September 14, 1991: Cardinals’ defense overcomes Mets’ one-hit pitching in 2-1 win

The New York Mets arrived in St. Louis for a weekend series in September 1991. They were on a three-game winning streak after sweeping the Chicago Cubs in a two-game series at Wrigley Field.

In the series opener against the Cardinals on September 13, Kevin McReynolds’ two-run homer in the 10th inning gave the Mets their fourth win in a row. For the first time since August 15, they were tied with Chicago for third place in the National League East Division.

New York was three games under .500 and 15 games behind the first-place Pittsburgh Pirates, but a team goal still remained: extending their streak of coming in no worse than second every year since 1984. The Mets roster had undergone numerous changes since their 1986 World Series championship. Shortstop Howard Johnson, one of the few players left from the championship team, summed up the Mets’ frustrating season, saying, “I think it would be special now to get back to second and back over .500. I know I’d like to be able to look back someday and say we never finished anywhere but first or second.”1

The Cardinals were second in the NL East, 10½ games behind the Pirates. They had not won the division since 1987, and it was unlikely that they would catch Pittsburgh by the end of the season. Many of the Cardinals said they were just hoping to stay in second. “It would be a real shame to work that hard all season and lose hold of it now,” said third baseman Todd Zeile.2

Several Cardinals were working on individual accomplishments with three weeks left in the season. Félix José was in fourth place in the NL with a .314 batting average.3 Lee Smith had 39 saves and needed six more to tie Bruce Sutter for the NL single-season record. Center fielder Ray Lankford was headed for a third-place finish in the NL Rookie of the Year voting.4

On Saturday evening, September 14, a crowd of 31,583 showed up at Busch Stadium for the series’ second game. Omar Olivares started for the Cardinals. The 23-year-old right-hander had come within one out of his first career shutout in his last outing before giving up a two-run homer to Charlie Hayes of the Philadelphia Phillies. Olivares entered with an 8-5 record and a 4.04 ERA.

Olivares retired the Mets in order in the first. McReynolds’ leadoff double and Gregg Jefferies’ one-out walk gave New York two baserunners in the second, but Olivares turned Todd Hundley’s comebacker into an inning-ending double play.

St. Louis’s defense kept the Mets off the scoreboard in the third. Second baseman Jeff Gardner, appearing in his third major-league game, led off with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice.

Gardner tried to score on Daryl Boston’s single to left field after Milt Thompson briefly lost the ball. But Thompson recovered and threw home, where catcher Rich Gedman blocked the plate to make the tag.  Lankford saved a run on the next play with a running, over-the-shoulder catch of Kevin Elster’s line drive for the third out.5

David Cone was the Mets’ starter. The 28-year-old right-hander entered the game with a 12-12 record and a 3.67 ERA. Cone, who had won the NL strikeout crown with 233 K’s in 1990, was leading the league this season with 191. “To win it two straight years is a matter of prestige,” said Cone. “It’s been a while since a Met pitcher did it.”6

Cone struck out leadoff batter Lankford in the first. After walking Smith, he retired the next 10 Cardinals before walking Zeile in the fourth. He struck out José, his fifth strikeout of the game, to end the frame.

The Cardinals were still hitless when Cone walked Thompson and Gerónimo Peña to begin the fifth. With Gedman batting, the runners advanced on a wild pitch. But Cone had reached the bottom of the Cardinals’ order, and he fanned Gedman and Olivares, leaving him one out from escaping the jam.

Lankford stepped to the plate. With the count 2-and-2, he singled up the middle, scoring both runners. Ozzie Smith flied to right-center field for the third out, but the damage was done. The Cardinals were up, 2-0.

“I got a little defensive when I thought about the no-hitter,” said Cone after the game. “I tried to be sharp and I walked two guys and threw a wild pitch. [Lankford] hit a split-fingered fastball over the plate. Give him credit, it was a good pitch that he was able to handle.”7

Olivares continued to frustrate Mets batters. Boston singled in the top of the sixth but was stranded after Elster struck out and Johnson lined to third. Jefferies reached base in the seventh when he was hit by a pitch with two outs, but rookie catcher Hundley grounded into a force at second.

Once the Cardinals had taken the lead, Cone regained his effectiveness. He retired the next seven batters before being removed for pinch-hitter Terry McDaniel with one out in the eighth. McDaniel grounded back to the pitcher. Boston followed with a triple down the right-field line but was stranded when Elster lined out to center.

Mets right-hander Jeff Innis pitched a scoreless eighth, getting the Cardinals out on three groundballs. The Mets pitchers had allowed just Lankford’s two-run hit.

As in his previous start, Olivares entered the ninth seeking a shutout. He had thrown only 86 pitches. “Normally I wouldn’t let him go to the ninth with only a two-run lead, but we thought he was entitled to it,” said Torre.8

But after Olivares walked Johnson on four pitches, Torre brought in Lee Smith. Johnson stole second – his 24th steal of the season – and moved to third on Gedman’s throwing error. McReynolds then hit an 0-and-2 pitch in the hole between short and third. Ozzie Smith grabbed the ball and threw to first, barely beating McReynolds as Johnson scored the Mets’ first run.

