April 4, 1988: Dave Dravecky goes the distance in Giants’ Opening Day win over Dodgers

Fresh off a dazzling postseason, Dave Dravecky was tabbed the San Francisco Giants’ Opening Day starting pitcher in 1988.

The Giants had won the National League West Division championship in 1987 before losing a heartbreaking seven-game NLCS to the St. Louis Cardinals. Dravecky, acquired from the San Diego Padres in a July 5 trade,1 had dominated in the series, pitching 15 innings over two starts and allowing only one earned run (for a 0.60 ERA) on seven hits with four walks and 14 strikeouts. He authored a two-hit shutout in Game Two – a 5-0 Giants victory – but was the tough-luck loser in the Cardinals’ 1-0 Game Six win.2

On April 4, 1988, the Giants began defense of their division title against the rival Los Angeles Dodgers. The 31-year-old Dravecky, starting an opener for the first time in the seventh season of his major-league career, was opposed by Fernando Valenzuela in a battle of left-handers at Dodger Stadium.

After posting a 3-7 record with San Diego before the trade, Dravecky went 7-5 with San Francisco in 1987.3 His combined 3.43 ERA ranked eighth in the NL.

“There’s no question Dave was our most effective pitcher down the stretch last season,” Giants manager Roger Craig said. “That’s the main reason he was selected to pitch our opener this year.

“I put Dravecky in the same class with guys like Fernando Valenzuela and [Dodgers starter] Orel Hershiser – among the best pitchers in our league. He’s a consummate pro who knows exactly what he’s doing out on the mound.”4

Los Angeles, which was coming off a fourth-place finish in the NL West in 1987 a year after winding up fifth (with identical 73-89 records), had undergone a major offseason overhaul. Thirteen members of the 40-man winter roster were new to the organization. Highlighting the Dodgers’ acquisitions were outfielders Kirk Gibson and Mike Davis and pitcher Don Sutton as free agents and shortstop Alfredo Griffin and relief pitchers Jay Howell and Jesse Orosco via a three-team trade with New York Mets and Oakland A’s.5 The franchise, which was looking to avoid three consecutive losing seasons – something it hadn’t endured since a six-season skid from 1933 to 1938 as the Brooklyn Dodgers – boosted its payroll to a record $17 million.6

Dravecky had an inauspicious start against the retooled Dodgers: Los Angeles second baseman Steve Sax socked his first pitch for a home run down the left-field line.

“Sax knew I’d pitch him inside, and he adjusted,” Dravecky said. “The ball he hit was six inches off the ground. I don’t have to adjust to hitters. I just go out and pitch my game.”7

After that Dravecky retired 11 Dodgers in a row before walking Pedro Guerrero with two outs in the fourth inning. He subsequently allowed only a single by Sax with one out in the sixth and a single by Mike Scioscia with one out in the eighth. None of those three baserunners advanced past first base.

Trailing 1-0 after two innings, the Giants took the lead in the third. Brett Butler – signed as a free agent in the offseason on the same day Chili Davis departed for the California Angels8 – reached on an infield single to the right side but was picked off by Valenzuela. Mike Aldrete walked and Will Clark reached on an infield single to third base, putting runners at first and second. Valenzuela tried to pick off Aldrete at second, but his throw sailed into center field; John Shelby’s throw from center to third was errant and Aldrete scored. Clark wound up at third and, after Candy Maldonado walked, scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Kevin Mitchell, putting San Francisco ahead, 2-1.

“I threw wide to second and they scored the runs – my fault,” Valenzuela said. “I didn’t turn my shoulder all the way on the pickoff play.”9

The Giants scored three more runs one inning later. The big blow was a one-out, two-run triple down the right-field line by Butler that scored José Uribe, who had singled, and Dravecky, who laid down a sacrifice bunt and reached on a fielder’s choice when Valenzuela unsuccessfully tried to throw out Uribe at second. Aldrete plated Butler with a sacrifice fly to short left field.

“I don’t think we’ve got the kind of team where you can say, ‘He’s the best player’ or ‘He’s the best’ or ‘He’s the best,’” said Butler, who collected three of the Giants’ nine hits. “But collectively … it’s almost scary what we can do.”10

Dravecky went the distance, scattering three hits and one walk while striking out three batters, as San Francisco won, 5-1. He threw 92 pitches and was in sync with catcher Bob Melvin from start to finish.

