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DETROIT FREE PRESS | (Bloomington, Minn.) Sunday, May 18, 1978 — The Tigers dismal decline continued Saturday as the Minnesota Twins dealt them their sixth consecutive defeat, 3-1.
In keeping with their current trend, the Tigers played well enough to win. They collected seven hits, compared to the Twins’ eight, and Milt Wilcox was certainly every bit as effective as his Minnesota counterpart, Geoff Zahn.
But Zahn got the win while Wilcox was stuck with his fifth loss as the Tigers exhibited almost an uncanny inability to hit with men on base.
As a result, they now need only one setback to match their longest losing streak of the season. Furthermore, 17 of the Tigers’ last 24 games have ended in failures, which is why they’re now fifth in the American East, a distant 12 and a half games behind the Boston Red Sox.
But the only solution manager Ralph Houk could offer Saturday was continued patience.
“All we can try to to do is relax ’em and wait,” Houk explained in the otherwise silent, somber clubhouse.
“They”re all trying too hard when they come up with men on base,” Houk continued. “That’s obvious.
“We just can’t seem to get going. We can’t get the runs in. We can’t bunch our hits. We scatter them all of the time.
We’ll come out of this sooner or later,” Houk predicted. “We’ve got to break loose. And when we start winning we won’t be able to understand why we didn’t do it before because it’ll look so easy.
“But right now, it seems the little things keep happening to us. We get runners picked off base and we leave men on second or third when we’ve got a chance for a big inning. We’re not hitting that bad. We’re just not hitting with men on base. And when you don’t score, you’re not going to win. But all we can do is sit back and wait.”
One has to wonder, though, how much longer Houk will continue to be patient. Butch Wynegar put the Twins on top, 1-0, with his third homer of the season at the bottom of the second inning Saturday. (See article below for more; click on, tap or stretch article for larger detailed read).
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Detroit Free Press, 06/18/1977 | Copyright 2022. Newspapers.com
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BASEBALL REFERENCE: For the complete Minnesota Twins vs. Detroit Tigers June 17, 1978 game-day box score and stats — click HERE
