There were 15 games on May 6, 1984, which is unusual enough to begin with because there were only 26 teams. (Two doubleheaders, obviously.) Seven of those games ranked in the top 100 of the season so far, and three were in the top 20. The best of the group was Tigers 6, Indians 5 (12), pitting Detroit's Milt Wilcox, an acceptable pitcher over a career of reasonable length (just clearing 2000 innings) against Cleveland's Bert Blyleven, a Hall of Famer. Of course, the Tigers had the best lineup in the league, so the uneven pitching matchup was barely enough to make it fair.
Detroit mounted a couple of early threats; Kirk Gibson doubled in the first inning, and walks to Darrell Evans, Johnny Grubb, and Howard Johnson loaded the bases in the second, but to no avail. The bottom of the second saw the first run of the game, which scored when Pat Tabler singled, Brook Jacoby doubled, and one of Wilcox's pitches escaped from Lance Parrish for a passed ball. Blyleven continued working through Tiger rallies, rendering a third-inning Parrish single and two fourth-inning baserunners meaningless as well.
Cleveland pulled farther ahead in the bottom of the fourth. Andre Thornton started the rally with a one-out walk, and came around to score on singles by Mike Hargrove and Tabler. After the second out, Wilcox walked 8-9 hitters Jerry Willard and George Vukovich to force in another run, making it 3-0. Blyleven worked around an Alan Trammell single in the fifth, and the bottom of the inning brought yet more Indian scoring, as Thornton and Hargrove hit consecutive doubles and Tabler added an RBI single.
Grubb finally put the Tigers on the board with a solo homer in the top of the sixth. Wilcox was pulled in the bottom of the inning, and Dave Rozema quelled the Cleveland lineup with two perfect frames. In the top of the eighth, Grubb singled with one out, and so did Chet Lemon. Blyleven was pulled for George Frazier, and things went downhill from there; Frazier walked Dave Bergman and Johnson to load the bases and force in a run, and was yanked for Mike Jeffcoat. Jeffcoat walked Lou Whitaker to force in another Tiger, and a Trammell single and a Gibson forceout completed the comeback, tying the game at 5. Tom Waddell relieved at least one batter too late and coaxed Parrish to ground out.
Willie Hernandez replaced Rozema in the bottom of the eighth, and he and Waddell cruised through a perfect half-inning each. The bottom of the ninth brought only a Vukovich single, and the game progressed to extras when his teammates failed to capitalize. Bergman led off the top of the tenth with a single, and moved to second on a Johnson sacrifice; Whitaker was intentionally walked, and Trammell singled to load the bases and drive Waddell from the mound. Ernie Camacho got a force at home from Gibson and a flyout from Parrish to preserve the tie.
Hernandez threw a 1-2-3 bottom of the tenth, and Camacho walked Grubb in the eleventh but saw pinch runner Rusty Kuntz caught stealing. Aurelio Lopez relieved in the bottom of the eleventh and allowed a single to Otis Nixon, who moved to second on a bunt but advanced no further.
Bergman led off the top of the twelfth with a double, was sacrificed to third, and scored the go-ahead run on Whitaker's single. Lopez allowed one-out hits to Julio Franco and Thornton in the bottom of the inning, putting the tying run at second, but a popup and a flyout brought about the end of the game without additional fuss and bother.
The 1984 Tigers were a very, very good baseball team; this game pushed their record to 22-4. It gives off the impression (which I realize is not an accurate one) of a team that was bored with just winning conventionally and was looking for ways to challenge itself - say, spotting an opponent a 5-run lead with a Hall of Fame starter on the mound. Yes, they were good enough to pull out the win, but the added degree of difficulty at least made it interesting - the best game of the second-best day of the year so far.
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