On April 19, 1979, following a Yankee loss to the Baltimore Orioles, Reggie Jackson started kidding Cliff Johnson about his inability to hit Gossage. While Johnson was showering, Gossage insisted to Jackson that he struck out Johnson all the time when he used to face him. When Jackson relayed this information to Johnson upon his return to the locker room, a fight started between Johnson and the pitcher. Gossage tore ligaments in his right thumb and missed three months of the season. Teammate Tommy John called it "a demoralizing blow to the team." Ron Guidry, the reigning Cy Young Award winner, volunteered to go to the bullpen to replace him. In the first game of a doubleheader on October 4, , Gossage pitched the last two innings of a 5–2 win over the Detroit Tigers, earning his career-high 33rd save as New York clinched another division title. On October 10, George Brett of the Royals hit a tide-turning three-run homer off Gossage into Yankee Stadium's right-field upper deck to lead the Royals to a three-game sweep in the AL Championship Series, after the Yankees had defeated the Royals in three consecutive ALCS from 1976 to 1978. Almost three years later during the regular season, Brett got to Gossage again in the Bronx, blasting a go-ahead two-run home run in the top of the ninth in a game memorialized as the "Pine Tar Game".