68-DET takes 3 of 4 from 86-METS

In the opener, GAME 1 at Shea Denny McLain (1-2, 2.25) got his first win of the season. McLain went the distance and tossed a 4 hit shutout of the 'Amazins. Banjo hitting Ray Oyler (.167) opened the scoring with a homer off of Met starter Rick Aguilera to lead off the top of the 3rd. Oyler know exclusively for his leather and not his lumber game McLain the only run he'd need all day. For good measure Detroit added an insurance run in the 6th.

GAME 2 saw the Tigers wax the Mets by scoring 6 runs off of Ron Darling. John Hiller gave Detroit 7 innings of 3 hit shotout ball before handing the ball off to the seldom used pitchers in the bullpen. Tiger second baseman Dick McAuliffe was 3 for 3 on the day. Bill Freehan hit his first homer of the season and left fielder Willie Horton hit his 4th.

GAME 3 (Tiger Stadium, Detroit, MI) was the Mets chance to strike back, and they did. Starter Bobby Ojeda improved to a perfect 5-0 on the season as the Mets won 5-3. The key to this game was the 5 run 7th inning that New York Posted. At the time Tiger starter Joe Sparma was cruising to a shutout. In fact Detroit increased their scoreless innings streak vs New York to 24 consecutive innings. New York posted all 5 runs off of Tiger mis-cues and small ball. An interesting fact is that Darry Strawberry lead off the inning with a strikeout and closed it the exact same way as the Metsies batted around.

GAME 4 saw the Tigers return to their pitching dominance as 2 hurlers combined to shut New York out. Veteran southpaw Mickey Lolich, who already threw a no hitter this season, went 8 1/3 innings before seeding to Patterson who notched his first save of the season. Lolich again was dominating as he struck out 9 Met batter, while only walking 1. Met starter Dwight Gooden gave up only 2 runs, but with his offense not scoring those would prove to be detrimental. Tiger catcher Bill Freehan opened the scoring in the bottom of the 2nd with a solo shot off of Doc Gooden with 2 out in the inning. The Tigers tacked on another run in the 4th when Willie Horton scored on a sac fly from that hitting machine known as Ray Oyler (all sarcasm intended).

As a result of the series New York and Detroit both now have 11-9 records. Detroits fantastic pitching carried them to victory as they kept New York off the scoreboard in 35 of the 36 innings played.