Motown take 2 of 3 from Chi-town

8/29 - Comiskey Park
Tigers 8, White Sox 1
Jack Morris vs Billy Pierce
The only shocking part of this game was the fact that the Chisox got just 1 run and not 7. Typically in games like this he great Jack Morris would pitch to the level of his competition and just win.  Today the Chisox were able to get 11 hits off of Morris, but they could only compile that into 1 measly run.  With the Tigers up 1-0 after 4 innings, Billy Pierce fell apart completely.  Detroit would score runs in clusters over the next 3 innings to put the game out of reach.  Willie Horton's grand slam in the 5th made it 5-0 and the Tigers never looked back.

8/30 - Comiskey Park
White Sox 4, Tigers 3
Denny McLain vs Joe Horlen
Chicago nicked McLain for solo runs in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th.   Four different guys delivered RBI tallies.  Minnie Minoso would go 3 for 4.  Carlos May, Nellie Fox and Jorge Orta would each have 2 hit days for the Southsiders.  Joe Horlen was cruising until Al Kaline broke up his shutout with a homer in the 9th.  Horlen, clearly tiring, started the 9th, but couldn't close the door.  Lou Whitaker's two out two run homer put a scare into the hometown fans, but Bobby Thigpen was able to save the day by getting Harvey Kuenn to ground out weakly to Fox at second to end it.

8/31 - Tiger Stadium
Tigers 13, White Sox 5
Gary Peters, vs Hank Aguirre
Neither starter was all that effective.  Both were gone before the 7th inning came to its logical conclusion.  A big 3 run outburst by the Pale Hose in the top of the 7th temporarily tied the game up at 5-5.  The functional word here is "temporary", since the bottom of the inning the Tigers forced Eddie Fisher to sing "turn out the lights" as Chicago's righty relieve gave up 5 of the 8 runs that Detroit would score that inning.  Hoyt Wilhelm would throw some kerosene onto the fire himself by allowing 2 more runs to score before ending the carnage.  12 batters in all would step to the plate for Detroit in the 7th.  Reliever Mike Henneman would get the win despite giving up a run in his inning and a third stint.  Ray Boone's 3 run shot in the third gave Detroit their first lead of the day.  Al Kaline was the offensive star of stars going 4 for 5 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored.  Detroit had 17 hits, but also had 9 batters strike out including Ron Leflore and Lance Parrish 3 times each.