May 19, 1984 - 8.5 Innings

Game #483 - Seattle Mariners, 2 @ Baltimore Orioles, 7

Baltimore was looking for revenge after their absolute drubbing by the Mariners the day before, and they came out swinging.  Al Bumbry and Cal Ripken Jr. singled, and then Eddie Murray knocked a hit to score Bumbry.  But Seattle tied it up in the top of the second.  Mike Boddicker had retired the first five hitters in the game before issuing a walk to Phil Bradley.  That's when little Spike Own ripped a triple to even things up.

Rich Dauer pulled the O's ahead again in the bottom of the third when he launched a solo homer off Mike Moore.  Baltimore piled on in the fourth and fifth inning, plating another five runs, all off Mike Moore.  I didn't realize it until the end of the game, but Moore gave up 15(!) hits in six innings.  But in five of those six innings Baltimore managed to hit into a double play, including two lineouts to Phil Bradley who caught John Lowenstein too far off first.  A Bob Kearney solo bomb in the eighth wasn't enough to dig the Mariners out of their hole as the Orioles put one in the WIN column.

Winning Pitcher - Mike Boddicker
Losing Pitcher - Mike Moore
Player of the Game - Rich Dauer, 2-4, 2B, HR, 3RBI's
Hall of Famers in the Game - Cal Ripken, Eddie Murray

Game #484 - Oakland A's, 4 @ Detroit Tigers, 5

Detroit is playing great baseball, but they continue to trail the Blue Jays in the AL East.  With the A's in town they needed to keep the pedal to the metal - *instert Detroit auto-industry pun* - to keep pace.

Jack Morris was tossing a no-hitter in the fourth when, with one out, Bruce Bochte poked a single to break that up, and then Mike Heath went deep to give Oakland a surprise 2-0 lead.  But Darrell Evans ripped a solo bomb in the fifth and then Kirk Gibson added one of his own in the sixth, but Oakland was still up 3-2 thanks to a RBI double by Tony Phillips in the previous inning.

In the bottom of the seventh Tom Burgmeier replaced Mike Warren and had the bases loaded when Carney Lansford booted a grounder that allowed Detroit to tie the game.  With the bases still loaded Lou Whitaker poked a ball out of the infield to score Evans for the lead.  Evans added an RBI hit in the eighth, which would prove important because Oakland scored an unearned run off Willie Hernandez in the ninth due to a Howard Johnson error.  But the Evans RBI secured victory for Hockey Town USA.

Winning Pitcher - Jack Morris
Losing Pitcher - Bill Caudill
Save - Willie Hernandez
Player of the Game - Darrell Evans, 3-3, BB, HR, 2RBI's
Hall of Famers in the Game - Rickey Henderson, Joe Morgan

May 18, 1984 - Working 9 to 5

Game #481 - Philadelphia Phillies, 9 @ San Francisco Giants, 1

It was a funky game for the Phillies, as the Giants never challenged them for the win.  Von Hayes led off both the first and the third inning with triples, and each time Greg Gross was able to plate him for the RBI.  Juan Samuel and Mike Schmidt recorded homers and John Denny tossed another gem, going 7 innings and only giving up four hits, one of which was a Bob Brenly  four-bagger.

Winning Pitcher - John Denny
Losing Pitcher - Bill Laskey
Player of the Game - Denny, 7IP, 4H's, R, 6K's
Hall of Famers in the Game - Mike Schmidt

Game #482 - Cincinnati Reds, 3 @ St. Louis Cardinals, 5

This was the final game on the May 18th schedule, and it was a good one!

The Reds scored first.  Gary Redus hit a one-out double and then stole third base.  Two hitters later Dave "Cobra" Parker hit a deep fly for an RBI sacrifice.  But in the bottom of the first St. Louis took the lead.  Three straight singles scored Willie McGee and George Hendrick.  A Redus error in the second allowed Lonnie Smith to score after cranking a double, and then the Cards got two more in the third to make it 5-1.

In the top of the fifth the Reds began chipping back.  Redus doubled again, and once again eventually scored on a Parker sacrifice fly.  Cesar Cedeno punched an RBI pinch-hit in the sixth that allowed Ron Oester to cross home and all of a sudden the Cards were only up two!  But Dave Rucker pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth, wracking up three K's for the save.

Winning Pitcher - John Stuper
Losing Pitcher - Joe Price
Save - Dave Rucker
Player of the Game - Rucker
Hall of Famers in the Game - Tony Perez, Ozzie Smith