July 24, 1998: Rafael Palmeiro, Rich Becker lead Orioles to 11th straight home win

Rafael Palmeiro and Rich Becker were Baltimore Orioles teammates in 1998, but the similarities ended there.

Palmeiro had signed as a free agent after the 1993 season and was finishing a five-year span in Baltimore in which he hit 182 home runs with 553 RBIs. Becker had been designated for assignment by the New York Mets and was picked up off waivers on June 16, 1998; he hit three homers and drove in 11 runs in 139 plate appearances for Baltimore and was released after the season.

On July 24, 1998, however, the 33-year-old Palmeiro and 26-year-old Becker combined for three homers and drove in all seven Orioles runs as Baltimore won its 11th straight home game,1 one short of the team record set in 1969.2 The win over the Seattle Mariners was the Orioles’ 14th in 15 games since the All-Star break – the club’s best streak since they won 17 of 18 in 1982.3

The Mariners arrived in Baltimore to start the three-game series at 46-55 and in last place in the four-team American League West Division, 10 games behind the first-place Texas Rangers. Baltimore’s hot streak had evened its record at 51-51. The Orioles were in third place in the AL East, 23 games behind the New York Yankees, but just eight games back of Boston for the wild-card spot.

Right-hander Bill Swift was the Mariners starting pitcher with a 9-5 record and a 5.35 ERA in 18 starts; at age 36 he was in the final year of his 13-year major-league career. His opponent was 29-year-old Orioles right-hander Mike Mussina, who was 7-5 with a 3.62 ERA in 16 starts. On May 14 Mussina had taken a line drive to the face off the bat of Sandy Alomar Jr. He had missed four weeks but pitched effectively since his return on June 6.4

As the Friday night crowd of 48,184 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards settled into their seats for the first inning, the Mariners jumped on Mussina. With one out, Alex Rodriguez lined a single to center and went to third on a double to right-center by Ken Griffey Jr.

Edgar Martinez followed with a single to center to score Rodriguez and move Griffey to third. David Segui’s sacrifice fly made the score 2-0. Jay Buhner singled Martinez to third, but Mussina struck out Russ Davis to end the threat.

In the first inning, Swift allowed just a one-out single to Jeff Reboulet – filling in at second base for the injured Roberto Alomar – but was touched for two runs in the second to tie the game.

B.J. Surhoff led off with a double. Becker, batting seventh and starting in right field one day after Joe Carter was traded to the San Francisco Giants,5 launched a long homer to right-center – his first in 41 at-bats since joining the Orioles.6

“They trade a guy like Joe and say you’re going to get more time, it’s definitely a nice boost,” Becker said.7

In the bottom of the third with one out, Palmeiro hit his 303rd career homer to give Baltimore a 3-2 lead.

After the rough first inning, Mussina fanned Shane Monahan to start the second before hitting John Marzano. But Joey Cora bounced into a 4-3 double play to end the inning.

Mussina pitched a perfect third inning, which included strikeouts of Griffey and Martinez. He allowed a one-out single to Buhner in the fourth, but Baltimore turned Davis’s grounder to short into another twin killing, preserving the lead.

Baltimore wasted a leadoff single by Becker in the bottom of the fourth before Marzano’s one-out homer to deep left tied the game, 3-3, in the fifth.

Swift allowed a leadoff single to Reboulet to begin the bottom of the fifth. Palmeiro followed with his second homer8 – this one onto Eutaw Street beyond right field9 – to give the Orioles the lead, 5-3. The blast was his 33rd of the year and his fifth homer in the last seven games.10

Swift walked Eric Davis on a full-count pitch and was removed for Paul Spoljaric, who ended the inning with no further damage.

Mussina retired all six batters he faced in the sixth and seventh, including his second strikeout of Griffey.

Spoljaric walked Palmeiro to begin the seventh. After striking out Davis, he gave up a single to Surhoff and was replaced by Heathcliff Slocumb, who walked Cal Ripken to load the bases.

Becker slammed a drive toward the Orioles bullpen that bounced back toward the infield. The umpires ruled that it hit the top of the wall; Palmeiro and Surhoff scored to give Baltimore a 7-3 lead. TV replays and Orioles bullpen coach Elrod Hendricks indicated that the ball had actually struck a railing behind the wall11 and should have been Becker’s first career grand slam.12

“I go out and try to do my job every day. That’s what I did today,” Becker said. “It was nice to get some balls in the air. And while it would have been nice to get that grand slam, I’ll take the four RBIs and consider that I did my job.”13

After striking out Marzano to begin the eighth, Mussina gave up a home run to the light-hitting Cora to make the score 7-4.14 After getting Rodriguez to fly out, Mussina was relieved by left-hander Jesse Orosco.

Mussina had allowed seven hits in 7⅔ innings while striking out seven. He did not issue a walk.

