Today in 1985 - St. Louis Cardinals vs San Francisco Giants

Today in 1985, the St. Louis Cardinals invaded Candlestick Park to take on the San Francisco Giants.  Bob Forsch of the Cardinals faced Jim Gott of the Giants, though neither would finish the game.

   St. Louis got the scoring started in the first inning when Tom Herr ground out to second and got in Lonnie Smith.  San Francisco tied the game on a leadoff home run by Gott in the bottom of the third.

   In the fourth, the Cardinals took the lead again when Terry Pendleton hit a ground out to second and Jack Clark scored.  Gott hit his second HR of the day in the bottom of the day and tied the score 2-2.

  The Giants took the lead for the first time in the game, when Bob Brenly hit a solo HR, but they weren't done.  Jeff Lahti relieved Forsch and Dan Gladden hit in David Green.  San Francisco led 4-2.

   However, St. Louis wasn't ready to go quietly into the night.  In the top of the eighth, Mark Davis relieved Gott when he walked Smith.  Davis faced Clark two batters later, who hit in Smith.  In the top of the ninth, the Wizard of Oz, Ozzie Smith got his only hit of the game on a solo HR on Davis, tying the game.  The Cards held in the bottom of the ninth and the game went to extra innings.

  San Francisco made the Cards go three up and three down in the top of the tenth.  In the bottom of the inning, relief pitcher Neil Allen took the mound.  He walked Chili Davis, who got on second on a wild pitch to Chris Brown.  Brown flied out and Allen intentionally walked Brenly, setting up a double play.  However, it was not to be, because Green hit a single, scoring Davis.

   The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinal 5-4.  Reliever Scott Garrelts got the win, going to 2-1.  However, his teammate Mark Davis got a blown save.  Allen was charged with the loss, falling to 1-3. Forsch struck out four batters, while Gott struck out five.  St. Louis fell to 14-16, 4th in the NL East.  San Francisco improved to 12-18, 5th in the NL West.


Trivia

• There were 2 Hall of Famers who played or managed in this game, both with the Cardinals: Ozzie Smith and manager Whitey Herzog.
• This was Jim Davenport's only season with the Giants.  He only coached for 144 games, going 56-88.  He was replaced by Roger Craig, who led the Giants to the 1989 NL Pennant.
• This was Herzog's sixth season with the Cardinals.  They went on to win 101 games that season and win the NL Pennant, losing to the Kansas City Royals in the World Series in seven games.
• Herzog also managed the Royals (1975-79), California Angels (part of 1974), and Texas Rangers (part of 1973).
• Davenport played his entire career with the Giants from 1958-70.
• Herzog played from 1956-63 for the Washington Senators, Kansas City A's, Baltimore Orioles, and Detroit Tigers.  Although the New York Yankees signed him in 1953, he missed the 1953-54 seasons serving in the military.
• Bob Brenly went on to manage the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2001-04, leading the team to a World Series title in 2001.
• Pitcher Jim Gott hit his first two career homeruns in this game. It was the only time he ever hit more than one homerun in a game.  He would hit three more career homers after this game.

Game stats can be found at Baseball-Reference.com on the box score page at St. Louis Cardinals vs San Francisco Giants - May 12, 1985.

Today in 1989 - Houston Astros vs St Louis Cardinals

September 3, 1989 – Today in 1989, the St. Louis Cardinals hosted the Houston Astros at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

Houston got on the board first with an RBI single by Craig Biggio in the 4^th inning.  Glenn Wilson hit an RBI single in the 5^th and Mark Portugal scored on a Kevin Bass groundout in the top of the 6^th.  The Astros led 3-0.

But the Cardinals would not be denied.  In the bottom of the 6^th inning, Willie McGee hit in Vince Coleman on a ground rule double.  Ozzie Smith hit a sacrifice fly and McGee advanced to third.  McGee scored on a groundout by Milt Thompson.  The score was now 3-2.

In the bottom of the 8^th, Thompson hit a sacrifice fly and the score was now tied 3-3.  Relief pitcher Todd Worrell got out the side in the top of the 9^th. 

In the bottom of the 9^th, Astros reliever Danny Darwin faced Terry Pendleton, who hit a single into center field.  Denny Walling hit a long single to right field and Pendleton advanced to third.  With runners at the corners, Darwin intentionally walked Jose Oquendo and the bases were loaded.  Leon Durham pinch hit for Tony Pena and hit a fly ball to center field.  Pendleton tagged and scored.  Game over.  The Cardinals beat the Astros 4-3.

Cardinal reliever Todd Worrell got the win and went to 3-5.  Danny Darwin fell to 11-4 and Juan Agosto got his fourth blown save.

The Houston Astros dropped to 72-64.  They were 6 games behind the San Francisco Giants, 2^nd in the NL West.  The St. Louis Cardinals improved to 74-61.  They were a game and a half behind the Chicago Cubs, 2^nd in the NL East.

Notables

• There were 2 Hall of Famers playing or managing in this game, both with the Cardinals: player Ozzie Smith and manager Whitey Herzog.
  
• Neither starting pitcher factored in the final decision.  Houston starting pitcher Mark Portugal pitched for 7.1 innings.  He struck out 6 and batted 2-4.  St. Louis starting pitcher Joe Magrane pitched for 6 innings.  He struck out 4 and batted 0-1.
  
• This was Art Howe’s first season managing the Astros.  He is featured in blog entries from the past several days.
  
• This was Whitey Herzog’s 9^th season managing the Cardinals.  He managed the team from 1981-90.  He led them to a World Series win in 1982 and two NL Pennants in 1985 and 1987.
  
• Art Howe played for Whitey Herzog from 1984-85.
  
• Tony Pena went on to manage the Kansas City Royals from 2002-05.

Game stats and other data can be found on Baseball-Reference.com at Houston Astros vs St Louis Cardinals - September 3, 1989.