“This is how it is every time I catch him,” said Melvin, who was behind the plate for seven of Dravecky’s 18 regular-season starts with the Giants in 1987 and both in the postseason.11 “The guy always is in command out there. He’s especially sharp with his cut fastballs and sliders, and he moves the ball around really well.”12

Melvin boasted that the only time Dravecky shook him off was before the last pitch of the game – a called strike three to Gibson, the former Detroit Tiger signed as a free agent on January 29. “He wanted a fastball on the outside corner and I wanted a slider,” Melvin said.13

Said Gibson about Dravecky: “He’s not overpowering, but he’s a damn smart and good pitcher.”14

“So we didn’t hit today,” Guerrero said. “That’s all right. We got 161 to go. We will hit. We’ve had problems with left-handers in the past and against guys who throw the ball as [Dravecky] did.”15

The season-opening complete game was the first for the Giants since Vida Blue in 1979, an 11-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

“It was an honor to be able to start on Opening Day for the first time,” Dravecky said. “Last year at this time, I didn’t know if I’d be on the Padres’ staff. I was in the bullpen. But I stayed positive, and good things happened. I was fortunate to be traded to a contender, and this was the first time in a while that I was healthy all spring. To be perfectly honest, I was surprised to go nine innings right away.”16

Dravecky made five more starts before going on the disabled list for the first time in his career on May 5 with a sore left shoulder. “The doctor calls it muscle fatigue,” Dravecky said. “All I know is that it isn’t normal stiffness.”17 He returned May 28, pitching five innings in a no-decision at Philadelphia, before being sidelined for the season with a 2-2 record and a 3.16 ERA. He underwent arthroscopic surgery on June 11 to remove scar tissue and repair a tendon in his shoulder. In September, Dravecky was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his throwing arm.

The Giants finished 1988 with an 83-79 record – their third straight winning campaign under Craig. But they sank to fourth in the NL West, 11½ games behind the Dodgers, who won the division going away at 94-67, seven games better than Cincinnati.

Los Angeles defeated the Mets in a seven-game NLCS and beat the A’s in a five-game World Series. Gibson was named the NL Most Valuable Player, and his game-winning pinch-hit home run off Oakland closer Dennis Eckersley in Game One of the World Series was a turning point in the Dodgers’ unexpected championship.

On October 7 Dravecky had a malignant tumor removed from his left arm. The surgery removed half of his deltoid muscle, and doctors told Dravecky that, barring a miracle, he would never pitch again.

But Dravecky made a triumphant return on August 10, 1989, against Cincinnati at Candlestick Park. Five days later Dravecky started and won against the Montreal Expos at Olympic Stadium. In the sixth inning, though, as he prepared to deliver a pitch, the humerus bone in his left arm broke. On October 19, as the Giants celebrated their five-game victory over the Chicago Cubs in the 1989 NLCS, Dravecky bumped into a teammate and broke his arm again. Dravecky announced his retirement on November 13. He underwent two more operations before ultimately having his left arm amputated on June 18, 1991.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Joe Wancho and copy-edited by Len Levin.

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 noted below.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN198804040.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1988/B04040LAN1988.htm

Schott, Tom, and Nick Peters. The Giants Encyclopedia. (Champaign, Illinois: Sports Publishing Inc., 1999).

Notes

1 On July 5, 1987, the Giants acquired Dravecky, Craig Lefferts, and Kevin Mitchell from the Padres in exchange for Chris Brown, Mark Davis, Mark Grant, and Keith Comstock.

2 The only run the Cardinals scored in Game Six came in the second inning when Giants right fielder Candy Maldonado misplayed a ball hit by Tony Peña that turned into a triple, and Peña scored on a sacrifice fly by José Oquendo. The Cardinals went on to win Game Seven, 6-0. Counting his appearances with San Diego in the 1984 playoffs, Dravecky allowed just one run in 25⅔ innings of postseason play in his career.

3 In his first 13 starts with the Giants, Dravecky went 6-2 with a 2.68 ERA, including three shutouts and 21⅓ consecutive scoreless innings.

4 Nick Peters, “Dravecky’s Star Rising,” The Sporting News, April 18, 1988: 16

5 On December 11, 1987, the Dodgers acquired Griffin and Howell from the A’s and Orosco from the Mets. Los Angeles sent Bob Welch and Matt Young to Oakland and Jack Savage to New York. The A’s sent Kevin Tapani and Wally Whitehurst to the Mets.

6 Gordon Verrell, “A Major Overhaul for the Dodgers,” The Sporting News, March 7, 1988: 13.

7 “Dravecky’s Star Rising.”

8 Butler and Davis signed with their new teams on December 1, 1987.

9 Sam McManis, “With Power Out, Dodgers Defenseless Against Giants,” Los Angeles Times, April 5, 1988: Section 3, 6.

10 Edvins Beitiks, “Dravecky Finds His Rhythm and the Giants Rock,” San Francisco Examiner, April 5, 1988: F-1.

11 After the Opening Day win, Dravecky had a 7-2 record with Melvin catching (including the playoffs).

12 “Dravecky’s Star Rising.”

13 “Dravecky Finds His Rhythm and the Giants Rock.”

14 “Dravecky’s Star Rising.”

15 “With Power Out, Dodgers Defenseless Against Giants.”

16 “Dravecky’s Star Rising.”

17 The Sporting News, May 16, 1988: 17.