“They got a couple of good hits off him in the first inning, but Mike is a whiz at making adjustments during the game and that’s what he did. After he adjusted, he pitched very well,” said Baltimore manager Ray Miller.15

The 41-year-old Orosco – making the 999th16 of his major-league-record 1,252 appearances – fanned Griffey to end the inning. Armando Benitez pitched a perfect ninth for his 13th save.

The victory raised Mussina’s career record to 9-1 against Seattle in 12 starts.17 At 52-51, the Orioles had a winning record for the first time since he was struck in the face by the line drive on May 14 and the win moved them to within seven games in the AL wild-card race.18

When asked about the Orioles’ recent success, Palmeiro shrugged his shoulders. “It’s weird. You can’t explain it,” he said. “Before the All-Star Game, Boston played well and we didn’t. Now it’s the other way around.”19

“We know we can win now,” he added. “Things are going our way. We want to keep on going.”20

“A lot of different people are getting it done right now and we all seem more consistent than earlier in the season,” said Mussina. “We’ve been battling to get back to .500 since the day I got hit, so it’s been a long time. But now we’re there and maybe things will keep going right for us.”21

Although Baltimore lost the last two games of the homestand to Seattle, things would go right for another month. Starting July 28, the Orioles won 16 of 21 to climb to 10 games over .500 on August 19. But the next day they began a stretch in which they lost 12 of 13, leading to a 79-83 finish, their first losing record since 1995.22

After the season Palmeiro signed as a free agent with the Texas Rangers, where he had played from 1989 to 1993 after his trade from the Chicago Cubs. After five successful seasons in Texas – 214 home runs and 608 RBIs – he returned to Baltimore for his final two seasons. He finished his 20-year career in 2005 with 3,020 hits, 569 home runs, 1,835 RBIs, and a .288 batting average in 2,831 games. He joined Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Eddie Murray as the only players with 3,000 hits and 500 home runs.23

Following his 79-game stint as Palmeiro’s teammate in Baltimore, Becker bounced around the next two seasons, going from Milwaukee to Oakland to Detroit, where his major-league career ended at the age of 28. He finished with 45 homers and 243 RBIs in 789 games.

Author’s Note

This game was the fourth of 10 games that the author and his father attended as part of a Jay Buckley baseball tour. The 10-day trip included games in Milwaukee (doubleheader), Pittsburgh, Baltimore, New York (Yankees), Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Detroit, and Chicago (Cubs). Also included was a day at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, a tailgate party at County Stadium, and free time for shopping and sightseeing in Baltimore, Boston, Montreal, and Toronto.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Larry DeFillipo and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the references cited in the Notes, the author also consulted data from Baseball-Reference and Retrosheet:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL199807240.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1998/B07240BAL1998.htm

Notes

1 Highlights of the game can be seen here starting at the 12:00 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wU0vz101HY&t=752s.

2 David Ginsburg (Associated Press), “O’s Roll Past Mariners, 7-4,” Salisbury (Maryland) Daily Times, July 25, 1998: 13. Baltimore lost the following night to Seattle and would not match the home winning streak of the 1969 squad.

3 Joe Strauss, “Orioles Wild Run Gains More Speed,” Baltimore Sun, July 25, 1998: 1C. The 1982 Orioles started 2-10 but from August 20 to September 7 they won 17 of 18 to get within three games of the AL East lead. In the final series of the season, they won the first three games of a four-game home series against the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers to tie for first place. On the last day of the season, future Hall of Famers Jim Palmer and Don Sutton squared off with the AL East Division title on the line. Milwaukee won 10-2 and then beat the California Angels in five games in the ALCS. They lost a memorable seven-game World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals.

4 The author also attended this game. The SABR game story can be seen here: https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/may-14-1998-mike-mussina-takes-a-line-drive-to-the-face-as-cleveland-nips-baltimore-5-4/

5 Strauss.

6 Becker had three homers in 100 at-bats with the New York Mets in 1998 before joining Baltimore.

7 Associated Press, “Palmeiro’s Power Foils M’s, 7-4,” Longview (Washington) Daily News, July 25, 1998: B1.

8 This was Palmeiro’s first two-homer game of the season and the 19th of his career. Strauss.

9 The blast was the 19th in the history of the ballpark, which opened in 1992, to land on Eutaw Street. Palmeiro, with four, had more than any other player. Strauss.

10 Strauss.

11 Strauss.

12 Becker hit 45 career home runs in the major leagues, but never a grand slam.

13 Joe Gross, “Once Again, Palmeiro Powers O’s,” Annapolis (Maryland) Capital, July 25, 1998: C4.

14 Cora hit 30 career home runs in 4,279 plate appearances.

15 Gross.

16 Gross.

17 Mussina finished his career 19-6 in 30 games (29 starts) against Seattle.

18 Strauss.

19 Associated Press, “Palmeiro’s Power Foils M’s, 7-4.”

20 Strauss.

21 Gross.

22 Baltimore would not have another winning season until 2012.

23 Ralph Caola, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/rafael-palmeiro/. Since 1998, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, and Miguel Cabrera have also become members of the 3,000-hit, 500-homer club.