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