Mackey Sasser flied to center. With the Cardinals needing just one more out, Jefferies hit a grounder toward third. Zeile couldn’t handle the ball and Jefferies reached on his error.

Hundley now came to bat. He had gone 2-for-19 since being called up on September 6. He batted .273, his best in five minor-league seasons, while hitting 14 home runs to lead the Triple-A Tidewater Tides.

Jefferies stole second, his 21st steal of 1991, to put the tying run in scoring position. As Hundley worked the count to 3-and-2, Olivares, watching from the dugout, said later, “I was hoping that he wouldn’t throw him a fastball.”9

Hundley hit Lee Smith’s seventh pitch up the middle for a single.

Jefferies rounded third as Lankford, in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s description, “charged the ball, gathered [it] in cleanly and fired a strike to Gedman.”10 Gedman tagged Jefferies on the left ankle before he slid across the plate. The Cardinals, despite being onehit, had held on for the 2-1 win.11

Mets manager Bud Harrelson contested the call, running out from the dugout and “screaming into home plate umpire Randy Marsh’s face,” to no avail, according to the New York Daily News.12

Gedman later praised the center fielder’s throw, saying, “All I did was set myself up and Lankford made a perfect throw. I didn’t have to move anywhere.”13 Lankford said he was pleased with his play in center. “You get plenty of RBI situations,” he said. “But you don’t get a chance to throw a man out at the plate to win the game very often.”14 (In the next day’s game, a 7-2 Cardinals victory, Lankford hit for St. Louis’ first cycle in seven seasons.)

The Mets pitchers had thrown a one-hitter, the 19th in the team’s history. It was the first time a Mets pitcher lost a one-hitter. The loss snapped the Mets’ four-game winning streak. It was Cone’s second one-hitter as a Met.15

Cone admitted that his focus on strikeouts – his seven strikeouts gave him 198 for the season – may have played a role in the loss. “I’ve definitely gotten away from making quality pitches,” he said after the game. “I’ve been worried too much about making the nasty pitch, so going after the strikeout has actually defeated its own purpose.”16 Cone finished with 241 strikeouts to lead the NL for the second year in a row.17

The Mets came in fifth in the NL East. Harrelson was fired in late September and replaced by third-base  coach Mike Cubbage for the remainder of the season.18 New York would not return to the postseason until 1999 when they lost to the Atlanta Braves in the NL Championship Series.

St. Louis held on to second place in the NL East, their best finish in Torre’s five years at the helm. The Cardinals finally made it back to the postseason in 1996, when they lost to the Atlanta Braves in the NL Championship Series.

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. Unless otherwise noted, all play-by-play details are taken from the article “Lankford’s 1-Man Show a Hit as Cards Upstage Mets 2–1,” on page E-1 of the September 15, 1991, edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN199109140.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1991/B09140SLN1991.htm

Photo credit: Omar Olivares, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Marty Noble, “Mets Find Reason to Go On,” Newsday (Long Island, New York), September 15, 1991: 5. Dave Magadan and Kevin Elster were the only other position players on both teams. Dwight Gooden, Ron Darling, and Sid Fernandez were the only pitchers who remained from the 1986 team. Tim Teufel was on both teams, although he was traded to San Diego on May 31, 1991.

2 Dan O’Neill, “Many Cards Now Striving for Lesser Goals,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 15, 1991: E3.

3 José eventually finished in fifth place in the National League with a .305 batting average.

4 Jeff Bagwell of the Houston Astros received NL Rookie of the Year honors in 1991.

5 Associated Press, “Cardinals Manage Just One Hit but Still Knock Off Mets,” Springfield (Missouri) News-Leader, September 15, 1991: D4.

6 Bob Klapisch, “Cone’s Woes Are Striking,” New York Daily News, September 15, 1991: 39. Tom Seaver did it twice, in 1970 and 1971, then in 1975 and 1976. Gooden led the National League in strikeouts in 1984 and 1985. As of the end of the 2023 season, Jacob deGrom was the last Mets pitcher to do so when he led the league in 2019 and 2020.

7 “Cardinals Manage Just One Hit But Still Knock Off Mets.”

8 Rick Hummel, “Lankford’s One-Man Show a Hit,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 15, 1991: E1.

9 “Lankford’s One-Man Show a Hit.”

10 “Lankford’s One-Man Show a Hit.”

11 It was Smith’s 40th save of the season. He finished 1991 with 47 saves, the most of his 18-year career.

12 “Cone’s Woes Are Striking.”

13 “Lankford’s One-Man Show a Hit.”

14 “Cardinals Manage Just One Hit but Still Knock Off Mets.”

15 Cone had pitched a complete-game one-hitter against the San Diego Padres in 1988. Cone eventually pitched a no-hitter on July 18, 1999, as a New York Yankee. He threw a perfect game for a 6-0 win against the Montreal Expos at Yankee Stadium.

16 “Cone’s Woes Are Striking.”

17 Cone also led the majors with 261 strikeouts in 1992. He played for the Mets and the Toronto Blue Jays that season.

18 Harrelson became manager after the Mets fired Davey Johnson on May 29, 1990. The Mets were 20-22 when Harrelson became manager. They were 71-49 for the rest of the season. New York was 74-80 in 1991 when Harrelson was fired.