This Date In Royals History--1984 Edition: April 18
Detroit stays hot (and undefeated) with a walkoff win over the Royals, ruining KC's comeback.
Facing the hottest team in baseball, the Royals mounted a late-inning comeback to tie the game. But it went for naught when the Detroit Tigers took advantage of a rare error by second baseman Frank White for a 4-3 win in 10 innings on Wednesday night at Tiger Stadium.
The Tigers entered the game at 8-0, the only undefeated team left in the majors. They also had their ace, Jack Morris, who had already thrown a no-hitter in the 1984 season, on the mound. And Detroit continued to impress, building a 3-0 lead through the first seven innings. The Tigers scored a single run in the second against Royals starter Bud Black as Larry Herndon led off with a triple and scored on Chet Lemon’s double. Rod Allen bunted Lemon to third, but Black struck out Kirk Gibson and Tom Brookens to end the inning.
Lance Parrish pushed the Tigers’ lead to 2-0 when he started the fourth inning with a home run. Lemon doubled with one out but was then caught stealing, and Black struck out Allen to end that inning.
But the bottom of the Detroit order got to Black in the seventh. With one out, Allen singled and Gibson walked. Brookens singled for a third run for the home team. Black again limited the damage well, getting Lou Whitaker to ground into a double play.
Meanwhile, Kansas City hitters were collecting scoring chances against Morris, but not taking advantage. The Royals had two singles in the second, but Don Slaught’s line drive turned into a double play when first baseman Barbaro Garbey snagged it and stepped on the base.
The fifth inning may have been even more frustrating. White led off with a double, but Butch Davis and Slaught both grounded out, neither one moving White off second. Morris hit Greg Pryor with a pitch, but Onix Concepcion grounded out and the inning was over.
But the eighth inning was different. Morris was still on the mound and Slaught led off with a single. It looked like another chance might go by the wayside when Morris struck out Pryor and pinch-hitter Orlando Sanchez. But Pat Sheridan singled and Jorge Orta hit his first home run of the season, tying the game at 3-3.
Joe Beckwith took over for Black to start the eighth and worked around a walk and a single with one out. The Tigers also had a leadoff single in the ninth but could not take advantage. In the 10th, Alan Trammell led off with a single and advanced to second on Dave Bergman’s bunt. Parrish grounded out, moving the winning run to third with two outs. Herndon hit a grounder toward right field. White ranged to his left, but could not field it cleanly, twice trying to pick up the ball but failing before Herndon reached first and Trammell scored the winning run.
“The ball was spinning. I had my momentum going toward first and when I reached back for it my weight was already going toward first. It doesn’t really matter how it happened. What it all boils down to is I missed it. The ball was right there.”--White, quoted by the Associated Press, April 19, 1984
The Tigers’ 9-0 start was the best in the American League since Oakland started the 1981 season 11-0, with the Atlanta Braves holding the record for best start with a 12-0 streak in 1982.
Meanwhile, the Royals fell to 5-6 with the loss. They were in a three-way tie for third in the AL West with California and Chicago; all three teams were 2.5 games behind Oakland.
Box score and play-by-play: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET198404180.shtml
Today’s birthdays: Jim Eisenreich (1959), Dennis Rasmussen (1959), Billy Butler (1986)