1968 Hall of Fame Game

The Detroit Tigers scored four runs in the first inning and never looked back, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates 10-1 in the 26th Hall of Fame Game on July 22, 1968, at Doubleday Field.

Detroit left fielder Gates Brown doubled in Al Kaline to put the Tigers on the board in the bottom of the first inning. After Pirates’ starter Jim Bunning hit Norm Cash, third baseman Don Wert homered over the center field fence, scoring Brown and Cash and giving Detroit an early 4-0 lead.

The Tigers added two insurance runs in the third inning when Kaline singled and Cash doubled. A single by catcher Jim Price scored both runners.

In the fourth inning, Detroit made the score 8-0 after Ray Oyler hit a solo shot and Brown singled in Mickey Stanley.

Meanwhile, Detroit starter Dennis Ribant pitched five innings of seven-hit baseball. The Pirates’ only run, scored in the top half of the fifth inning, was unearned.

Stanley hit a solo home run to account for the Tigers’ ninth run of the day in the bottom of the sixth inning. In the seventh, Price doubled, advanced to third on a John Hiller ground out, then scored when Gary Kolb committed an error on Dick Tracewski’s ground ball.

Bunning lasted just two innings for the Pirates, giving up four runs on four hits while striking out two. He was replaced by Jim Minshall, who also allowed four runs in two innings while giving up seven hits and walking two. Three other Pittsburgh pitchers closed out the final four innings for the Pirates. Bunning was tagged with the loss.

Two Detroit pitchers, Hiller and John Wyatt, combined for four innings of no-hit baseball in relief of Ribant, who picked up the win.