Miguel Cabrera and Rafael Palmeiro hit back-to-back home runs against Catfish Hunter to give the Detroit Rockets a 4-0 lead, but the Boston Splinters came back against Frank Tanana. Frank Thomas’ 2-run homer started the comeback, and Mickey Mantle’s 2-run shot in the 5th gave Boston the 5-4 lead. Hunter pitched out of trouble and allowed just 3 earned runs on 8 hits in 7 innings. In the 9th, Rollie Fingers retired Lou Whitaker before Kenny Lofton singled, but Lofton got gunned down at 2nd by Iván Rodríguez for the 2nd out. Needing just one more out, Ichiro Suzuki singled. That’s when Álex Rodríguez connected for his 1st home run of the season, a 2-run shot to give Detroit the lead. Tom Henke pitched a perfect 9th for the save. It was the 2nd blown save for Fingers. The Splinters have now lost 4 straight, while Detroit has won their last 3 games, cutting the Boston lead to just one game. Palmeiro finished his 1st appearance in the league going 2 for 4 with that home run.