1978 LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Detroit vs. Chicago –
Game #1 –
R H E LOB DP
CHI 5 6 0 4 1
Det 7 12 1 4 0
Win /BS-Forster 1-0 Sv- Ford 1 Loss/BS- Lyle 0-1…..HR Staub ( 3 run HR ) Parker (3 run HR ) Rice ,Torres
Game #2 –
R H E LOB DP
CHI 2 8 1 6 0
DET 3 8 0 10 2
Win Sutter 1-0 Loss- Blue 0-1 HR Stargell, Torres
Game #3 – Ellis Valentine goes 4 for 4, Andre Thornton Homers and drives in 2 RBI’s for Chicago. J.R. Richard goes six solid innings and picks up the win, Chicago’s bullpen works the last 3 scoreless, and Sparky Lyle notches the save as Chicago beats Detroit 5 to 2.
Game #4 – Rookie sensation Kip Young gets the bump for the Demolition, and a 2-Run Home Run by Joe Morgan is all Young needed to shut down the Stars of Detroit. Young lets up 4 hits, walks 1, and goes 9 complete. Final score Chicago 2 – Detroit 0.
Game #5 – Ron Guidry couldn’t have pitched any better on this day. 8 strong innings, 3 hits, no walks, and 14 strikeouts. Guidry was amazing and masterful and Chicago looked like they were just going through the motions. Detroit scored 9 runs on 15 hits, including a 2 Home Run performance by Larry Hisle. Final score Deroit 9 – Chicago 0.
Long Beach vs. Germantown –
Game 1
BOT 1st White singled, stole, Porter singled and Kemp threw White out at home, Otis grounded into an FC, stole and Cooper flew to left. 0-0
TOP 2nd With 1-out Lezcano walked, Vail singled, Cox K and Burleson popped to third. 0-0
TOP 3rd With 1-out Frost reached on a 2-base White error, Grubb SAC, Frost scored on a Kemp grounder to short and Madlock flew to center. Titans 1-0
BOT 3rd Dawson singled, Waits failed to bunt, White grounded out to second and Porter grounded to short. Titans 1-0
TOP 4th With 1-out Lezcano singled. With 2-out Waits threw a PB advancing Lezcano to second,Cox was intentially walked and Burleson grounded to short. Titans 1-0
BOT 6th PH Foley singled, Martin came in to PR, White grounded to third, Porter K, Otis reached on a Burleson error moving Martin to third, Cooper grounded to second. Titans 1-0
BOT 7th DeCinces doubled, Yount grounded to third, Garner flew to center and DeCinces held at third, Dawson was beamed and had to leave the game, PR Kelly and PH Thompson K. Titans 1-0
TOP 8th With 2-outs Kemp and Madlock singled and Thompson flew to left. Titans 1-0
BOT 8th With 2-outs Otis singled, stole and Cooper popped to short. Titans 1-0
TOP 9th Lezcano singled, after an out Sambito drew a walk, Burleson flew to center and Cerone flew to left. Titans 1-0
Titans Frost went 6.2IP allowing 5H & 0W w/ 3K and Sambito finished it going 2.1 scorless innings. Grays Waits went 6IP allowing 0ER on 3H & 2W w/ 1K; Bibby, Sosa, Romo, Holly and Littell pitched 3 innings of scoreless relief, but there was no support.
