April 4, 2005: Pedro Martinez makes his Mets debut; Reds rally for Opening Day win

The New York Mets made several significant changes for 2005. They hired Willie Randolph to be their manager after two losing seasons under Art Howe.1 The 50-year-old Randolph had been a coach for the New York Yankees when they won six pennants and four World Series from 1996 through 2003.2 “It’s a lot of emotion running through your body, the fact that you finally get your opportunity, you’re doing it in your hometown, for the team you rooted for as a kid,” said Randolph, who grew up in Brooklyn and played for both the Yankees and Mets during his 19-season playing career.

Two of baseball’s highest-profile free agents became Mets after starring in the 2004 postseason. Three-time Cy Young Award winner Pedro Martínez signed after helping the Boston Red Sox win the 2004 World Series. The 33-year-old right-hander received a four-year, $53 million deal. Center fielder Carlos Beltrán, who slugged eight postseason homers and batted .435 while leading the Houston Astros to the National League Championship Series, agreed to the biggest contract in franchise history, $119 million over seven years.

New York opened its season against Cincinnati at the Reds’ Great American Ballpark on April 4. A crowd of 42,794, the largest in the ballpark’s two-year history, showed up on a warm and sunny afternoon.3 The Reds, who had their fourth consecutive losing season in 2004, had made relatively modest offseason moves, including inking 35-year-old third baseman Joe Randa to a one-year, $2.15 million deal after he played six seasons with the Kansas City Royals.

The biggest news in Cincinnati was Hall of Fame-bound shortstop Barry Larkin’s preseason announcement that he was retiring after 19 years.4 Fellow future Cooperstown inductee Ken Griffey Jr., who had missed most of the 2004 season with a hamstring injury, was back in the lineup in 2005. When he trotted out to center field at the start of the game, the fans in the bleachers rose to their feet and applauded.

Paul Wilson started for Cincinnati. The 32-year-old right-hander, drafted first overall by the Mets in June 1994, had led the Reds with 11 wins and a 4.36 ERA in 2004.5 After leadoff batter José Reyes flied out in the first, Kazuo Matsui worked the count full before hitting a solo home run into the right-field bleachers to put the Mets in front, 1-0. “That wasn’t a bad pitch. It just happened to be where the lefties like it,” said Wilson.6

Starting on Opening Day for the eighth straight season, Martínez took the mound in the bottom of the first. After D’Angelo Jimenez flied out, Griffey came to the plate at home for the first time since July 2004.7

He singled through the right side of the infield. It was his first career hit against Martínez in 12 at-bats.

Griffey moved up to second on Sean Casey’s single and to third on Austin Kearns’ fly to right. This brought up Adam Dunn, who had led the Reds with 46 home runs in 2004 and set a major-league record by striking out 195 times.8 With the count 3-and-1, Dunn homered over the right-field fence, giving the Reds a 3-1 lead.

“I had a hard time getting my pitches down for strikes,” said Martínez, who went to three balls on four batters in the first two innings. “I had a hard time feeling the ball in my hand. It was dry. Later in the afternoon, I got a little feel.”9

The Mets stirred in the second. Cliff Floyd hit a leadoff single, and Doug Mientkiewicz was hit by a pitch. But third baseman David Wright hit into a 6-4-3 double play, and Eric Valent grounded out.

Martínez shut down the Reds over the next five innings. From Randa’s strikeout to end the first inning through a three-strikeout fifth inning, 11 of 16 Reds went down on strikes. The only baserunners were Jimenez, who walked in the third, and Griffey, who walked in the sixth.

“He’s going to give you everything he’s got and then some. He’s one of those guys that you’ve got to get to early,” said Griffey, who struck out in the third. “We got to him, and then he just shut us down. That’s the tale of a great pitcher.”10

Meanwhile, New York had drawn even. Reyes singled with one out in the third. One out later, Beltrán, batting for the second time as a Met, homered over the center-field fence, tying the game, 3-3.

Wilson matched Martínez with scoreless innings after Beltrán’s homer, and it was still a 3-3 game when Cincinnati manager Dave Miley called on right-hander David Weathers in the seventh. Wilson’s six-inning, three-run start was the Reds’ best Opening Day outing since José Rijo threw eight scoreless innings against the Montreal Expos in 1993.

Reyes greeted Weathers with a double and moved to third on Matsui’s sacrifice. Reyes then scored on Beltrán’s shallow single to left to give the Mets the lead, 4-3. “He has the ability to win games by himself. That’s how much talent he has. He can beat you in so many ways,” said Mientkiewicz of Reyes.11

“I say, ‘I have to go to second.’ Nobody can stop me right there. I say, ‘If they throw me out, they throw me out.’ But whatever happens, I’m going to second,” said Reyes, who was 3-for-5 in the game.12

The inning seemed stalled when Beltrán tried to steal second but was out in a rundown between first and second. But Mike Piazza doubled, and veteran left-hander Kent Mercker replaced Weathers.13 Floyd sent Mercker’s sixth pitch over the fence in left-center to increase the Mets’ lead to 6-3.

