October 14, 1992: Francisco Cabrera’s dramatic walk-off single sends Atlanta Braves back to World Series

The Atlanta Braves jumped out to a three-games-to-one lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1992 National League Championship Series, outscoring the Pirates by 13 runs in the first four games. Pittsburgh’s bats came alive in Game Five and the Pirates won the next two games, outscoring the Braves by 15 runs, to tie the series at three games apiece.1 The Pirates needed just one more win to make their comeback from a three-games-to-one deficit complete. For the second consecutive year, the two teams would play seven games to decide who would move on to the World Series.2

A crowd of 51,975 poured into Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium on October 14, and Atlanta manager Bobby Cox sent right-hander John Smoltz to the mound. The 25-year-old Smoltz had won all four of his NLCS starts against the Pirates in the past two seasons, including a Game Seven shutout in 1991. Cox had called a team meeting earlier in the day, telling the players they should think of the seventh game as “a one-game series with both clubs starting fresh.”3

Smoltz walked leadoff batter Alex Cole. Andy Van Slyke’s one-out double put two runners in scoring position. Barry Bonds, whose home run against Tom Glavine the night before had ignited an eight-run second inning, was walked intentionally. Orlando Merced flied out to deep right field, plating Cole to give the Pirates a one-run lead. Jeff King fouled out to end the frame.

Doug Drabek started for Pittsburgh, the third time in the Championship Series he started against Smoltz in the NLCS. The 30-year-old right-hander and 1990 NL Cy Young Award winner had lost his previous two starts,4 not pitching more than 4⅔ innings while giving up six earned runs after leading the Pirates rotation with 15 wins, a 2.77 ERA, and 177 strikeouts during the regular season.

Drabek didn’t seem bothered by his previous struggles, retiring the first six Braves he faced. Umpire John McSherry started the game behind the plate. When he felt ill in the second inning, first-base umpire Randy Marsh replaced him behind home plate and right-field umpire Ed Montague moved to first base.5

The Braves’ Damon Berryhill led off with a double in the third, but a pair of groundouts and a lineout to second ended the threat.

Smoltz retired Pittsburgh in order in innings two through four. In the fifth, José Lind doubled for the second Pirates hit but was stranded at second.

Another extra-base hit by a Pittsburgh infielder led to a run an inning later. Jay Bell doubled down the left-field line to start the sixth. Van Slyke’s single brought him home to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.

The Braves had a chance to score in the sixth. Drabek gave up a leadoff single to Mark Lemke. Cox replaced Smoltz with pinch-hitter Jeff Treadway, who singled. Otis Nixon’s bunt single loaded the bases. But Jeff Blauser lined a bullet to third baseman King, who caught Lemke off the base for an unassisted double play. Terry Pendleton, who had just three hits in his last 19 at-bats, flied out to left field for the third out.

Cox brought in Mike Stanton for the seventh. The left-hander had pitched 3⅔ innings of relief in the first four games, giving up just one hit, one walk, and one unearned run. Mike LaValliere led off with a single. Drabek’s one-out sacrifice moved him to second. Lloyd McClendon – batting .727 (8 hits in 11 at-bats) in the NLCS after back-to-back three-hit games against lefty starters – pinch-hit for Cole, and the Braves intentionally walked him.

Cox returned to his bullpen, bringing in right-hander Pete Smith. After Smith walked Jay Bell on four pitches, Cox brought in left-hander Steve Avery to pitch to the left-handed-batting Van Slyke. Avery, whose 16⅓ scoreless innings in the 1991 NLCS won him Series MVP honors, had been knocked out in the first inning of Game Five in ’92.6 He got Van Slyke to fly out to center field for the third out.

Sid Bream’s one-out double and a walk to Ron Gant gave the Braves another scoring opportunity in the seventh.7 But Drabek got the next two batters to fly out.

Avery stayed in the game in the eighth. Bonds led off with a single but was out at second on a force out by Merced. King followed with a double to right. Merced tried to score from first on the play but was out on David Justice’s throw home. LaValliere’s lineout to left field ended the Pirates threat.

Jeff Reardon pitched a scoreless frame in the top of the ninth. The Braves were now down to their final three outs. Drabek was still on the mound, having given up just five hits and a walk.8

Pendleton, who had been hitless all game, led off with a double down the right-field line. Justice, who had batted .333 in the first six games of the Series, was hitless in this game. He hit Drabek’s second pitch on the ground to second. Lind – the NL’s Gold Glove second baseman in 1992 – booted the ball off his glove and it bounced into center field. Pendleton moved to third and the Braves had the tying run on first.

Bream walked to the plate with the crowd chanting, “Sid, Sid, Sid.” After Drabek walked Bream on four pitches to load the bases, Pirates manager Jim Leyland removed his starter after 129 pitches. He called on right-hander Stan Belinda to pitch.

The first batter Belinda faced was Gant, who had hit a grand slam in Game Two. Gant hit the ball to deep left field for the first out. Bonds caught the ball at the wall; Pendleton tagged up and scored.

Belinda then walked Berryhill on five pitches to load the bases again. Cox sent Brian Hunter to hit for Rafael Belliard. Hunter popped out to second.

