April 12, 1967 at Angels Stadium
Tigers 6 (1-1), Angels 3 (1-1)
Mickey Lolich pitched the Tigers to their first victory of the 1967 season. Lolich went the distance and gave up only three runs on six hits and two walks with four strikouts.
The Tigers put up an early run in the first inning when Jake Wood led off the game with a double and later scored on a wild pitch. The Tigers added another run in the third inning when Jim Northrup singled home Gates Brown to make it 2-0.
The Tigers added two more runs in the fifth inning to effectively put the game away. Gates Brown hit his second homerun in as many days to make it 3-0. Then the Tigers loaded up the bases and Bill Freehan scored on Northrup’s ground out.
The Angels finally put some runs on the board in the bottom of the fifth off of Lolich to make it close. Orlando McFarlane singled home Don Mincher and Bobby Knoop scored on Paul Schaal’s ground out. In the inning, Don Wallace made his major league debut when he pinch ran for McFarlane.
The Tigers added two more runs in the seventh to give the team some insurance. The two runs came when Freehan doubled home Al Kaline and Norm Cash. The Angels scored one more in the seventh o Johnstone’s RBI double but the Angels never got any closer then 6-3.
Marcelino Lopez took the loss for the Angels and he lasted only two innings. The pen didn’t fare much better as three different relievers all gave up at least a run a piece.