5-72: DET 6, Cle 5

Detroit,  MI- The Tigers scored six runs by the second inning and withstood a Cleveland rally the rest of the game to beat the Indians, 6-5, at Tiger Stadium.

Bill Freehan hit a three-run home run in the first inning. The Tigers (78-52) had six runs and eight hits after two innings but were shut down on four hits the rest of the way by the Indians bullpen.

Ray Fosse's two-run home run in the eighth inning made the score 6-5. The Indians got a lead-off walk in the ninth but couldn't score.

Joe Coleman pitched 7.1 innings for the win. Chris Zachary got the save.

********************************************
CLE 000 102 020 5-7-1
DET 420 000 00x 6-12-2

WP: Coleman (18-10)
SV: Zachary (9)
HR: Freehan (DET; 18); Lowenstein (CLE); Fosse (CLE)

Tigers overall: 78-52
Home: 38-27
Away: 40-25
Last 10: 5-5

Mon 9-4-72: Cle 2, DET 0

Detroit, MI- Gaylord Perry carried a perfect game into the eighth inning, and the Cleveland Indians beat the Tigers, 2-0, at Tiger Stadium.

Perry retired the first 23 Tigers batters before Willie Horton's sharp single to right field spoiled the gem with two outs in the eighth inning. Mickey Stanley followed with another single, but Perry surrendered nothing else after that.

The Indians scored both their runs in the first inning, one unearned.

Leo Foster had two hits and an RBI for Cleveland.

Woodie Fryman pitched a complete game, but took the tough loss.

*************************************************
CLE 200 000 000 2-7-0
DET 000 000 000 0-2-1

WP: Perry
LP: Fryman (2-3)

Tigers overall: 77-52
Home: 37-27
Away: 40-25
Last 10: 5-5

Sun 9-3-72: Oak 7, DET 1

Oakland, CA- Mike Epstein hit a three-run homer and the Oakland A's scored four unearned runs in the sixth inning in a 7-1 win over the Tigers at the Coliseum. The A's took two out of three games in the weekend series.

Dal Maxvill's two-run single in the sixth was the big blow as the A's took advantage of a Mickey Stanley error with two outs.

Catfish Hunter pitched a complete game for the A's. Bill Slayback started for the Tigers (77-51) and took the loss.

*********************************
DET 001 000 000 1-5-1
OAK 000 304 00x 7-7-0

WP: Hunter
LP: Slayback (4-7)
HR: Epstein (OAK)

Tigers overall: 77-51
Home: 37-26
Away: 40-25
Last 10: 6-4

Sat 9-2-72: DET 16, Oak 7

note: I fell behind with recaps so the past week's games won't have recaps. Picking it back up here, and going forward the recaps will be briefer.

Oakland, CA- Tony Taylor had four hits, including two triples, and Al Kaline had four hits and six RBI as the Tigers destroyed the Oakland A's, 16-7, at the Coliseum.

Mickey Lolich (21-9) gave up seven runs in 7.2 innings, but still got the win. Vida Blue was roughed up for nine runs in 2.1 innings for Oakland.

Kaline and Willie Horton hit home runs for the Tigers (77-50). Newly-acquired Frank Howard had two singles and two walks.

******************************************
DET 423 421 000 16-19-0
OAK 020 120 020 7-11-2

WP: Lolich (21-9)
LP: Blue
HR: Kaline (DET; 7); Horton (DET; 15); Tenace (OAK)

Tigers overall: 77-50
Home: 37-26
Away: 40-24
Last 10: 7-3