Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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Detroit Tigers at Minnesota Twins, Metropolitan Stadium, Bloomington, MN
July 20, 1979

Introduction

Okay, I cheated a little bit. I noticed that I hadn't written a regular-season game story for the 1970s yet, so I pulled random numbers until one came up - it took three tries and I'll do the two games that came up first as my next two games (hopefully this week). But I wanted to do a game in the decade in which I first became a baseball fan - and which I'm currently working through in my series of seasons for which I've calculated Player won-lost records.

And so, we come to July 20, 1979 in a matchup between the Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins. The Tigers entered play in fifth place in the AL East with a record of 46-45. The Twins entered play in third place in the AL West with a record of 48-48.

The starting pitcher for the Tigers was Hall-of-Famer Jack Morris in his third major-league season, his first as a full-time starter. Morris, who was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, was making his first career start in his home state - 12 years before he helped them win a World Series. Morris entered the game with a record of 8-5 with a 3.55 ERA.

Morris's opponent was Darrell Jackson, who entered play with a record of 2-1 with a 2.63 ERA.

First Inning

Ron LeFlore led off the game with a single. From 1978 - 1980, LeFlore stole 243 bases and led each league in stolen bases once. LeFlore did not get one of those 243 stolen bases in this inning. Rather, he got one of the 49 caught stealings he accumulated over the same three years, the out going 1-3-6. The next two batters were quick outs and the Twins came to bat with the game still scoreless.

The Twins, however, did no better against Morris. Roy Smalley singled with one out but was eliminated in a slick 4-6-3 featuring the Tigers' young double-play combination of Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell.

Second Inning

The second inning started a lot like the first inning. The Tigers' leadoff batter singled - Lance Parrish in this case - and was promptly caught stealing. Jerry Morales singled and Jason Thompson walked - that Parrish stolen-base attempt wasn't looking so good.

John Wockenfuss put the ball over the left-field fence, and while Parrish's caught stealing prevented it from being a grand slam, it nevertheless gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead. The next two batters grounded out but the Tigers led 3-0 through 1-1/2 innings.

And Jack Morris seemed eager to protect it, working a quick 1-2-3 inning which featured a strikeout of Twins DH Danny Goodwin. [Fun fact: Danny Goodwin was drafted first overall in the MLB draft twice, in 1971 out of high school and, after not signing with the Chicago White Sox, in 1975 out of college by the California Angels; this was his first appearance with the Twins, for whom he ended up playing 172 of his 252 career games over three seasons.]

Third Inning

For the first time in three innings, the Tigers leadoff batter did not single. But the next batter, Lou Whitaker, did. And, for the first time in three innings, the first Tigers batter to reach base in the inning was not caught stealing. Which was very helpful to the Tigers when the next batter, Steve Kemp, hit the Tigers' second home run of the game to left field. Lance Parrish followed with a double. But Morales struck out and Thompson grounded out to end the inning. But the Tigers had a 5-0 lead going to the bottom of the third inning.

And the Tigers still had a 5-0 lead going to the fourth inning as Morris pitched his second consecutive 1-2-3 inning. Through three innings, Morris had faced the minimum - only nine batters.

Fourth Inning

The fourth inning brought on a new pitcher for the Twins, Gary Serum. For the third time in four innings, the Tigers got a leadoff single - this time by John Wockenfuss. But the next three batters were retired and the game moved to the bottom of the fourth inning.

Jack Morris's Hall-of-Fame candidacy was quite controversial. The controversy could perhaps best be summarized by two somewhat contradictory statistics. In his career, Jack Morris accumulated 254 traditional pitcher wins, a number that has traditionally led to the Hall of Fame. But he had a 3.90 career ERA, which is the highest of any pitcher in the Hall of Fame. The pro-Morris contingent would often argue that the 3.90 ERA was inflated because Morris would "pitch to the score" - i.e., he'd let up a little when he had a big lead but still pitch well enough to win: an 8-6 win is just as good as an 8-0 win, the argument would go.

It appears that Jack Morris decided to "pitch to the score" a bit in the bottom of the fourth inning with a 5-0 lead.

• Mike Cubbage walked.
• Roy Smalley hit a two-run home run to cut the Tigers lead to 5-2.
• Ken Landreaux singled.
• Glenn Adams singled Landreaux to third.
• Danny Goodwin struck out for the second time.
• Rob Wilfong singled, scoring Landreaux to make the score 5-3 and sending Adams to third base.
• Ron Jackson singled, scoring Adams to make the score 5-4 and sending Wilfong to second base.

The Tigers' manager, Sparky Anderson, had only been with the team for about a month. And Morris was new to the Tigers' rotation. So Anderson was understandably skeptical about Morris's ability to "pitch the score" now that it was a one-run game and the go-ahead run was on base with only one out. And so, Morris's game was over and the new Tigers pitcher was Kip Young. Young retired the next two batters and the Tigers still led through four, but only just barely, 5-4.

