June 5, 2008: Cardinals reliever Mark Worrell crushes home run in first career at-bat

Mark Worrell enjoyed a memorable few days in Washington, DC, in early June of 2008.

Recalled by the St. Louis Cardinals from Triple-A Memphis on June 2, the right-handed relief pitcher with the funky side-arm delivery1 made his major-league debut the next night against the Washington Nationals. He worked a scoreless ninth inning, allowing a hit and a walk but inducing a double play, to close out a 6-1 victory.2

The Cardinals and Nationals were rained out on June 4, and the two teams played a day-night doubleheader on Thursday, June 5, to conclude their three-game series at Nationals Park. St. Louis, which was in second place in the National League Central Division, 3½ games behind the Chicago Cubs, won the first game, 4-1, to move 11 games over .500 (36-25 record) for the first time since September 16, 2006.

In the second game, the Cardinals overcame a 7-0 deficit to force extra innings but ultimately lost, 10-9. The 25-year-old Worrell was right in the thick of things – hitting a home run in his first major-league at-bat.

A lot happened before and after Worrell’s blast.

The starting pitching matchup featured Washington veteran Tim Redding and St. Louis rookie Mike Parisi, who was making his second start and 10th appearance since being summoned from Memphis in early May.3 In his previous start, on May 31 at Pittsburgh, Parisi allowed eight runs in 2⅔ innings.

The Nationals (24-36) were last in the NL East Division, trailing the front-running Philadelphia Phillies by 11 games. But Washington jumped out to score two runs in the first inning and three more in the second, taking advantage of a dropped fly ball by St. Louis center fielder Skip Schumaker that would have ended the inning but instead led to three unearned runs. The Nationals added another two runs in the third to build a 7-0 lead. They rapped out eight hits in the first three innings, including two doubles and a triple, and drew three walks.

In the top of the fourth, Troy Glaus got St. Louis on the scoreboard with a two-out home run to center field. Joe Mather and Jason LaRue followed with singles, and Parisi, at this point a sacrificial lamb for the pitching staff, batted and doubled to right for his first major-league hit, scoring Mather and LaRue to cut the deficit to 7-3.4

Washington got a run back in its half of the fourth, and Parisi was through after allowing eight runs (five earned) on 10 hits with four walks and one strikeout in four innings.

Worrell pitched a scoreless fifth inning, making Cristian Guzmán his first major-league strikeout victim. He then came up to bat in the sixth with two runners on and two outs. Mather had reached on a fielder’s choice, taken second on a single by LaRue and third on a wild pitch with Worrell batting. On a 3-and-2 fastball from Redding, Worrell crushed a three-run homer over the left-field wall about 10 rows back to make the score 8-6.

“I let two different pitchers drive in five runs and a guy that had never swung a bat in the big leagues hit a three-run homer off me,” said Redding, who entered the game with a 6-3 record and 3.71 ERA. “Other than those two outcomes, I felt good.”5

In five minor-league seasons to that point, Worrell had two at-bats – both with Memphis in 2007, going 1-for-2 with a double.

“[Cardinals manager] Tony La Russa’s got to smile,” Nationals broadcaster and former major-league pitcher Don Sutton said on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) broadcast. “There’s no way you can expect this to happen. … If you’re La Russa, you’ve got to chuckle. Nothing funny to Tim Redding or [Nationals manager] Manny Acta.”6

Worrell became the eighth Cardinal to hit a homer in his first at-bat, the sixth since 2000. The previous ones were pinch-hitter Eddie Morgan (April 14, 1936); center fielder Wally Moon (April 13, 1954); pinch-hitter Keith McDonald (July 4, 2000); left fielder Chris Richard (July 17, 2000; pitcher Gene Stechschulte (April 17, 2001); second baseman Hector Luna (April 8, 2004); and pitcher Adam Wainwright (May 24, 2006).7 Worrell joined Wainwright in accomplishing the feat as a reliever.

“I was always a good hitter growing up,” Worrell said in 2018. “I wish I could have got more at-bats, but it’s really cool that it happened, and I was really proud of it. It was awesome; that’s something you always dream about. I was really, really excited.”8

The Nationals loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth, but Worrell escaped unscathed. In his two scoreless frames, he allowed two hits and two walks.

After Worrell’s homer, which knocked out Redding, Washington relievers Saul Rivera, Charlie Manning, and Luis Ayala limited the Cardinals to one baserunner over the next 2⅓ innings. Schumaker drew a leadoff walk from Manning in the seventh but was erased via a double play.

