Brew Crew Bumps Around Tigers for 2-1 Series Win

Cecil Cooper was all smiles for Milwaukee.

June 1st-3rd (Games #48-50)

The 1981 Detroit Tigers won their last series against the Milwaukee Brewers in Milwaukee, for a 3-1 series win, almost a week ago (Games #41-45)... This time? It did not go so well.

The Tigers were in excellent shape, winning 10 of their last 14 games, while the Tigers' sluggers were drooling over the chance to face two Grade D pitchers (Lerch & Jim Slaton) & one Grade C Pitcher (Caldwell). 

The Brew Crew's bats jumped all over Jack Morris, with 7 runs in the first two innings -- including two big home runs by Milwaukee in Gorman Thomas's three-run homer in the 1st & Cecil Cooper's two-run homer in the 2nd; Morris finished the game allowing 7 hits, 7 earned runs (8 runs) & a walk in only 2.2 innings of work.

The Brewers' Randy Lerch earns a sloppy win (5 ER in 5 innings), while Morris falls to a 4-5 record, with his ERA jumping up to 3.61 .

The Tigers came within 4 runs in the bottom of the 4th (trailing 9-5) & during the bottom of the 8th as well (final score of 11-7)... but the damage was done. The Tigers' Lynn Jones had 3 RBI, while Alan Trammell had 2 RBI in the losing effort.

By the way, the Tigers suffered a weird jinx with Tom Brookens getting injured playing third during the top of the 3rd; Brookens was highlighted in my previous blog piece. Brookens will miss the next 5 games, while Richie Hebner will move from first base to third, while the Tigers will have to depend on bad-fielding John Wockenfuss at first.

The next night had Mike Caldwell (Grade C-Z) against Milt Wilcox (Grade B-Z), but Wilcox ran into the same problem Morris did in Game 1 of the series, as the Brewers' bats jumped all over Wilcox in the 1st inning -- Ben Oglivie hit a three-run homer to jump start the team, which would prove to be the cushion they needed in their 5-2 victory.

Al Cowens went 2-for-4, with a double & two RBI for the Tigers, while Cecil Cooper was again active for the Brewers -- going 3-for-4, two doubles, 2 RBI & a run scored.

With the first two losses to Milwaukee, added to the previous loss to Baltimore just prior, the Tigers lost three games straight -- setting their season's biggest losing streak to date.

The real-life 1981 Detroit Tigers suffered a far worse losing streak from April 19th through April 29th... losing 10 straight games, which is one of the reasons why these Tigers could not win the 1st-half division title; I actually reversed history, and my team went 7-3 during that rough patch, which is one of the reasons that I have the Tigers in good shape for the 1st half division title.

The third & final game of the series witnessed the Tigers bouncing back, with Dan Petry winning his 10th game (10-1 record), while allowing only 2 earned runs & 5 hits through 7 strong innings, despite three walks.

Alan Trammell went 3-for-4, all singles, with 2 RBI to help the Tigers avoid their first series sweep.

Next up: The lousy Minnesota Twins (15-34) visit the Detroit Tigers (34-16).