July 17, 1968 at the Oakland Coliseum
Athletics 3, Tigers 2 (57-33)
The Tiger continued their struggles out west despite the change of scenery as they dropped their opener to the Athletics by a single run. All of the scoring in this one came in the first two innings. Willie Horton hit his 23rd homer of the Tigers and Joe Sparma singled and drove in a run in his lone at bat.
Speaking of Sparma, he had a tough outing. He gave up three runs on five hits with two strikeouts and he only pitched into the second inning. Jon Warden was exceptional and he threw five innings of shutout relief but the Tigers hitters could never quite get it going to mount a comeback.