May 7, 1992: Orioles’ late rally stuns reigning champion Twins

When the St. Louis Browns relocated to Baltimore in 1954, the new Baltimore Orioles played their home games in Memorial Stadium, a multipurpose facility located north of downtown. Thirty-eight years later the Orioles moved to Oriole Park at Camden Yards, a trail-blazing ballpark situated by the waterfront in the heart of downtown. From its opening, this new neoclassical edifice dazzled players and spectators alike. Randy Bush, the veteran outfielder and designated hitter for the Twins, commented, “I like everything about it. … It’s like they took the best of the old parks and put them here.”1

The first major-league game in Camden Yards was played on April 6, 1992, when Rick Sutcliffe and the Orioles defeated the Cleveland Indians 2-0 in front of a delighted crowd of 44,568. Baltimore, which had finished sixth in the American League East Division in 1991 at 67-95, continued to thrive in its new home, winning 11 of 13 games before facing the Minnesota Twins in the middle of a 10-game homestand in early May.

The defending World Series champion Twins were hoping to gain a split of the two-game series after losing the first game, 6-2. The listed attendance for the series finale on Thursday, May 7, was 39,253, but with the wind howling and the temperatures plummeting during the evening, the ballpark was less than half full.2

The 35-year-old Sutcliffe, with four wins in his first six starts after signing with the Orioles as a free agent in December 1991, was aiming to extend his home dominance. Both of his losses were on the road, but he had been unbeatable at home, going 3-0 with a 0.70 ERA.

Twins starter Bill Krueger was facing Sutcliffe for the second time in the season. The 34-year-old southpaw defeated the Orioles on April 27 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis by tossing two-hit ball over eight innings in a 4-1 Twins win. Sutcliffe surrendered 10 hits and 4 runs in the loss.

In the rematch, Sutcliffe faced nine batters in the first two innings, surrendering two hits and a walk but holding the Twins scoreless. Krueger breezed through the first but was touched for a run with two outs in the second. Randy Milligan doubled to deep right field and after David Segui walked, Billy Ripken punched a single through the shortstop hole, plating Milligan for a 1-0 Baltimore lead.

Minnesota’s top of the order was up again as the third inning commenced. Left fielder Shane Mack, who led off the game with an infield single, doubled to left for his second hit of the night. Chuck Knoblauch hit a bouncer to Cal Ripken Jr. at short. Mack took off for third, and Ripken’s throw to third baseman Tim Hulett was in time to nab Mack. Knoblauch stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch, but Brian Harper struck out to end the threat.

After going hitless with runners in scoring position in their first nine at-bats, the Twins broke through in the fifth. Knoblauch plunked a leadoff single into right-center field and stole second after Kirby Puckett flied out to center. Kent Hrbek walked, the fourth walk issued by the laboring Sutcliffe. Harper followed with a single to left field. Brady Anderson bobbled the ball, allowing Knoblauch to score the tying run. Hrbek motored to third and Harper to second on the error.

Orioles manager Johnny Oates ordered an intentional walk to veteran switch-hitter Chili Davis,3 preferring to face righty-swinging Pedro Muñoz. But the strategy backfired when Muñoz hit a deep fly to right, scoring Hrbek and allowing Harper to advance to third and Davis to second. Scott Leius drove both runners home with a line-drive single, extending the Twins’ lead to 4-1.

Sutcliffe was pulled from the game having allowed four runs on seven hits and five walks. The four-run outburst shattered his aura of invincibility at the new ballpark.4

Orioles reliever Todd Frohwirth, who replaced Sutcliffe to get the last out of the fifth, kept the game within reach by holding the Twins in check for the next three innings. The 29-year-old right-hander, pitching with a distinctive submarine delivery, was in his second year with the Orioles after four seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Frohwirth allowed a leadoff single to Mack in the sixth, and a two-out single to Knoblauch in the eighth, but it remained a 4-1 game.

Krueger had settled in after the second, allowing only three more baserunners through the seventh inning, and was finished after tossing 111 pitches. His outing mirrored the gem he pitched against the Orioles at the Metrodome. Oates was impressed. “When you’re facing a good pitcher, it doesn’t matter how many times you look at him,” he said. “You either get him or you don’t. He’s throwing the ball very well.”5

Carl Willis replaced Krueger in the eighth, and Hulett smoked a line-drive double down the left-field line. But Willis induced both Ripken and Mike Devereaux to ground out to shortstop. Twins manager Tom Kelly then pulled Willis and brought in closer Rick Aguilera to face Chris Hoiles, who grounded out to end the inning.

