October 2, 1995: Randy Johnson, Mariners beat Angels in AL West tiebreaker to clinch franchise’s first postseason appearance

The major-league season started 18 days late in 1995 because of the players strike, which had begun in August 1994 and forced cancellation of the 1994 postseason. Each team played a 144-game schedule in 1995. As the season progressed, one of the most compelling races took place in the American League West Division.

The California Angels led for most of the season and by the beginning of September seemed to be closing in on the division crown. But the Seattle Mariners, who were 13 games out of first place on August 2, rallied down the stretch. Ken Griffey Jr.’s return from a wrist injury on August 15 improved  the Mariners lineup.1

Seattle surged as the Angels struggled. California won only 9 of 37 games from August 16 through September 26. The Mariners went 16-3 over three weeks in September and took a three-game lead entering play on September 27.

California then rebounded with five wins in a row. As the Mariners were losing their final two games of the season, the Angels swept the Oakland A’s to force a one-game playoff, the first in the major leagues since the Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers to decide the 1980 National League West title.

The Angels-Mariners game was scheduled for October 2 in Seattle’s Kingdome.2 A crowd of 52,356 filled the ballpark on a Monday afternoon, hoping to see their team make the playoffs for the first time in the franchise’s 19-year history. When Seattle manager Lou Piniella was asked about the game, he replied: “I have a very simple game plan if everything works out. Randy Johnson goes seven innings and Norm Charlton goes two.”3

Johnson was making his 30th start of the season. The 32-year-old left-hander had won his last outing to boost his record to 17-2 with 282 strikeouts. He had beaten the Angels twice in 1995. One of his two losses was inflicted by California on August 1, when the Angels scored seven runs against him.

In the tiebreaker, Johnson – bound for the first of his five career Cy Young Awards – was perfect through 5⅔ innings. He struck out the side in the third and fifth. The first California hit was Rex Hudler’s single with two outs in the sixth. Hudler stole second but Johnson struck out Tony Phillips to end the frame.

Mark Langston started for California. The 35-year-old left-hander began his career with Seattle, where he led the AL in strikeouts three times. He was traded to the Montreal Expos as the centerpiece of the 1989 deal that brought Johnson to the Mariners.4 Langston signed with the Angels as a free agent after the 1989 season.

Langston was 15-6 with a 4.60 ERA in 1995. He had faced Seattle just once, pitching eight innings in the Angels’ 14-4 win on June 23.

For much of the game, Langston matched Johnson with zeros. Vince Coleman, who had been acquired in an August trade, led off the bottom of the first with a single.5 Luis Sojo sacrificed Coleman to second,6 but Coleman was thrown out when he tried to steal third. Griffey walked. Edgar Martínez singled. Langston got out of the inning when Jay Buhner grounded out to third.

Langston walked Mike Blowers to start the Seattle second, but a 5-4-3 double play ended the inning. Sojo singled to center with two outs in the third before Griffey lined out for the third out. Martínez led off the fourth with his second single, but another double play ended the inning.

Seattle got on the scoreboard in the fifth. Tino Martinez led off with a walk. Dan Wilson bunted into a force out at second. Joey Cora singled. Coleman singled through the left side and brought Wilson home. The Mariners had a 1-0 lead.

Johnson retired the Angels in order in the seventh, and Seattle’s bats came alive in the bottom of the inning. Blowers singled. Tino Martinez laid down a sacrifice bunt. Langston fielded the ball. When he went to throw to first, he bobbled the ball and then found second baseman Hudler wasn’t looking for the throw, allowing Martinez to reach first safely. Wilson followed with another sacrifice down the third-base line that moved up both runners. Langston hit Cora to load the bases.

Coleman lined to right and Salmon made a sliding catch. Blowers was unable to tag up on the play.

This brought up Sojo, who broke his bat hitting Langston’s first pitch down the first-base line. First baseman J.T. Snow tried to catch the ball but it bounced over his glove into right field. “I don’t know if it hit a seam or had a cue-ball effect, but I couldn’t believe I didn’t come up with that ball. That’s a play I should make,” said Snow.7

The ball landed under the bench in the Mariners bullpen in foul territory. Blowers and Martinez scored. Right fielder Tim Salmon retrieved the ball and threw home.

Langston, who had earned six Gold Gloves, took the throw but couldn’t get it out of his glove as Cora headed for home. When he did, his throw was wild, allowing Cora to score. Sojo headed for home as catcher Andy Allanson ran down the ball. Langston covered home. He tried to tag Sojo as he slid across home plate, but the tag was late. The Mariners were ahead, 5-0.

Langston lay on home plate staring at the Kingdome roof for a few moments after the play. “The whole game flashed before my eyes right there,” he said after the game. “I was just thinking, ‘We were so close. I can’t believe it turned out the way it turned out.”8

Manager Marcel Lachemann spoke to Langston on the mound before taking the ball from him. Bob Patterson came in to get the last out, striking out Griffey. But the four-run seventh put Seattle ahead 5-0.