Martínez had thrown 101 pitches in six innings, and Randolph turned the game over to the bullpen in the seventh. Right-hander Manny Aybar was the Mets’ first reliever.14 He struck out Dunn, but Randa hit the ball to center. The ball bounced off Beltrán’s glove as he dove backward toward the warning track, and Randa was on second with a double. After Rich Aurilia popped out to shortstop, Jason LaRue’s double scored Randa, making it 6-4.

Mets left-hander Dae-Sung Koo made his major-league debut in the eighth. The 35-year-old Koo had played in Korea and Japan for 12 seasons before signing with the Mets. He struck out the first two batters he faced before getting Casey to ground out.

New York was three outs from an Opening Day win, and Randolph brought in closer Braden Looper, who had led the Mets with 29 saves and 2.70 ERA in 2004.15

But Kearns led off with a single, and Dunn hit Looper’s 2-and-1 pitch into the right-field bleachers, tying the game at 6-6.

That brought up Randa, who had struck out twice against Martínez before his double off Aybar. The count went full. On Looper’s eighth pitch of the at-bat, Randa sent the ball 386 feet into the left-field seats to give the Reds a 7-6 win. It was the first Opening Day walk-off home run in their 123-year history.

“I was able to get the ball in the air. I guess the wind blew it out, because I’m not a power hitter,” said Randa.

“For Joe to be the new guy and hit his first walk-off homer, it couldn’t have been better,” said Dunn.16

Looper walked off the field as fireworks went off and smoke wafted through the field. “I really don’t know what to say. When you have a two-run lead after Pedro pitched the way he did, you’ve got to get the win,” he said afterward. “Basically, I didn’t get it done. I made a bad pitch and he made me pay for it, that’s for sure.”17

The Reds went on to sweep the three-game series from the Mets, but they came in fifth in the NL Central Division at 73-89-1. Miley was fired 70 games into the season and was replaced by Jerry Narron. With the trade deadline approaching in July, Randa was dealt to the San Diego Padres.

In New York, Martínez and Beltrán were selected as All-Stars in 2005. Looper kept the closer job and saved 28 games. The Mets finished 83-79, in third place in the NL East Division. They continued to improve in 2006, coming in first in their division and reaching the NL Championship Series, where they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.

Acknowledgments

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

Photo credit: Pedro Martinez, Trading Card Database.

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/CIN/CIN200504040.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2005/B04040CIN2005.htm

Notes

1 Howe’s record was 137-186 during his two years in New York.

2 Randolph was the third-base coach from 1994 to 2003 and the bench coach during the 2004 season.

3 Great American Ballpark opened in 2003, replacing Riverfront Stadium.

4 The Reds signed free agent Rich Aurilia to be their shortstop on January 8, 2005.

5 Wilson was granted free agency by the Reds on October 29, 2004, and signed a new two-year contract with the Reds on November 30.

6 John Fay, “Arduous Quality Start Keeps Team in Game,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 5, 2005: C2.

7 Griffey was hurt in Milwaukee on July 10. He returned in August but suffered a hamstring injury in San Francisco on August 5. The injury required surgery, ending his 2004 season. Griffey rebounded in 2005. He hit 35 home runs with 92 RBIs and won the National League Comeback Player of the Year Award.

8 Cincinnati also led the majors with 1,335 strikeouts.

9 Pat Borzi, “Mets Give Martínez a Whiff of First-and-Long,” New York Times, April 5, 2005: D1.

10 Kevin Kelly, “A Reason to Celebrate at Start of Game, Too,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 5, 2005: C3.

11 Adam Rubin, “Reyes Off and Running,” New York Daily News, April 5, 2005: 66.

12 Reyes stole 19 bases in 53 games in 2004. He led the National League in stolen bases from in the 2005 to 2007 seasons.

13 The 37-year-old Mercker had signed a two-year contract with the Reds after making 71 relief appearances for the Chicago Cubs in 2004. It was the third time he played for the Reds; he made 78 appearances in relief in 2005.

14 Aybar spent the 2004 season in the Chinese Professional Baseball League before signing with the Mets in 2005.

15 Looper entered the 2005 season with 75 saves from 1998 to 2004. He had 26 blown saves during that stretch.

16 Bill Koch, “Making an Impressive Impression,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 5, 2005: C3.

17 Anthony Rieber, “Two HRs in Ninth Have Closer Feeling Looper,” New York Newsday, April 5, 2005: A72.