Rosecrans: Dusty Baker remembers a wild suspended game from 1982
From SABR member C. Trent Rosecrans at the Cincinnati Enquirer on April 17, 2013:
Tuesday night Dusty Baker said the last suspended game he could remember being a part of was when he was a player — he talked about a game that was suspended in the 18th inning at Wrigley Field because of darkness. Baker recalled left-hander Jerry Reuss finishing the suspended game and then starting the regularly scheduled game, picking up the win in both.
That sent me to Baseball-Reference.com, where sure enough I found Aug. 17 and 18, 1982, in Chicago, when the Dodgers’ game against the Cubs on a Tuesday was stopped in the top of the 18th inning with a 1-1 score. It was resumed the next day and played, along with the regularly scheduled game.
The Dodgers had already used seven pitchers when Reuss started the game the next day. He would pitch four innings, allowing just one hit and earned the win aver Baker hit a sacrifice fly to score Steve Sax in the top of the 21st. Reuss then pitched five innings, giving up two runs on four hits, as the Dodgers beat the Cubs 7-4 in the second game.
That would be noteworthy enough, but that 21-inning game also featured some creative managerial moves from the Dodgers’ Tommy Lasorda — even if it was out of necessity. In the 20th inning, Dodger third baseman Ron Cey was ejected by umpire Dave Pallone after he was picked off. Out of position players, Lasorda moved Pedro Guerrero from right field to third base and put pitcher Fernando Valenzuela in right field, while Baker stayed in left field.
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Here are the two box scores — the continued game and the second game. And here’s a wire report of the game.
Read the full article here: cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2013/04/17/dusty-baker-remembers-a-wild-suspended-game-from-1982/
Originally published: April 18, 2013. Last Updated: April 18, 2013.