Johnson came out to pitch the eighth. He walked Chili Davis. Snow hit into a force out. Dave Gallagher, pinch-hitting for Garret Anderson, lined out to right. Rene Gonzales pinch-hit for Allanson and doubled down the left-field line, putting Angels at second and third with two outs.

Johnson got Hudler to ground out to shortstop as the Kingdome crowd roared. “If this was a basketball game, our fans would’ve been the sixth man off the bench,” Johnson said afterward.9

California rookie Mike James came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth. The right-hander was 3-0 with one save and a 3.40 ERA. James walked Edgar Martínez and then gave up singles to Buhner and Blowers.

Lachemann replaced him with left-hander Mike Holzemer, who had spent most of the 1995 season with the Angels’ Triple-A Vancouver Canadians. Holzemer gave up a single to Tino Martinez that brought Edgar Martínez home for the sixth Seattle run.

Right-hander John Habyan was the third Angels’ reliever of the inning. Wilson doubled to bring home two runs. Cora doubled and Tino Martinez scored. The Mariners were ahead 9-0.

Johnson, who was pitching on just three days’ rest, went out to pitch the ninth. “I pitch on adrenaline. A lot had built up inside and it just came out of me,” he said. “Sure, there was a lot of pressure, but I kind of thrive on that.”10

Phillips got California’s third hit of the game when he led off the ninth with a home run. Spike Owen pinch-hit for Gary Disarcina and flied out to center field. Eduardo Pérez, batting for Jim Edmonds, hit a grounder back to the mound. Johnson deflected the ball back to catcher Wilson, who threw it to first for the out. This brought up Salmon, who fouled off two pitches before Johnson struck him out looking to end the game.

Blowers told reporters, “Randy came in with a scowl on his face today, and you gotta feel good when he comes to the ballpark with a bad attitude.”11 “A game that close, a game this big, one side or the other was going to blink,” said Coleman.12

Said manager Piniella: “This year was so important to baseball in Seattle. You can win division titles other years, but this was a key year to keep baseball in this town … to establish a winning tradition and a winning history in this city.” The Mariners had threatened to leave Seattle unless a new ballpark was built for them.13

Seattle flew to New York after the game to open the AL Division Series against the New York Yankees, the AL wild-card team.14 The Mariners lost the first two games but won three straight after returning home, winning Game Five on Edgar Martínez’s walk-off double in the 11th inning to advance to the AL Championship Series. In the ALCS, Seattle lost to the Cleveland Indians in six games to end their postseason run.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Harrison Golden and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author used the Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org websites for the box score and other material.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SEA/SEA199510020.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1995/B10020SEA1995.htm

Photo credit: Randy Johnson, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Griffey injured his left wrist on May 26 while making a catch at the center-field wall. He hit .255 with 10 home runs and 27 RBIs after his return. The Mariners also benefited from adding two veteran pitchers during the season. Norm Charlton signed a free-agent contract on July 14 after being released by the Philadelphia Phillies. He posted a 1.51 ERA with 11 saves after joining the Mariners. Andy Benes was acquired in a trade-deadline deal with the San Diego Padres and went 7-2 with the Mariners, including four consecutive wins in September.

2 Seattle won the right to host the game because the club had won a coin flip.

3 Bart Wright, “A Finish Even Better Than Piniella Hoped,” Tacoma (Washington) News Tribune, October 3, 1995: C1.

4 The Mariners traded Langston and a player to be named later to the Montreal Expos for Gene Harris, Brian Holman, and Randy Johnson on May 25, 1989. Seattle sent Mike Campbell to the Expos on July 31 to complete the trade.

5 Coleman was traded to the Mariners by the Kansas City Royals on August 15. He batted .287 with a .728 OPS and 16 stolen bases after joining the Mariners.

6 Sojo was traded to the Angels from Toronto in December 1990. He returned to Toronto in December 1992 in exchange for Kelly Gruber and cash. He was granted free agency in October 1993 and signed with Seattle in January 1994.

7 Mike DiGiovanna, “Down and Out in Kingdome,” Los Angeles Times, October 3, 1995: C1.

8 “Down and Out in Kingdome.”

9 John McGrath, “The Beginning of a Tradition,” Tacoma News Tribune, October 3, 1995: C1.

10 John Weyler, “Johnson Stands Tall in His Biggest Game,” Los Angeles Times, October 3, 1995: C6.

11 “A Finish Even Better Than Piniella Hoped.”

12 Larry LaRue, “Mariners Ride Johnson’s Arm to Division Title,” Tacoma News Tribune, October 3, 1995: C1.

13 “The Beginning of a Tradition.” Voters had defeated a ballot measure to approve funding for the park. After the Mariners made the playoffs, the Washington state legislature took up the issue and approved funding to build a new ballpark.

14 MLB had realigned into three divisions in each league in 1994. The division winners in each league plus the team with the best record after the division winners – the wild card – made the postseason. The Division Series was a 2-3 format in 1995, with the higher seed (the team with the supposed home-field advantage) opening the series with two games on the road and then hosting the final three games. The Yankees were the AL wild-card team in 1995.