Storm Davis—back in Baltimore through an offseason trade with the Kansas City Royals, nine years after getting the win in Game Four of the 1983 World Series for the Orioles—pitched a scoreless ninth, then Aguilera returned to the mound in the bottom of the ninth looking for his eighth save.

Glenn Davis led off with a soft liner to right field that dropped for a base hit, the first for Davis since he returned from a monthlong stint on the disabled list. “I was able to help out,” said Davis. “It wasn’t pretty, but I got on base and started the rally.”6

Right fielder Jarvis Brown, who had entered the game as a defensive replacement for Muñoz, broke back at the crack of the bat and could not recover to make the catch. “I broke back and stayed back too long,” said Brown. “I didn’t compensate for the wind enough.”7

Milligan followed with a double to right, and Segui drove in Davis with a sharp single to left, cutting the deficit to 4-2. With the potential winning run headed to the plate, Orioles manager Oates made a series of moves. 

Mark McLemore was sent in to run for Segui and Sam Horn pinch-hit for Billy Ripken. Horn worked the count to 3-and-2 before dropping a soft single to left. Milligan scored and McLemore advanced to third, barely beating the throw from left fielder Mack. Horn went to second on the throw. “Everyone has been chipping in,” said Horn. “I just wanted to be productive.”8

Joe Orsulak replaced Horn at second and Anderson was intentionally walked to load the bases. Lefty Chito Martinez batted for Hulett and topped a weak grounder to second. Knoblauch charged the ball, looked toward home, but decided to throw to first for the sure out.9 The speedy McLemore scored and the other runners advanced.

With the score tied and first base open, Aguilera intentionally walked Cal Ripken to set up the double play with Devereaux due up. After Devereaux fell behind 1-and-2, Harper went to the mound to confer with Aguilera. “We decided to go with a forkball. A strikeout would have been nice there,” Aguilera said.10

The biting forkball dived more than expected and bounced away from Harper as Orsulak raced home with the winning run. “It just seemed it happened so fast,” said Aguilera. “It was a situation where I just didn’t get the job done.”11

Sutcliffe, who avoided his first home loss with the ninth-inning rally, said, “The object of the game is to win and I can’t think of many tougher ways than to score four runs off [Aguilera]. … It was a long time since I have seen anything like that.”12

The comeback win kept the Orioles in second place, one game behind the Toronto Blue Jays. Baltimore lost five of its next six home games, but a 5-3 win on May 22 against the California Angels was a turning point. The sellout crowd of 45,709 that night began a streak that lasted the rest of the season,13 and the Orioles reversed their recent downturn. They finished the season with 89 wins, a 22-win improvement over 1991. The success they experienced in their first year at Camden Yards gave the team and fans hope for the future.

Acknowledgments 

This article was fact-checked by Jim Sweetman and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Trading Card Database.

Sources 

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for information including the box score and play-by-play.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL199205070.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1992/B05070BAL1992.htm

Notes

1 Jim Caple, “Camden Yards Gets High Marks from Defending World Champs,” York (Pennsylvania) Daily Record, May 8, 1992: 5C.

2 Jeff Lenihan, “Orioles Haunt Aguilera,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 8, 1992: C1.

3 Davis batted 50 times against Sutcliffe in his career and hit .333 with a .440 on-base average and a .476 slugging average.

4 Peter Schmuck. “Wild Pitch, Wild Rally, Wild Win,” Baltimore Sun, May 8, 1992: D1.

5 Schmuck.

6 Schmuck.

7 Lenihan, “Orioles Haunt Aguilera.”

8 Schmuck. “Wild Pitch, Wild Rally, Wild Win.”

9 Schmuck.

10 Lenihan, “Orioles Haunt Aguilera.”

11 Lenihan.

12 John Delcos, “O’s Pull Win Out in Ninth,” York Daily Record, May 8, 1992: 1C.

13 Jim Henneman, “Streak Ends with Park’s Smallest Crowd,” Baltimore Sun. April 23, 1993: 6D.