Tigers take 2 of 3 from Tribe

9/19 - Municipal Stadium
Jack Morris (6-1, 2.45) vs Bob Feller
Tigers 7, Indians 5 (15 inn)

Jack Morris looked to have his 7th win locked up, but the Tiger pen could not close the deal.  Bobby Avila's 2 run double in the 8th off of Willie Hernandez tied the game up a 3-3.  Neither team scored in the 9th.  Bill Freehan's 2 out 2 run single in the top of the 10th off of Doug Jones looked to be the game winner until the Tribe answered back in the bottom inning with a Dale Mitchell 2 run homer.  After that fans would be treated to 4 scoreless extra innings.  Then in the 15th Tito Francona mishandled a slow roller down the first base line off the bat of Lou Whitaker.  Francona's error allowed Freehan to score.  Indian reliever Jim Kern can't blame Francona for the run since his wild pitch allowed Freehan to move to second.  Al Kaline, who had a 5-8 day, singled home Whitaker and the Tigers were now ahead for good.  Hank Aguire pitched two scoreless innings in relief to get the win in this marathon.

9/20
Denny McLain (3-3, 4.15) vs Sam McDowell (1-1, 5.20)
Tigers 6, Indians 2
Denny McLain went the distance and allowed just 4 hits.  Two of those hits were solo blasts by the Tribe's backup catcher Ron Hassey.  Detroit tattooed "Sudden Sam" for 4 runs in the 1st to set the pace.  Back to back homers by Lance Parrish and Willie Horton in the 6th made it 6-1 and put the game out of reach.  McLain has given up 20 round trippers so far this season, which should be a huge source of concern for manager Davis as he heads toward the post season.

9/21
Frank Larry (1-3, 7.96) vs Mike Garcia (4-2, 4.47)
Indians 11, Tigers 3
The Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first, but Mike Garcia would get stingy after that and blank them the rest of the way.  The same could not be said for Frank Larry who after 3 shutout innings to start the game imploded in the bottom of the 4th and never recovered.  After Tito Francona walked with the based loaded to make it 3-1, Woodie Held doubled in two to tie it.  The Tribe would take the lead on Julio Franco's ground out to second and never look back.  Larry Doby hit his 13th and 14th homers of the season and had 4 RBI's on the day.  Garcia would allow just 1 hit, a leadoff single to Whitaker in the 9th, after the first.  Detroit is now 24-18 and poised for a nice post season run, while the Tribe has faded to .500.