On this day in 1979 the Brewers and Indians and 18,524 fans settled in for a long night at County Stadium. The Indians took a 2-0 lead in the second on catcher Gary Alexander's home run, but the Brewers came back with single tallies in the bottom of the second and third to tie the game.
Then, the scoring ceased. The game went to extra innings tied at 2, and when the two sides reached the top of the 17th sometime around 12:30 AM it was still there. Finally, Rick Manning's two-out single off Bill Castro gave the Indians a 3-2 lead. The Brewers, however, were not done.
Charlie Moore singled to lead off the bottom of the 17th and took second on Dick Davis' fly out to right. After Paul Molitor walked Don Money (who had homered to tie the game in the third inning) doubled to drive Moore home. Cecil Cooper was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Gorman Thomas' sac fly gave the Crew a 4-3 walkoff win. This game is tied for the sixth longest in franchise history.
This was the third of what would go on to be ten consecutive wins for the Brewers. They went 19-10 in July of 1979 but still left the month trailing first place Baltimore by 8.5 games.
With help from Brewerfan.net and the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to:
- Wisconsin Timber Rattler Tyler Cravy, who turns 23.
- Kevin Bell, 2001 inductee into the Appleton Baseball Hall of Fame, who turns 57.
- Seattle Pilot Jack Aker, who turns 72.
- 1901 Milwaukee Brewer Jiggs Donahue, who would have turned 133.
Today is also the anniversary of a 1995 game where the Brewers and White Sox played ten innings at County Stadium despite a game time temperature of 104. We covered that event in this space last year.