#7: Beniquez walks off Tigers, 1987
Detroit Tigers (9) at Toronto Blue
Jays (10)
Saturday, September 26, 1987
Exhibition Stadium
Most
Blue Jays fans either don’t remember or don’t know who Juan Beniquez was and
what he did while in a Toronto uniform. He’s pretty much a footnote in Jays’
history (parts of two seasons, 66 total games, 44 hits) but for one glorious
moment, he was a hero.
But
first, let’s set the stage. For most of the 1987 season, the American League
East looked to be a dog fight between the Blue Jays and the New York Yankees, a
mirror image of their 1985 duel. Back and forth the two teams would go
throughout June and July, taking turns being in first place. But as August progressed,
the Yankees faded and it was the Detroit Tigers who surged ahead and challenged
Toronto. The two teams were scheduled to play each other seven times in the
last week and a half of the season: four games in Toronto on the last weekend
of September, and three games in Detroit at the beginning of October to finish
off the regular season.
Toronto
came into the four-game set in Toronto with a ½ game lead. They took the first
game by a score of 4-3, but lost All-Star shortstop Tony Fernandez for the season
with a broken elbow suffered in a collision at second base. In the second game,
Fernandez’s replacement, Manny Lee, scored the winning run in the bottom of the
ninth to give the Jays a 3-2 win and a 2 ½ game lead in the division.
The
Saturday game was one of the most anticipated games of the year, with NBC
sending their “A” broadcasting team (Vin Scully and Joe Garagiolla) to cover
the contest. The announced crowd was 46,429, meaning that a few thousand of
them were several hundred feet beyond the centre-field fence, due to the North
Grandstand extending far past where the outfield wall wrapped around centre
field. (see picture)
The
starting pitchers were Dave Stieb for Toronto and Walt Terrell for Detroit, and
neither of them made it through three innings. The Tigers struck for three off
of Stieb in the top of the first. Detroit’s MVP candidate, shortstop Alan
Trammell, smacked a double to left field scoring Kirk Gibson. Catcher Matt
Nokes then hit a two-run home run and the Tigers led 3-0.
The
lead didn’t last long as the Jays struck for three of their own in the bottom
half of the inning. Second baseman Nelson Liriano led off with a single, centre
fielder Lloyd Moseby walked, and third baseman Rance Mulliniks doubled them
both home to cut the lead to 3-2. Mulliniks would later score to tie the game
on a double-play ball.
Neither
team scored in the second, but in the top of the third, Nokes lit up Stieb for
another home run, this time with the bases loaded. The grand slam put Detroit
ahead 7-3. Toronto got one back in the bottom of the inning when right fielder
Jesse Barfield tripled to centre field, scoring left-fielder George Bell, who
had doubled to lead off the inning.
The
Tigers would add to their lead in the fifth. First baseman Darrell Evans would
hit a solo shot off of Jays reliever John Cerutti, and an RBI ground out later
in the inning would make the score 9-4. Toronto pecked away at the Detroit
lead. In the fifth, a single by designated hitter (and former University of Michigan
quarterback) Rick Leach would score Barfield. Another run would be added in the
sixth when Bell—Toronto’s MVP candidate—singled in Moseby. Detroit’s lead was
cut to 9-6.
Then
in the seventh, Leach would connect for a solo home run to close the gap to
9-7. Overlooked in what was to happen later would be the job the Toronto
bullpen did after the fifth inning. Over the final four innings, Jays’
relievers Duane Ward, Mark Eichorn, David Wells and Jose Nunez would not allow
a single Tiger to touch home plate.
As
the game headed to the bottom of the ninth, Detroit still had a two-run lead
and was all set to trim Toronto’s advantage in the division to a game and a
half. Tiger pitcher Mike Henneman was looking to secure the final three outs to
win the ball game. But he wouldn’t get any.
Barfield
doubled to start the inning. Then, first baseman Willie Upshaw singled moving
Barfield to third. Leach was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with none out.
The Exhibition Stadium crowd was going nuts with anticipation. The scheduled
batter was Manny Lee, but Blue Jays’ manager Jimy Williams instead sent up the
veteran Juan Beniquez to pinch hit.
Beniquez
drilled a pitch from new relief pitcher, Dickie Noles, into the gap in
left-centre field that went all the way to the wall. Barfield scored. Upshaw
scored. Lou Thornton, pinch-running for Leach, raced all the way from first to
score the winning run. Toronto had just pulled off an improbably comeback,
10-9, on a bases loaded triple by Beniquez.
The
Ex went crazy as the Jays extended their division lead to 3 ½ games. The
division was all but wrapped up. There was no way Detroit would come back now. Pandemonium
reigned supreme.
But
it all started to unravel the following day. Toronto took a 1-0 lead into the
ninth inning, looking to sweep the series and move 4 ½ games in front. But the
Tigers tied the game and sent it to extra innings. Both teams scored in the
eleventh, but Detroit was the only team to score in the thirteenth.
The
Jays would lose their next six games, including the three in Detroit to finish the
1987 season with a seven-game losing streak. The Tigers, meanwhile, would win
five games in that final week, to finish with a two-game lead atop the A.L.
East.
It
was the second huge disappointment (the 1985 ALCS being the first) for the Jays
and their fans in their quest to see the Jays as World Champions.
(**As
a final note, my late father always thought the 1987 Blue Jays was the best
team the franchise ever had—even better than the two that won the World Series
in 1992 and 1993. He was convinced that if Toronto had won the Sunday game in
Toronto to complete the sweep, there’s no way Detroit would have come back).
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