June 27, 1986: Giants rookie Robby Thompson caught stealing four times in 12-inning win over Reds

The San Francisco Giants entered 1986 coming off three straight losing seasons, including back-to-back last-place finishes in the National League West Division. In 1985 they had lost 100 games for the first time in franchise history.

But when the Giants began a six-game road trip with a weekend series against the Cincinnati Reds in late June, their 39-33 record led the NL West. A major contributor to San Francisco’s resurgence was rookie second baseman Robby Thompson, the Giants’ first-round draft choice from the University of Florida in 1983. New manager Roger Craig had installed Thompson in the starting lineup on Opening Day, and the 24-year-old Thompson was batting .260 coming into the opener of the Reds series on June 27.1

San Francisco had a half-game lead over the Houston Astros in the National League West Division despite losing a two-game home series to the San Diego Padres before traveling to Cincinnati. A Giants win in Cincinnati would snap an 11-game losing streak at Riverfront Stadium going back to August 2, 1984.

The second-place division finisher behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1985, Cincinnati was in the NL West cellar so far in ’86 at 30-39. Pete Rose was in his second full season as Reds player-manager after returning to Cincinnati in August 1984.2

The 45-year-old Rose was in the lineup at first base, batting second, against the Giants because a right-hander, 24-year-old Scott Garrelts, was on the mound. Garrelts led San Francisco with 13 saves in 1985, but Craig had converted him to starting.3 He entered the game with a 6-6 record and a 3.05 ERA in his first 17 appearances of 1986.4

The Reds countered with 27-year-old right-hander Bill Gullickson, who began his career with the Montreal Expos but was traded to the Reds in December 1985.5 He won his last start, on June 20, 8-5 over the Atlanta Braves, and entered the game 5-6 with a 3.90 ERA.

After a one-two-three first, including a fly out by second-place hitter Thompson, Gullickson got himself in mild trouble in the second. Mike Aldrete, who had been starting at first after Clark injured his elbow on June 3,6 walked and Bob Melvin lined a single up the middle. But José Uribe flied out to end the Giants threat.

Eddie Milner’s caught-stealing and Dave Parker’s double play kept the Reds scoreless in the first, but Cincinnati jumped on Garrelts for a run in its half of the second. Left fielder Eric Davis led off with a walk, stole his 29th base of the season, and ended up at third on Thompson’s error on catcher Melvin’s throw. Davis scored on third baseman Buddy Bell’s sacrifice fly to right to put the Reds in front 1-0.

The Giants quickly grabbed the lead in the third. Garrelts walked and took third base when center fielder Randy Kutcher, playing in just his ninth major-league game, singled through a hole on the right side of the infield. Thompson’s sacrifice fly to deep center advanced both runners and tied the game.

With two outs, third baseman Chris Brown, who entered the day with a National League-best .348 batting average, singled to right to score Kutcher and put the Giants in front 2-1.

San Francisco appeared to break the game open in the fourth. Melvin and Uribe started the frame with singles. Garrelts then bunted down the first-base line. Rose was unable to field the ball and Garrelts was safe at first.

With the bases loaded, Kutcher hit a sinking liner to center. Milner charged, grabbed the ball on a hop and threw to third for the force on Uribe as Melvin scored.7 With runners on first and second, Garrelts broke for third.

Catcher Bo Díaz’s throw to third sailed over Bell and into the Giants bullpen, and Garrelts scored. Kutcher crossed the plate when the ball got past left fielder Davis for the second error on the play, making it a 5-1 game.

“(Garrelts) missed a hit-and-run sign. He started running, and Díaz didn’t know what was going on,” said Craig later. “He’s out by 40 feet if the ball is thrown well. I know running creates mistakes, but I never saw one like that.”8

Thompson followed with a single. With Leonard batting, Craig called for the hit-and-run, but Díaz threw out Thompson stealing second. It was the 6th time in 13 attempts that Thompson had been caught stealing.

Cincinnati responded with a run in the bottom of the fourth on three singles, making it 5-2. In the fifth, Rose doubled with two outs – his 4,235th career hit – and took third on a wild pitch, but Garrelts struck out Parker.

The Giants restored their four-run lead in the sixth. Uribe led off with his second single of the game. He reached second when Carl Willis, who had replaced Gullickson, tried to pick him off and Rose missed the ball for an error. Uribe took third on a fly out and came home on Thompson’s single to right. The frame ended when Craig again put on the hit-and-run with Leonard at bat, and Diaz threw out Thompson stealing second.

Garrelts was still pitching when the Reds began to rally in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs, 38-year-old shortstop Dave Concepción, in his 17th season with Cincinnati, tripled. Diaz singled to bring him home, cutting the Giants’ lead to 6-3.

Craig went to his bullpen in the seventh, and Rose turned to his bench. Left-hander Mark Davis walked rookie Kurt Stillwell, batting for Willis. After another rookie, Tracy Jones, hit for Milner and flied out, Rose sent up 44-year-old Tony Pérez – his longtime teammate and current platoon partner – to pinch-hit for himself. Craig countered with right-hander Jeff Robinson and the right-handed Pérez’s single chased Stillwell to third.