Fifth Inning

With one out in the top of the fifth inning, Steve Kemp decided that a one-run lead wasn't enough, so he hit his second home run of the game, this one a solo shot to center field, to push the Tigers lead up to 6-4. Lance Parrish followed that up by reaching on an error by third baseman Mike Cubbage. But Morales also hit a grounder to Cubbage and instead of bobbling this one, he started an around-the-horn double play to end the inning.

So, the game reached the halfway point. Both starting pitchers were out of the game and the Tigers held a 6-4 lead.

The score did not stay 6-4 for long.

• Mike Cubbage led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a double.
• Roy Smalley grounded out to Whitaker, Cubbage taking third base.
• Ken Landreaux hit a two run home run to tie the score at six.
• Glenn Adams un-tied the score with a solo home run.
• John Hiller replaced Kip Young on the mound for the Tigers.
• Jerry Morales singled.
• Rob Wilfong singled, Morales stopping at second base.
• Ron Jackson walked, loading the bases.
• Butch Wynegar singled, scoring Morales and Wilfong, Jackson stopping at second base.
• Dave Edwards singled, scoring Jackson, Wynegar stopping at second base.
• Dave Tobik replaced John Hiller, with the score 10-6.
• John Castino singled, scoring Wynegar, with Edwards stopping at second.
• A wild pitch advanced both runners one base.
• Roy Smalley hit a sharp grounder to Lou Whitaker, but Whitaker's throw home was late, Edwards scoring, Castino taking third, and Smalley reaching first base.
• Landreaux hit a sacrifice fly to center field for this third RBI - and the Twins' ninth run - of the inning.
• Glenn Adams grounded out to Whitaker to mercifully end the inning.

Sixth Inning

Gary Serum had entered the game with the Twins trailing 5-0. Suddenly, he found himself with a 13-6 lead. Jason Thompson led off the top of sixth inning with a single. But he was forced by Wockenfuss and Tom Brookens hit into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Tobik extended his string of consecutive batters retired to five on a pair of fly outs to center field. Ron Jackson got a two-out single, but Wynegar hit the third fly out to center field of the inning.

Seventh Inning

For the fourth consecutive inning, Serum allowed exactly one hit - this time a one-out single by LeFlore. But he capped the inning by striking out Steve Kemp.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Castino blasted a one-out triple and scored on a two-out single by Landreaux to extend the Twins lead to 14-6. But Glenn Adams flew out to center field (LeFlore's 5th putout in the last 8 Twins' outs) to end the inning.

Eighth Inning

The eighth inning was Serum's fifth inning in relief of Darrell Jackson and the first in which he did not allow a hit. He did allow his first walk - to Jason Thompson - but it came with two outs and John Wockenfuss followed by fouling out to Cubbage.

Tobik's fourth relief inning was also the first in which he did not allow a hit as he worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth inning, sending the Tigers to their final at bat trailing by eight runs.

Ninth Inning

Gary Serum returned for his sixth inning in relief and he had no interest in the game lasting any longer than it needed to. He opened the inning by striking out Tom Brookens - Serum's third strikeout of the game. He followed that with his second walk of the game - this one to Alan Trammell. But Lynn Jones, who had replaced LeFlore in center field in the previous inning, hit a ground ball to Roy Smalley, who tossed to Rob Wilfong for the force at second, and when Wilfong's relay throw to Ron Jackson beat Jones at first base, the ball game was over.

Game Summary

And so the Twins won the game, 14-6. Sparky Anderson pulled Jack Morris early enough to save him from suffering the official loss, which went to Kip Young. Player won-lost records are somewhat less forgiving about Morris's performance, although Young's is worse - in fact, as measured by Player won-lost records, the three Tigers most responsible for this loss were the first three Tigers pitchers of the game (a result which is hardly shocking or controversial).

The pitching win went to Gary Serum, the 10th and final win of his three-year major-league career.

Morris bounced back from this game and finished the 1979 season strong. He finished the year with a record of 17-7 and a 3.28 ERA as the Tigers finished with a record of 85-76, their second of what would eventually be eleven consecutive winning seasons. The Twins also managed a winning season, 82-80, their only winning season from 1978 through 1986.

Details of the game are shown below. First, I show Player won-lost records for all of the players who participated in the game. Baseball Player won-lost records are constructed so that the players on the winning team earn two pWins and one pLoss in the game while the players on the losing team earn one pWin and two pLosses. I also show expected wins and losses, eWins and eLosses, which are context-neutral. Full play by play details of the game are shown below the won-lost tables. My Player won-lost records are described in more detail in this article and throughout my website.

Retrosheet Box Score and Play-by-Play