1969 AL Opening Day in Detroit

April 8,1969 The Detroit Tigers opened the '69 season at Tiger Stadium against the Cleveland Indians and won a wild one in extra innings 10-9. Trailing 4-1 in the 6th inning Detroit erupted for 5 runs with Willie Horton delivering the key blow, a grandslam. Jim Northrup followed Horton with a solo shot and the Tigers found themselves out in front 6-4. But Tiger starter Denny McLain and reliever Pat Dobson were unable to hold the lead and Cleveland came back to tie it up at 9 apiece. The game went to extra innings when in the bottom of the 10th inning, Gates Brown launched a pinch-hit game winning homerun deep into the rightfield seats. John Hiller got the win in relief for Detroit and Al Kaline(pictured) went 3 for 4 with a homerun.

Strat-O-Matic Report

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BOXSCORE: 1969 Cleveland Indians At 1969 Detroit Tigers              4/8/1969



 



  Indians            AB  R  H RBI AVG     Tigers             AB  R  H RBI AVG



  J.Cardenal CF       5  0  1  1 .200     D.McAuliffe 2B      4  0  0  0 .000  



  L.Brown SS          3  0  0  0 .000     M.Stanley SS,CF     4  2  1  0 .250  



B-L.Maye PH           1  0  0  0 .000     A.Kaline RF         4  3  3  1 .750  



C-M.Alvis SS          1  0  1  21.000     N.Cash 1B           4  1  0  0 .000  



G-D.Nelson PR,RF      1  0  0  0 .000     W.Horton LF         3  2  1  4 .333  



  R.Scheinblum RF     5  1  1  0 .200   D-D.Tracewski SS      1  0  0  0 .000  



  H.Pina P            0  0  0  0 ----     J.Northrup CF,LF    4  1  2  3 .500  



  T.Horton 1B         5  2  2  1 .400     B.Freehan C         4  0  0  1 .000  



  J.Hall LF           5  2  2  1 .400     D.Wert 3B           4  0  0  0 .000  



  J.Azcue C           5  0  2  1 .400     P.Dobson P          0  0  0  0 ----  



  Z.Versalles 3B      2  0  1  1 .500     J.Hiller P          0  0  0  0 ----  



  J.Hamilton P        0  0  0  0 ----   I-G.Brown PH          1  1  1  11.000  



  M.Paul P            0  0  0  0 ----     D.McLain P          3  0  0  0 .000  



E-R.Snyder PH         1  1  1  11.000   F-T.Matchick 3B       1  0  0  0 .000  



H-C.Peterson SS       1  0  0  0 .000                                          



  V.Fuller 2B         4  1  1  0 .250                                          



  L.Tiant P           2  1  1  0 .500                                          



A-C.Hinton 3B         2  1  2  11.000                                          



                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---      



         Totals      43  9 15  9                 Totals      37 10  8 10



 



A-Subbed Defensively (3B) For Tiant In 6th Inning



B-Pinch Hit For Brown In 7th Inning



C-Subbed Defensively (SS) For Maye In 7th Inning



D-Subbed Defensively (SS) For Horton In 8th Inning



E-Pinch Hit For Paul In 8th Inning



F-Subbed Defensively (3B) For McLain In 8th Inning



G-Pinch Ran For Alvis In 8th Inning



H-Subbed Defensively (SS) For Snyder In 8th Inning



I-Pinch Hit For Hiller In 10th Inning



 



Indians......... 0 0 0  1 1 2  0 5 0  0 -  9 15  2



Tigers.......... 1 0 0  0 0 5  3 0 0  1 - 10  8  1



 



Indians (0-1)            IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA



L.Tiant                   5       4   6   6   5   2   3  92  10.80



J.Hamilton                1 1/3   3   3   3   1   2   0  29  20.25



M.Paul                    0 2/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   2   0.00



H.Pina LOSS(0-1)          2 1/3   1   1   1   0   0   1  26   3.86



Totals                    9 1/3   8  10  10   6   4   4



 



Tigers (1-0)             IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA



D.McLain                  7 1/3  12   7   7   0   4   1 129   8.59



P.Dobson BS(1st)          0 1/3   3   2   2   0   0   0  15  54.00



J.Hiller WIN(1-0)         2 1/3   0   0   0   1   0   0  24   0.00



Totals                   10      15   9   9   1   4   1



 



ATTENDANCE- 16,128 DATE- Tuesday, April 8th 1969 TIME- Day 



UMPIRES- Hank Soar, Bill Kinnamon, Emmett Ashford, Art Frantz



T- 3:02



LEFT ON BASE- Indians: 8  Tigers: 6



DOUBLE PLAYS- Indians: 0  Tigers: 0



ERRORS- L.Brown, T.Horton, D.McAuliffe



DOUBLES- J.Azcue(1st), Z.Versalles(1st), C.Hinton(1st), A.Kaline-2(2nd),



         J.Northrup(1st)



TRIPLES- J.Hall(1st), L.Tiant



HOME RUNS- T.Horton(1st), A.Kaline(1st), W.Horton(1st), J.Northrup(1st),



           G.Brown(1st)



STOLEN BASES- J.Cardenal(1st), V.Fuller(1st)



SACRIFICE FLIES- J.Cardenal, Z.Versalles, B.Freehan



WALKS- C.Hinton, D.McAuliffe, M.Stanley, A.Kaline, N.Cash, W.Horton, J.Northrup



HIT BY PITCH- V.Fuller



STRIKE OUTS- L.Maye, T.Horton, V.Fuller, L.Tiant, M.Stanley, N.Cash, D.Wert,



             D.McLain



PASSED BALLS- J.Azcue



2-out RBI- A.Kaline, M.Alvis-2



 



Al Kaline blasted a homerun and scored 3 times as the Detroit Tigers defeated



the Cleveland Indians in 10 innings by a score of 10 to 9 at Tiger



Stadium.



 



Both teams were tied at 9 runs apiece after nine innings.  Detroit won it in



the 10th inning.  After an out was recorded, Gates Brown delivered a solo



blast giving Detroit the victory as 16,128 happy fans celebrated wildly.



Despite losing, Cleveland out-hit Detroit 15 to 8.  



 



John Hiller(1-0) went 2 and 1/3 innings allowing no runs for the win. Horacio



Pina(0-1) was the losing pitcher in relief.  He gave up 1 hit and no walks in



2 and 1/3 innings.  



 

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