Top Ten Blue Jays’ Home
Openers
#9: 1978 vs Detroit
Tigers
 |
| Roy Howell |
The Blue Jays headed into their
second season looking to improve on their 54-107 record from their inaugural
year. And they came into their home opener on Friday afternoon, April 14, with
a 1-4 record. Their opponent would be the Detroit Tigers, who would start Jim
Slaton on the mound, while Toronto would counter with Jerry Garvin. Neither
pitcher would last very long.
Detroit scored three runs in the
top of the first on a solo home run by Ron LeFlore and a two-run shot by Jason
Thompson. Toronto came back with two of their own in the bottom half of the
inning, the first coming on an RBI single by Roy Howell, scoring Rick Bosetti.
A couple of batters later, Howell would score after a pair of wild pitches.
The Tigers would add single runs
in both the second and third and took a 5-2 lead to the bottom of the third.
Three straight singles by Jays’ batters Bob Bailor, Howell and Rico Carty cut
the lead to 5-3. Howell would score his second run of the game on an RBI ground
out and Detroit’s lead was now 5-4.
After another run in the top of
the fourth, the Tigers held a 6-4 lead as the game moved into the bottom of the
sixth. With one out, a walk, an error and a single loaded the bases. Howell
lined a single to left field, scoring two runs and tying the game at six. A sac
fly by Carty gave the Jays the lead for the first time in the game, but they
weren’t done yet.
After a walk and a wild pitch,
Doug Ault singled to centre, scoring Howell and John Mayberry to make the score
9-6 for Toronto. Another single, this time by Canadian-born Dave McKay, scored
Ault and the Jays now had a four-run lead.
The Tigers scored two runs with
two out in the ninth, but were unable to score any more and the Jays won their
home opener by a score of 10-8. Don Kirkwood picked up the win in relief after
pitching five and a third innings, allowing three runs and striking out a
batter. Tom Murphy picked up the save.
Roy Howell was 4 for 5 with
three RBIs and three runs scored. Bob Bailor and Rico Carty also had multi-hit
games. Alas, it wasn’t a sign of things to come for the Jays as they would lose
more than 100 games again, this time finishing with a 59-102 record.
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