Meanwhile, Kyle McClellan and Ron Villone pitched the seventh and eighth innings for St. Louis respectively. Both allowed singles but subsequently got double-play groundouts.

The score remained 8-6 going into the ninth. With one out, the Cardinals’ Brendan Ryan doubled to right against Jon Rauch and remained at second base as pinch-hitter Albert Pujols struck out.9 Schumaker followed with an RBI triple to left-center, and he scored the tying run on an infield single to shortstop by Aaron Miles.

Randy Flores set down the Nationals in order in the bottom of the ninth, and Mather gave the Cardinals their first lead at 9-8 in the 10th with his first career homer, a two-out blast down the left-field line against Brian Sanches.

Closer Ryan Franklin looked to finish off the series sweep, but he allowed a leadoff single by Guzman and a two-run homer to center by Elijah Dukes, giving the Nationals a dramatic walk-off victory before 32,357 hometown fans. Guzman and Dukes both had four of the Nationals’ 16 hits in the game, which took 3 hours and 8 minutes to complete.

Worrell appeared in two more games for the Cardinals, allowing five runs in 2⅔ innings, before being sent back to Memphis on June 14.10 In what would be his only other major-league at-bat, he lined out to right field against Kyle Kendrick of the Phillies on June 13.11 Worrell was traded to the San Diego Padres on December 4, 2008, along with a player to be named later12 for shortstop Khalil Greene. Worrell injured his right elbow during spring training in 2009 and was sidelined for the season. He ultimately returned to the majors in 2011, when he made the final four appearances of his big-league career with the Baltimore Orioles.13

Parisi never batted again in the majors and pitched in only two more games – taking losses in relief against the Boston Red Sox on June 22 and the Detroit Tigers four days later. He remained in the Cardinals’ organization until December 10, 2009, when he was selected by the Cubs in the Rule 5 Draft.

The Cardinals finished the 2008 season with an 86-76 record, fourth in the competitive NL Central, 11½ games behind the Cubs. Washington had the worst record in the major leagues at 59-102 and ended up 32½ games behind the eventual World Series champion Phillies in the NL East.

Sources 

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted the Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org websites for pertinent material and the box scores.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WAS/WAS200806052.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2008/B06052WAS2008.htm

Photo credit: Mark Worrell, courtesy of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Notes

1 In a St. Louis Post-Dispatch story on June 3, 2008, Worrell described his pitching mechanics as “unorthodox.” Writer Derrick Goold said: “As Worrell begins his delivery, he bends over and then springs up to throw sidearm while stepping almost toward first base.” Derrick Goold, “Cards Notes,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 3, 2008: D5.

2 Worrell became the seventh rookie to make his major-league debut with the Cardinals in 2008, following pitchers Kyle McClellan, Mike Parisi, and Chris Pérez; infielder Rico Washington; and outfielders Brian Barton and Joe Mather. When called up, Worrell boasted a 1.88 ERA with 38 strikeouts in 24 innings for Memphis.

3 Parisi and Worrell were both selected in the June 2004 amateur draft – Parisi in the ninth round and Worrell in the 12th. In eight relief appearances after his recall, Parisi allowed five earned runs in 15⅔ innings for a 2.87 ERA. He then took over Joel Piñeiro’s spot in the starting rotation. A groin strain had landed Piñeiro on the 15-day disabled list.

4 Parisi’s double came in his fourth major-league at-bat.

5 Mark Tomasik, “Mark Worrell and His Cardinals Clout,” RetroSimba.com, April 19, 2019.

6 YouTube: https://youtu.be/-r0y08OvVJs?si=IkuThvCcDl7qp84i.

7 After Worrell and through the 2023 season, two more Cardinals homered in their first major-league at-bat – Paul DeJong (May 28, 2017) and Lane Thomas (April 19, 2019), both as pinch-hitters.

8 Eli Fishman interview with Worrell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BueV_SMhoZA.

9 Pujols, who was dealing with a strained left calf, was not in the starting lineup for either game of the doubleheader. He also pinch-hit in the first game and delivered his first career pinch-hit home run, a solo blast in the seventh inning against Joel Hanrahan.

10 Worrell was the losing pitcher against the Cincinnati Reds on June 12. In four games with the Cardinals, he had a 7.94 ERA (five earned runs in 5⅔ innings).

11 Worrell had six more at-bats in the minor leagues (one in 2008 and five in 2010), going 0-for-6 with one RBI.

12 The Cardinals sent pitcher Luke Gregerson to the Padres on March 23, 2009, to complete the deal.

13 In two innings with the Orioles, Worrell allowed eight earned runs, including Mike Trout’s first career home run, on July 24, 2011.