Parker was due up, and Craig brought in yet another rookie, left-hander Chuck Hensley. It was just Hensley’s ninth major-league appearance. Parker homered over the right-field wall for his 15th home run of the season, tying the game, 6-6.9

Craig returned to his bullpen for a fourth time in the inning, summoning right-hander Frank Williams. Williams gave up a single to Davis, who then stole second, his 30th of the season. But the inning ended when Bell struck out and Melvin threw out Davis trying to steal third.

With the game tied at 6-6, neither team scored for the next four innings.

Thompson led off the ninth with a single – making it the ninth three-hit game of his brief career. For the third time, however, Craig called for Leonard to hit-and-run, and Thompson was caught stealing.

With Juan Berenguer on the mound in the ninth, the Reds had an opportunity to win the game. Jones, who had stayed in the game in left field, drew a one-out walk. Berenguer tried to pick him off. His throw got past Aldrete and bounced toward the Reds bullpen. Jones raced past second and slid into third but was tagged out by Brown on Thompson’s relay throw.

“I thought I could get three. I just made an error in judgment,” said Jones. “You’ve got to force things. This one base at a time is not working.” Rose said of the play later, “Maybe he thought the ball was down the right-field line far enough to make it easy. He did not look at the coach.”10

Thompson reached base with two outs in the 11th when he struck out on a wild pitch. But Reds reliever John Franco caught him running and threw to first, with a relay to second from Concepcíon – who had moved to first base in the eighth – beating Thompson easily. It was the fourth time Thompson had been caught stealing in the game.

Craig called on Greg Minton to pitch the 11th. Minton had led the team in saves from 1980 to 1984 but he had been struggling in 1986.11 He managed to get through the 11th inning despite two walks. (One was intentional.)

Rookie Scott Terry, the Reds’ fifth pitcher, came in to pitch the 12th. Chili Davis walked with one out. Brown singled, his second hit of the night.12 Aldrete hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Davis with the go-ahead run.

With the Giants in front 7-6, Craig stayed with Minton in the bottom of the 12th. Minton got Parker to fly out to left. Davis grounded out. After Bell walked, Concepción hit into a force out at second for the final out.

Thompson’s four times caught stealing set the NL/AL record for the most in a game.13 “That’s one way to get in the record books. I think it’s hilarious – one of those things,” said Thompson. “It was just a rough night on the bases, but it doesn’t matter. We won.”14

Thompson, who finished second in the NL’s Rookie of the Year voting to Todd Worrell of the St. Louis Cardinals, was caught stealing just six more times through the end of the 1986 season.15 He finished his 11-year career with 103 stolen bases and was caught stealing 62 times, an average of less than six times per season.

The ’86 Giants were in first place as late as July 20, when a 16-26 slide doomed their worst-to-first hopes. They came in third in the NL West behind the Houston Astros and the Reds, who ended the season on a 34-17 surge corresponding with Rose wrapping up his time as a player and future Hall of Famer Barry Larkin’s August promotion from the minors.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Robby Thompson, Trading Card Database.

Sources

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

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN198606270.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1986/B06270CIN1986.htm

Notes

1 Thompson was part of a class of Giants’ rookies that included 1985 first-round pick Will Clark, first baseman Mike Aldrete, and starting pitcher Terry Mulholland.

2 Rose, the majors’ all-time hit leader, was still playing first base against right-handed pitching, with 44-year-old Tony Pérez – Rose’s teammate going back to the New York-Penn League in 1960, then the Big Red Machine Reds of the 1970s – handling first against lefties. Rose, 45, was batting .217 with a .273 slugging percentage.

3 Garrelts was just one of the Giants pitchers who had adopted Craig’s signature pitch, the split-fingered fastball. Ron Fimrite, “The Pitch of the ‘80s,” Sports Illustrated, June 9, 1986, https://vault.si.com/vault/1986/06/09/the-pitch-of-the-80s.

4 Garrelts started one more game, on July 2. Craig returned him to the bullpen for the remainder of the season and he finished with 10 saves, the most on the Giants staff that year.

5 Gullickson and Sal Butera were traded by the Montreal Expos to the Cincinnati Reds for Dann Bilardello, Andy McGaffigan, John Stuper, and Jay Tibbs on December 19, 1985.

6 Nick Peters, “Craig Backs Thompson as Best Rookie,” Oakland Tribune, June 27, 1986: F-1.

7 Michael Paolercio, “Giants Win Marathon from Reds,” Cincinnati Enquirer, June 28, 1986: B1.

8 Nick Peters, “Minton Atones in Giants 12-inning Win,” Oakland Tribune, June 28, 1986: 37.

9 Hensley would get into two more major-league games before being sent back to the minors. He pitched four more years in the minors for four different teams before retiring.

10 Paolercio, “Giants Win Marathon from Reds.”

11 Minton entered the game with a 2-4 record with just four saves. But more significantly, he had four blown saves and a 5.18 ERA in 18 appearances.

12 Brown went 2-for-6 in the game, lowering his average to .347. It was his sixth consecutive multihit game and 8th in the last 12 games. Tony Gwynn went 3-for-4 to finish the day with a .350 average. Tim Raines eventually finished the season with the highest batting average, .334. Brown finished at .317 and Gwynn at .329.

13 As of 2025, Thompson remained the only player caught stealing four times in an AL/NL game.

14 Nick Peters, “Minton Atones in Giants 12-inning Win.”

15 Thompson had 12 stolen bases and was caught stealing 15 times during his rookie season.