Game 2
BOT 1st Garner walked and Yount went deep. Grays 2-0
BOT 2nd Dawson was bemed, Porter grounded into an FC, Robertson grounded to second and Splittorff K. Grays 2-0
BOT 3rd Garner and Yount leadoff with doubles, Otis K, DeCinces flew to left and Martin flew to right. Grays 3-0
TOP 4th Vail singled, Madlock doubled, Thompson lined into a DP (4-4-6) and Lezcano flew to right. Grays 3-0
BOT 4th With 1-out Porter singled and Robertson went deep. Grays 5-0
BOT 5th Otis singled, after an out PH White grounded to third and Dawson flew to left. Grays 5-0
TOP 6th Grubb doubled, Vail grounded to the mound, Madlock walked, Thompson popped to second and Lezcano grounded to third. Grays 5-0
BOT 6th Porter doubled, PH Cooper singled for 1st & 3rd and PH Kelly went deep. Grays 8-0
BOT 7th Dawson went deep. Grays 9-0
BOT 8th Garner walked, Randall singled, Zahn was walked to fill the bases, DeCinces singled for two, White grounded into a 5-4-4-3 DP, Dawson was beamed again (third time in 2 days) and Hassey flew to center. Grays 11-0
TOP 9th With 1-out Lezcano and Kemp drew walks, Staggs doubled for one, Cerone grounded to short for the second and PH Cage grounded to short. Grays 11-2
Grays Splittorff went 6IP allowing 0R on 5H & 2W w/ 1K.
Grays Garner was 2-3 3R 2W 2b; Yount 3-4 3RBI R 2b HR; Robertson 1-2 2RBI R HR; and Kelly 1-2 3RBI R HR
The series moves to Long Beach tied 1-1. Alan Wirth starts for Germantown and Dan Schatzeder takes the mound for Long Beach.
Game #3 – Germantown jumped out to an early lead in the 1st when Decinces singled in Yount who had doubled. Long Beach took over the game in the 3rd on an RBI double by Cowens, an RBI infield single by McCarver, a Grubb SF, a run scoring single by Kemp and a 3 run HR by Madlock for a 7-1 lead. Long Beach added HRs from Lezcano and Thompson and coasted to an 11-4 win and a 2-1 series lead.
Game #3 –The starters for game 4 were Rick Waits for Germantown and Nolan Ryan for Long Beach.
Long Beach took the lead in the 1st when White drops a flyball by Madlock allowing Paciorek to score. Thompson follows with a 2 run 3B for a 3-0 lead. Decinces cuts the lead to 3-2 with a 2 run HR in the 2nd. In the 5th Madlock’s SF scored Paciorek to push the lead to 4-2. In the 6th Germantown had Cooper on 3rd and Yount on 2nd with 1 out but Ryan struck out PH Kelly and Dawson grounded out to second to end the threat. In the bottom of the 6th Cowens doubled in Lezcano for a 5-2 lead. In the 7th Madlock singled in Paciorek who had doubled for the third time in the game. Cowens folled with a single scoring Madlock for a 7-2 lead. In the 8th Germantown put together a rally. Yount doubled in Cooper to cut the lead to 7-3 and put runners on 2nd and 3rd with no one out. Randall’s fly ball to right wasn’t deep enough to score Decinces and PHs Foley and Martin struck out to end the threat. Long Beach won 7-3 for a 3-1 series lead.
Game #5 –The starters for game 5 were Paul Splittorff vs. Larry Gura.
Germantown had a chance in the 1st with runners at 2nd and 3rd with 1 out when Decinces hit a flyball to CF but Garner was out trying to score ending the inning. In the bottom of the 1st, Thompson doubled scoring Kemp. Germantown ties the game in the 2nd when Dawson’s RBI groundout scored Martin who had tripled. The score stayed 1-1 until the 6th when Paciorek hit a 3 run HR for a 4-1 lead. In the 7th McCarver doubled in Thompson and Lezcano. Gura followed with a run scoring single for a 7-1 lead. Farmer came in to retire the side in the 9th to preserve the 7-1 win and send Long Beach to their 2nd World Series.
Game #6 – Mike Caldwell shuts down the Demolition holding them to only a leadoff Home Run from Ron LeFlore. Detroit Scored 4 in the 2nd, and tacked on 2 more in the middle innings, final score Detroit 6 – Chicago 0.
Detroit takes the American League Pennant and takes on the winner of the Germantown – Long Beach series winner in the National League Championship series.