May 15, 1989: Brewers’ Terry Francona pitches perfect inning of relief in blowout loss to A’s

Terry Francona’s 1989 season was mostly forgettable. The left-handed swinger began the season platooning at first base for the Milwaukee Brewers. But when his batting average dipped to .154, he was benched against the Oakland Athletics on May 15 with a tough right-hander on the mound.1

The 30-year-old son of former major leaguer Tito Francona had a quiet night – at least until the A’s offense exploded and Milwaukee manager Tom Trebelhorn told him he was pitching the bottom of the eighth inning.2 It turned out to be one of the few bright spots of the season for Francona. With his team trailing 12-2, he made his major-league debut on the mound. To everyone’s surprise, Francona pitched a perfect inning of relief, highlighted by a startling strikeout of Stan Javier on a fluttering knuckleball.

Francona had started his big-league career in 1981 as a highly-touted outfield prospect with the Montreal Expos.3 The former Golden Spikes Award winner at the University of Arizona had been an outstanding hitter before serious knee injuries in 1982 and 1984 derailed his career.4 In each instance, Francona was in the running for the National League batting title when he blew out a knee in mid-June, forcing him to undergo season-ending surgery.5 He remained a fan favorite in Montreal and when he was released by the Expos on April 1, 1986, it was front-page news in the Montreal Gazette.6

Francona managed to claw his way back to the big leagues, although he struggled at the plate with the Chicago Cubs in 1986 and the Cincinnati Reds in 1987. After spending the first half of the 1988 season in the Pacific Coast League, Francona hit .311 in 62 games with the Cleveland Indians. Since his knee injuries had limited his power at the plate, 57 of his 66 hits were singles.7

Francona went to spring training with the Brewers in 1989 as a nonroster invitee and made the team as a utility player.8 When first baseman Greg Brock went down with an injury just before the season began, playing time suddenly opened up for him.9

The Brewers were expected to be contenders in 1989 after finishing just two games out of first place the previous season in the tightly bunched American League East Division.10 But ace hurler Teddy Higuera had missed all of April with an injury and the Brewers came into their May 15 game with a .226 team batting average, leaving them with a disappointing 15-19 record.11 Since no team was above .500 in the division, Milwaukee was only two games out of first place.

Oakland, the defending AL champion, came into the game with a major-league-leading record of 24-12. Despite the Athletics’ quick start, they led the Kansas City Royals and the California Angels by just one game in the AL West Division standings. They turned to their ace, 32-year-old righty Dave Stewart, in the finale of their four-game set against the Brewers.12 The Oakland native was 6-1 with a 3.42 ERA and in search of his third consecutive 20-win season.

Rather than have the slumping Francona face Stewart, Trebelhorn decided to start rookie shortstop Bill Spiers at first base. With Brock nearing his return from the disabled list, Francona’s roster spot was suddenly in jeopardy.13

Stewart was opposed by Milwaukee’s Opening Day starter, Don August. The 25-year-old righty was 2-4 with a 4.00 ERA and was coming off an impressive rookie season that saw him finish fourth in voting for the AL Rookie of the Year Award.14

August retired six of the first seven batters he faced before running into trouble in the third. An RBI single by Luis Polonia15 and a two-run homer by Dave Henderson – his seventh of the season − staked Oakland to a 3-0 lead.

The Athletics opened the fourth with three consecutive singles to load the bases. The third hit came when Javier tapped a slow roller down the first-base line and August pulled a hamstring attempting to field it.16 Righty Mark Knudson came on in relief of the injured hurler and surrendered three hits and two walks in the inning. Walt Weiss drove in two runs with a single, Henderson singled in another, and Dave Parker doubled in two more, giving Oakland a commanding 8-0 lead.

The Athletics added two more runs against Knudson in the fifth on an RBI triple by Mike Gallego and an RBI single by Polonia. Paul Mirabella relieved Knudson and gave up two more runs on three hits in the sixth.17 The markers came on an RBI groundout by Javier and Weiss’s RBI single, extending Oakland’s lead to 12-0.

Stewart started the day with an 8-0 career record against Milwaukee and continued his dominance by limiting the Brewers to two singles and one walk through six innings.18

Rob Deer got the Brewers on the scoreboard when he led off the seventh with a solo homer off Stewart.19 After the next three batters singled to load the bases, Milwaukee tallied another run when Spiers grounded into a 3-6-1 double play.

Eric Plunk replaced Stewart for the eighth and tossed a one-two-three inning.

