Sept. 29, 1977 – Indians 4, Yankees 1

NEW YORK – Cleveland beat the Yankees for just the third time in 15 games, but this one was meaningful because it cancelled the champagne party that had been scheduled in the home clubhouse.

With Boston and Baltimore both winning, the Yankees failed to clinch the AL East as the Indians rose up and ended New York’s six-game winning streak, and the main reason was pitcher Wayne Garland.

The Indians were playing out the string on another frustrating season, but this game meant everything to Garland, who had signed the second-richest free agent contract (behind only Reggie Jackson’s deal with the Yankees) to jump from Baltimore to Cleveland. Last year, he won 20 games, but had he lost this game, it would have been his 20th loss, and he simply wasn’t going to allow that to happen. He limited the Yankees to six hits to improve to 13-19.

“Pride,” Garland said. “Foremost in my mind was pride. I have pride in myself, always have and always will. It probably would have been the biggest letdown of my life if I had lost, because I know I’m not a 20-game loser. I didn’t want to lose my 20th, and I didn’t want them to clinch the pennant against me.”

Thurman Munson tags out Bruce Bochte at the plate in the second inning. Ed Figueroa, watching from behind, would leave the game in the next inning.

So, thanks to Garland’s pride, heading into the final weekend, the Yankees remained three games ahead of both the Red Sox and Orioles. With those teams playing each other at Fenway, one would eliminate the other in their next game. The winning team would then have to go on to sweep the series, and hope that Detroit could somehow sweep three games from New York at Yankee Stadium. Highly unlikely.

More concerning than the loss was the fact that Ed Figueroa left the game in the third inning with a strained muscle on his left side. Heading into the playoffs, the Yankees couldn’t afford to be down one of their most consistent starters. “I don’t know how bad it is, and probably won’t know for 48 hours,” trainer Gene Monahan said. “He couldn’t throw because he couldn’t land on his left foot and pivot. It hurt him tremendously.”

The daily baseball report

#WayneGarland #ReggieJackson #GeneMonahan