One And Dones

[BoomGaspar]

John DeSilva

John DeSilva pitched 1 inning for the Tigers on August 15, 1993 in a 6-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.  Called up from AAA Toledo three days earlier to take the roster spot of pitcher Sean Bergman (who was optioned to Toledo), DeSilva spent 8 days on the Tigers roster before returning to the Mud Hens when pitcher David Wells came off of the disabled list.  His only action came when he made his major league debut in the 8th inning at County Stadium, surrendering two hits and one run but benefiting from Tigers third baseman Scott Livingstone making a nice snag of a ground ball off the bat of Brewers right fielder Darryl Hamilton to start a 5-4-3 double play.  The Tigers left the bases loaded in the top of the ninth when Alan Trammell was called out on the base path for runner interference on a Kirk Gibson ground ball.  DeSilva was sent to the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 7 as the player to be named later that netted outfielder Eric Davis for the Tigers.  He made brief MLB appearances with the Dodgers and Orioles, but had greater success playing baseball in Venezuelan winter leagues, in which he won 16 games.

[BoomGaspar]

Bill Graham

Bill Graham pitched 2 innings for the Tigers on October 2, 1966 in a 7-5 loss to the Kansas City Athletics, the final game of the 1966 season.  He is the only player in team history to make his MLB debut in the season's final game.  Graham pitched the sixth and seventh innings, surrendering two singles and no earned runs, striking out KC center fielder Rick Monday and catcher Phil Roof.  Tigers batters **** McAuliffe and Norm Cash both hit home runs, but starting pitcher Johnny Podres was ineffective and took his fifth loss of the year, giving up 6 runs in just 2 1/3 innings of work.  Graham was sold to the New York Mets on August 31, 1967 while pitching for AAA Toledo and pitched in 5 games in September of 1967 before leaving professional baseball.  He died in 2006 at the age of 69.

[RedRamage]

On 7/14/2023 at 9:58 AM, BoomGaspar said:

Matt Kinzer

 

It's funny... I looked for an image of Kinzer in a Lions uniform. I've done it before without success but it's been a few years so I thought I'd try again. I didn't find an image (yet) but found out that Detroit Sports Nation just did a story on Kinzer 15 days ago! Here's the link if anyone wants to read it: https://detroitsportsnation.com/matt-kinzer-the-only-person-to-play-for-both-the-detroit-lions-and-detroit-tigers/wgbrady/nfl-lions/detroit-lions-notes/07/05/2023/417359/

[BoomGaspar]

Lino Urdaneta

Lino Urdaneta made a nightmarish appearance on the mound for the Tigers on September 9, 2004 as the team was annihilated 26-5 by the Kansas City Royals.  The game is difficult to describe...Tigers starting pitcher Jason Johnson lasted 2 1/3 innings, in which he surrendered 11 runs.  Into the game in the third inning (with the bases loaded) trotted Lino, making his MLB debut as a September call-up.  He faced six batters, achieving the following results: walk (run scores), single (run scores), single (two runs score), single (run scores), single, single (run scores).  That was it for Lino, as manager Alan Trammell trudged to the mound to replace him with fellow September call-up Franklyn German, who promptly surrendered two more singles to clear the bases.  Overall, Lino faced six batters.  All six batters reached base, and all six batters scored.  That means Lino has a Tigers ERA of infinity.  Infinity.  The Royals sent 16 batters to the plate in the third inning, scored 11 runs, and at one point 13 straight Royals batters reached base.  Capping his nightmare, Lino was sent back to AAA Toledo four days later.  That's right...during the season of September call-ups and expanded rosters, poor Lino was demoted.  He was released from the Tigers organization during the '04 playoffs, but did manage to reappear in two games for the 2007 Mets.  26 runs is, to date, the team record for most runs surrendered in a single game.  One more fun fact about this game: the oldest player in the game was Tigers catcher Ivan Rodriguez, who made his major league debut in 1991.  The Royals winning pitcher in this game was Zack Greinke, who lost to the Tigers YESTERDAY.  That's 32 years of baseball in a single game.  You're welcome.