Francona, who hadn’t pitched since high school, came in for the bottom of the eighth with the Brewers trailing 12-2.20 It was only the second game in the 21-year history of the franchise to feature a Milwaukee position player on the mound. On August 29, 1979, Sal Bando, Jim Gantner, and Buck Martinez each pitched in a Brewers’ blowout loss to the Kansas City Royals.21

Francona, a rare left-handed knuckleballer, breezed through the inning, throwing 8 of 12 pitches for strikes. The first two batters, Terry Steinbach and Tony Phillips, were both hitting well over .300.22 Francona used a mix of fastballs and knucklers to retire both hitters on fly balls.

Javier, hitting .284, was up next. He fouled off a fastball for strike one. Francona threw him a knuckleball for called strike two. The next pitch was a knuckler – even slower than the first one – that Javier watched sail by for called strike three. It was the only strikeout in the game by a Brewers pitcher and even Francona was stunned. “When I let it go, I thought he was going to crush it,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it.”23 Javier was impressed by Francona’s knuckleball. “It was like Charlie Hough throwing out there,” he said.

Oakland reliever Greg Cadaret pitched a one-two-three ninth to nail down the victory for the Athletics. Stewart picked up the win, becoming the first seven-game winner in the majors.24

Since it was still relatively rare for position players to pitch in the majors – it happened only 12 times in 1989 − Francona’s relief appearance received a significant amount of media attention.25 “I wasn’t trying to make a travesty of the game,” explained Trebelhorn.26 “We’re in a stretch of 10 straight games and I think I’ll need some pitchers tomorrow if Higuera [who had struggled since returning from the disabled list] doesn’t go too deep.”27

Francona was his usual self-deprecating self when asked what he thought his pitches registered on the radar gun. “I’ll bet they used a calendar,” he quipped.28 “My only goal was to not get killed. All I could really think about was somebody hitting the ball up the middle.”29

The light-hearted relief outing seemed to kick-start Francona’s bat and he immediately went on a 17-for-37 (.460) hitting spree. But it was too little, too late − Brock returned from the disabled list at the end of May and took over at first base against righties for the remainder of the season. Francona had the worst season of his career in 1989, batting just .232 with 3 homers and 23 RBIs in 233 at-bats.

Higuera returned to his previous form for three months and from May 16 to August 20 he went 9-2 with a 2.43 ERA, helping the Brewers pull to within a half-game of first place.30 It was as close as they would get. The Brewers lost 11 of their next 14 games and fell out of the race. They finished in fourth place with an 81-81 record, eight games behind the division-winning Toronto Blue Jays.

After appearing in just three regular-season games for the Brewers in April 1990, Francona refused a demotion to the minor leagues and asked to be released to allow him to find a better situation.31 On May 5 he signed a minor-league contract with the St. Louis Cardinals and spent the remainder of the season at Triple-A Louisville. Francona’s hitting was unremarkable, but he mopped up in five blowout games, posting eye-popping stats on the hill: 7⅔ innings pitched, 4 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts, and a 1.17 ERA. In a July 12 relief appearance against the Syracuse Chiefs, Francona retired all five batters he faced and struck out three.32

Francona was released by the Cardinals in the spring of 1991,33 ending a disappointing career as a major-league hitter and a brief − yet sublime − stint as a left-handed knuckleball pitcher.34

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Kurt Blumenau and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and Stathead.com. The author also reviewed the SABR biography of Terry Francona. Unless otherwise noted, all play-by-play information for this game was taken from the article “Brewers Are Blitzed by A’s ‘Shell Game,’” in the May 16, 1989, edition of the Milwaukee Journal.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK198905150.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1989/B05150OAK1989.htm

Photo credit

Photo of Terry Francona courtesy the Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Francona also began the game on the bench with righty Storm Davis on the mound in the opener of the four-game series against Oakland on May 12.

2 Kit Stier, “A’s Get 17 Hits, Mug Brewers,” Oakland Tribune, May 16, 1989: D1.

3 The Expos selected Francona in the first round of the June 1980 amateur draft out of the University of Arizona.

4 The Golden Spikes Award is given annually to the top amateur baseball player in the United States. Francona won the award in 1980. He tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in a June 16, 1982, game in St. Louis. Francona damaged the cartilage and partially tore a ligament in his left knee in a game in Montreal on June 14, 1984.

5 When Francona injured his right knee on June 16, 1982, he was eighth in the NL batting race with a .321 average, 2 percentage points ahead of teammate Al Oliver. While Francona rehabbed his knee, Oliver went on to win the batting title with a .331 average. When Francona injured his left knee on June 14, 1984, he was batting .346, which had him second in the NL batting race behind Tony Gwynn. He was also leading the majors with 19 doubles.

6 Francona hit .290 in his five seasons in Montreal. Brian Kappler, “Francona’s Dream Fades as Career with Expos Ends,” Montreal Gazette, April 2, 1986: 1.