The Braves were down to their last out. “The priest was at the bedside offering last rites,” wrote the Atlanta Journal’s Lewis Grizzard. “The fat lady had just taken a deep breath moments before beginning to warble.”9

Cox returned to his bench one last time. Catcher Francisco Cabrera, the last reserve infielder available, hit for Reardon. The 25-year-old Cabrera had lined out in his only other plate appearance in the Series. He had made just 11 plate appearances during the regular season.10

After taking two balls, Cabrera fouled Belinda’s third pitch. He lined the next pitch into left field. Justice scored. Bream, not known for his speed after several knee injuries, was waved home. Bonds, who was playing deep in left, threw home, but the throw was off-target. Bream slid across the plate just ahead of LaValliere’s tag, giving Atlanta a 3-2 win. “Brave upon Brave upon Brave piled upon one another at home plate. The crowd wet its collective pants,” wrote Grizzard.11

“I was saying, ‘Sid, run like hell. Please, Sid,” Atlanta pitcher Tom Glavine remembered after the game.12 Bream said, “I’m sure there were people yelling ‘and down the stretch they come.’ I felt like slapping my butt myself.” Injured Atlanta catcher Greg Olson13 told reporters, “I was just hoping Sid’s wheels wouldn’t come off.”14

As for Cabrera, he told reporters: “I was thinking two out and I’m going to have to get a hit. I was just trying to make contact. The next thing I know I’m at first base and yelling he is safe. I don’t remember anything after that. Just that we won and I am the hero tonight.” He continued: “I used to dream about this.” Cox complimented Cabrera, saying, “That’s the thing about Frankie. He might not get a lot of at-bats, but he’s clutch, real clutch.”15

For the Pirates, it was another disappointing end. “Three years in a row it ended like this. How many times can you go in there and tell those guys they played their heart out. It’s tough,” said Leyland.16 The Pirates did not have another winning season until 2013, which was the next time they reached the postseason.17 Leyland remained their manager until 1996. He became the Florida Marlins’ manager in 1997 and led them to a World Series championship in his first year at the helm.

The Braves advanced to the World Series to play the Toronto Blue Jays.18 They were the first NL team to win consecutive pennants since the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1977-78. They lost the World Series to the Blue Jays in six games.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Gary Belleville and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org, for box-score, player, team, and season information as well as pitching and batting game logs and other pertinent material. He also reviewed a YouTube video of the television broadcast of the game.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ATL/ATL199210140.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1992/B10140ATL1992.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgjIVvEQo_o

Photo credit: Francisco Cabrera, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Pittsburgh scored 20 runs in the next two games while limiting Atlanta to just five runs.

2 Pittsburgh had also finished first in the NL East Division in 1990 but lost to the Cincinnati Reds in six games. Pittsburgh led the 1991 NL Championship series three games to two before losing the final two games to Atlanta.

3 L.J. Rosenberg, “Unbelievable,” Atlanta Journal, October 15, 1992: E1.

4 Drabek faced Smoltz in Games One and Four and lost both games to Smoltz.

5 McSherry died when he collapsed on the field on Opening Day in 1996 when he was umpiring the game between the Montreal Expos and Cincinnati Reds. Murray Chass, “Stress Was Apparently Factor in On-Field Death of Umpire,” New York Times, April 3, 1996: B12.

6 Avery pitched 6⅓ innings in Game Two in the 13-5 win on October 7. He started and pitched just one-third of an inning, giving up four earned runs in the Pirates’ 7-1 win on October 11.

7 Bream had played for the Pirates for six seasons before signing with Atlanta as a free agent in December 1991.

8 Three other pitchers had pitched complete-game wins in the seventh game of a National League Championship Series. St. Louis Cardinal Danny Cox beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-0, in 1987. Los Angeles Dodger Orel Hershiser beat the New York Mets, 6-0, in 1988. Atlanta Brave John Smoltz beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-0, in 1991.

9 Lewis Grizzard, “From Miracle Year to a Miracle Game to a World Series,” Atlanta Journal, October 15, 1992: E12.

10 Cabrera had been called up from the Triple-A Richmond Braves in September and all of his plate appearances came as a pinch-hitter.

11 “From Miracle Year to a Miracle Game to a World Series.”

12 Ailene Voisin, “Braves Say They Never Said Never,” Atlanta Journal, October 15, 1992: E10.

13 Olson was the Braves primary catcher since 1990. His 1992 season ended on September 18 when he broke an ankle as he blocked the plate to stop Ken Caminiti of the Houston Astros from scoring.

14 Mike Lupica, “A Play at the Plate and Game Again Is Safe at Home,” New York Daily News, October 16, 1992: 78. Bream stole six bases during the 1992 season despite his troubled knees, which had caused him to miss part of each season since 1989.

15 “Unbelievable.” Cabrera had another clutch hit on August 21, 1991, when he hit a three-run homer off Cincinnati Reds reliever Rob Dibble to tie the game in the ninth. The Braves would win the game in the 13th inning. Many fans felt that Cabrera’s home run sparked the Braves’ 29-13 run through the rest of the season to eventually win the NL West by one game over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

16 Frank Fitzpatrick, “A Miracle in 9th for Atlanta,” Philadelphia Inquirer, October 15, 1992: E1.

17 The Pirates lost several key players to free agency after the 1992 season, most notably Bonds, who signed with the San Francisco Giants, and Drabek, who signed with the Houston Astros.

18 It was the second time the Braves had won consecutive National League pennants. They also won it in 1957-1958 when they played in Milwaukee.