Sept. 16, 1977 – Yankees 5, Tigers 4
- Sal Maiorana
- Sep 16, 2017
- 2 min read
DETROIT – Billy Martin had made his mind up. Paul Blair was not going to get another at-bat at Tiger Stadium unless one thing happened – the man before him in the batting order, Lou Piniella, drove in both runners who were on base with two outs in the top of the eighth.
Had Piniella only driven in one and left the Yankees still trailing 3-2, Blair was out for a pinch-hitter. Had Piniella made the last out, Blair would have been pinch-hit for to start the ninth. But because everything for about a month-plus had been going the Yankees’ way, you know what happened. Piniella indeed tied the game with a ringing double off the wall in left-center that chased home Reggie Jackson and Graig Nettles, so Martin let Blair bat, and, well, what a stroke of good fortune that turned out to be.
The normally light-hitting Blair, who had just turned 33 a week ago, stepped in against reliever Bruce Taylor and deposited his second pitch into the left-field stands for a game-winning two-run homer, one of only four he would hit in 183 plate appearances in 1977.
“I figured with the double and the score tied, I’d leave him in for defensive purposes,” said Martin. “I was hoping he’d get a hit, but I wasn’t thinking a home run.”
Blair played center field because Mickey Rivers had to sit out after injuring his ankle the night before against Boston. He had been hitless in his first three cracks against Detroit starter Fernando Arroyo who had been lifted by Tigers manager Ralph Houk after Piniella’s double.
The four-run rally enabled the Yankees to stay 2.5 games ahead of the Orioles, who defeated Boston 6-1 in Baltimore to jump into second place. It also made a winner out of Don Gullett who went the distance, even though he made it interesting in the ninth. After striking out the first two men, Milt May reached on a bunt single to third and Aurelio Rodriquez doubled him home before Gullett retired Bob Adams on a grounder to short to end it.
Here's another blast from the past, the music of 1977. This is The Eagles playing their huge hit Hotel California at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland that year.
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