The featured game of Series V saw Detroit‘s Joe Lake taking on Si Johnson of the visiting Chicago American Giants in the opening match of the four game set.
The game was scoreless until the top of the 4th, when Dick Allen led off with a solo HR to give Chicago a 1-0 lead. It was short-lived, as a 2-run HR from Geoff Jenkins and an RBI double by Bob Bailey put Detroit up 3-1 in the bottom of the frame.
A 3-run blast from 1B Hank Greenberg extended the Detroit lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the 5th, and the Wolverines looked in good shape.
However … this is The Featured Game, right?
Mike Fiore led off the top of the 7th with a leadoff HR, and when Duffy Lewis followed with a sharp single, Johnson was chased from the game, to be replaced by Doyle Alexander, who fanned the first batter he faced, but then gave up a single to light-hitting Damian Jackson, turning over the fearsome Chicago lineup to the top.
It delivered: Shoeless Joe Jackson singled in Lewis, and, after Cristobal Torriente hit into a fielders’ choice, Frank Thomas slammed a 3-run HR to tie the game at 6.
Damian Jackson would strike again in the top of the 8th, singling in two runs with Kevin Hart on the mound for Detroit to give Chicago the lead again, at 8-6.
But the home team still had some fight in them, with Chili Davis tagging Ken Sanders for a solo HR and Greenberg adding an RBI single in the bottom of the 8th to tie the game.
Detroit would keep Hart in the game for the top of the 9th, and Thomas would greet him with a leadoff HR to give the lead back to Chicago, 9-8.
The American Giant’s beleaguered closer, AJ Minter, would take the mound in the bottom of the frame. After George Davis flied out, Tony Phillips would single against Minter, bringing up Detroit’s DH Bob Bailey, who launched a ball deep to LF. Torriente took off at a full sprint and, far in the LF corner, made a tumbling catch. Phillips tagged up from first in a desperate attempt to get into scoring position, but Torriente somehow rolled to his feet, stopped his momentum, whirled, and threw a rope to 2B, just beating Phillips to end the game.
Thomas drove in 4, going 3-for-5, and Allen and Lewis added 2 hits each for Chicago, while Davis, Phillips, and Greenberg had 3 hits each for the home team. Hart took the loss, falling to 0-2, and Akinori Otsuka picked up the win, improving his record to 2-3 (Otsuka wasn’t terribly effective–he gave up 1 hit in one-third of an inning, and picked up a blown save as well), with Minter getting his first save in–by far–his most effective outing of the year.