7 “I spent my last six to seven years playing in running shoes,” said Francona. “I couldn’t dig in at the plate because I didn’t think my knees would hold up.” The quote was taken from the 10-minute, 30-second mark of the 2023 documentary on Francona’s baseball career. “Tito: The Terry Francona Story,” MLB.tv, https://www.mlb.com/tv/shows/mlbtv-featured-svod-video-list/mlb-network-presents-tito, accessed June 6, 2024.

8 Don Langenkamp, “Engle, Francona Fill Brewers’ Needs,” Green Bay (Wisconsin) Press-Gazette, March 30, 1989: C1; Don Langenkamp, “Traveling Man Francona May Have a Home,” Green Bay (Wisconsin) Press-Gazette, March 30, 1989: C1.

9 Associated Press, “It’s Brock’s Turn on Disabled List,” Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Press, April 5, 1989: 15.

10 Bob Matthews, “Much-Happier Blue Jays Appear Power of Division,” Olympia (Washington) Olympian, April 2, 1989: 5D.

11 Higuera had been Milwaukee’s ace since his rookie season of 1985. Arm troubles kept him out of action in April 1989, and he struggled in his first two starts of the season (May 1 and May 10). Andy Baggot, “Higuera ‘So-So’ in Denver Test,” Wisconsin State Journal (Madison), April 21, 1989: 1C.

12 Oakland had taken two of the first three games of the series.

13 Cliff Christl, “Slumping Francona Sits Out,” Milwaukee Journal, May 16, 1989: 23.

14 Oakland shortstop Walt Weiss won the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 1988. August went 13-7 with a 3.09 ERA in his rookie season. He was never able to duplicate that success and his big-league playing career came to an end after the 1991 season. He finished with a career record of 34-30 and a 4.64 ERA.

15 Approximately one month after this game, Polonia was traded to the New York Yankees along with Greg Cadaret and Eric Plunk for Rickey Henderson. Henderson became a key component in Oakland’s offense, helping them win the 1989 World Series and the AL pennant in 1990. Henderson earned the AL MVP Award in 1990.

16 Stier, “A’s Get 17 Hits, Mug Brewers”; Christl, “Slumping Francona Sits Out.”

17 Mirabella returned in the seventh and pitched a scoreless inning.

18 Oakland manager Tony La Russa was aware of Stewart’s career record against Milwaukee, so he started him on three days’ rest. Tom Haudricourt, “Athletics Pound Brewers as Stewart Continues Hex,” Milwaukee Sentinel, May 16, 1989: 13.

19 It was Deer’s ninth homer of the season, tying him with Bo Jackson for the league lead. Deer finished the season with 26 homers, which tied him for 8th in the AL. Jackson (172 strikeouts) and Deer (158 strikeouts) finished one-two in the AL in strikeouts. Deer had led the league in strikeouts in 1987 and tied for the league lead in 1988. He also led the AL in strikeouts in 1991 and 1993.

20 Cliff Christl, “Brewers Are Blitzed by A’s ‘Shell Game,’” Milwaukee Journal, May 16, 1989: 23.

21 Gantner played second base for the Brewers in the game Francona pitched. Christl, “Brewers Are Blitzed by A’s ‘Shell Game.’”

22 Coming into their respective eighth-inning at-bats, Steinbach was hitting .320 and Phillips had a .329 batting average.

23 Christl, “Brewers Are Blitzed by A’s ‘Shell Game.’”

24 Stewart finished the season 21-9 with a 3.32 ERA. It was his third of four consecutive 20-win seasons.

25 By comparison, a position player − excluding two-way player Shohei Ohtani − pitched in a regular-season game 115 times in 2023.

26 Haudricourt, “Athletics Pound Brewers as Stewart Continues Hex.”

27 Associated Press, “Stewart Sails Past Brewers Again,” Ukiah (California) Daily Journal, May 16, 1989: A10.

28 Christl, “Brewers Are Blitzed by A’s ‘Shell Game.’”

29 Associated Press, “Stewart Sails Past Brewers Again.”

30 Higuera suffered a shoulder strain late in the season and he appeared in only two games after August 20. He went 0-2 with a 10.00 ERA in those two starts. Associated Press, “Brewers Go West; Higuera to Miss Another Start,” Wisconsin State Journal, September 5, 1989: 3B.

31 Greg Hansen, “Tomey Favors Rule Requiring 3 Football Coaches on Campus,” Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), May 6, 1990: D12.

32 Jeff D’Alessio, “Birds Fall 14-8 as Chiefs Are Nightmare for Clarke,” Louisville Courier-Journal, July 13, 1990: E5.

33 George Rorrer, “Redbirds’ Maclin Fits Mold of Cardinals Outfielders,” Louisville Courier-Journal, April 3, 1991: D1.

34 Francona finished his 10-year big league career with a .274 batting average, 16 homers, and 143 RBIs. His career ERA was a perfect 0.00.