September 28, 1984: Cardinals’ Joaquín Andújar wins 20th game and Bruce Sutter ties single-season saves record

Joaquín Andújar was running out of time. Bruce Sutter was, too.

When the St. Louis Cardinals opened a season-ending three-game series against the National League East Division champion Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on September 28, 1984, Andújar was making his fourth attempt to win his 20th game. Sutter, meanwhile, needed one save to tie the major-league season record of 45 set by Dan Quisenberry of the Kansas City Royals a year earlier.

Since earning his 19th victory with a complete game at Pittsburgh on September 8, Andújar had suffered three straight losses, allowing 15 earned runs in 19 innings (7.11 ERA). In his most recent start, on September 23, the Cubs beat him, 4-2, in the second game of a doubleheader at Busch Stadium. One day later, Chicago clinched its first postseason appearance since 1945.

Trying again for number 20, the 31-year-old Andújar, who was dealing with multiple late-season ailments (bad back, sore side, finger blister), allowed a two-out single to Gary Mathews in the bottom of the first inning before retiring the next nine batters he faced. With two outs in the fourth, he surrendered a home run to former Cardinal Leon Durham that gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead.

Chicago maintained its one-run advantage through six innings. Starting pitcher Steve Trout, winner of a career-high 13 games,1 worked five shutout frames, and Warren Brusstar followed with a scoreless sixth, pitching around a one-out ground-rule double by Andújar.

But in the seventh Tim Stoddard walked Lonnie Smith, who stole second for his second theft of the game and 50th of the season, and David Green. After Smith took third on a lineout to center field by Andy Van Slyke, he scored on a single to right by Art Howe to tie the game.

In the bottom of the seventh, Matthews led off by drawing his NL-leading 102nd walk of the season,2 and pinch-runner Billy Hatcher stole second. Hatcher, a 23-year-old September call-up appearing in his seventh big-league game, was stranded as Andújar retired Durham and Keith Moreland on fly outs to center and Ron Cey on a groundout to third base.

Andújar again walked the leadoff batter in the eighth, Jody Davis, and pinch-runner Davey Lopes stole second with one out, keeping the 39-year-old a perfect 15-for-15 on steals for the season. But a fly out and popout preserved the tie. Andújar subsequently retired the Cubs in order in the ninth, and the game moved to extra innings with the score 1-1.

After scoreless outings by George Frazier in the eighth and Lee Smith in the ninth, Rich Bordi became the Cubs’ sixth pitcher of the day in the 10th.3 Pinch-hitter Darrell Porter led off and reached on a bloop single to center on which Bob Dernier – one of only three members of Chicago’s starting lineup still in the game – appeared to break the wrong way. As Bill Lyons struck out, the slow-footed Porter stole second and went to third when backup second baseman Dan Rohn failed to cover the base and reserve catcher Steve Lake’s throw ended up in center field.4

Andújar was the next scheduled batter, and Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog opted to pinch-hit with 14-year veteran Steve Braun, who had recorded his 100th career pinch-hit on September 25 against Montreal. Braun lofted a popup behind third base that Tom Veryzer and shortstop Dave Owen – neither an everyday player – watched land for an RBI double to give St. Louis a 2-1 lead. Willie McGee followed with a double to left, plating pinch-runner José Uribe,5 and scored on a single by Ozzie Smith.

“I was more pumped-up for that AB [at-bat] than I have been all year,” Braun said. “[Joaquín] is one of the guttiest and most competitive pitchers I’ve ever played for.”6

Sutter relieved in the bottom half and after giving up a leadoff single to Moreland set down the next three Cubs to wrap up a 4-1 victory that was played in 2 hours and 24 minutes. Sutter secured Andújar’s 20th win and earned his 45th save (in his 52nd opportunity).

Before a Friday-afternoon crowd of 31,021, the right-handed-throwing Andújar allowed just one run on two hits with two walks and three strikeouts over nine innings to finish the season with a 20-14 record and a 3.34 ERA. The victory evened his nine-year big-league ledger at 89-89.7 He led the NL in wins8 and innings pitched (261⅓), shared the top spot with four shutouts, ranked tied for second with 12 complete games, and was 10th with 147 strikeouts.

Sutter and Andújar, who had both been selected to the NL All-Star team, finished third and fourth, respectively, in the Cy Young Award voting behind Rick Sutcliffe of the Cubs9 and Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets.

Acquired by St. Louis from the Houston Astros on June 7, 1981,10 Andújar had a breakthrough season in 1982, going 15-10 with a 2.47 ERA. He was the winning pitcher in Game Seven of the World Series against the Milwaukee Brewers. But he tumbled to 6-16 with a 4.16 ERA the next season.

“I had it in my mind when I started playing professional baseball that I wanted to win 20 games,” said Andújar, who became the first Cardinals pitcher to reach that plateau since Bob Forsch in 1977. “I might be more happy than in the World Series.”11

Prior to each of his four attempts at winning his 20th game, Andújar received telegrams of support from the president of the Dominican Republic and his family, who lived there.12

“I’m very proud because I’m only the second Dominican to ever win 20 games in the majors,” Andújar said. (Hall of Famer Juan Marichal was the other.) “I’m also very proud to win my 20th game against the world champs. I know [the Cubs] are just the division champs now. But they will be the world champs.”13

Said Herzog after the Cardinals benefited from multiple Cubs guffaws: “[Andújar] is always saying he’s not lucky. Well, he sure was lucky today. … He was going to pitch until dark. I was going to leave him out there. He can rest all winter.”14

As for the 31-year-old Sutter, who was in the final year of a four-year contract he signed with the Cardinals after being acquired from the Cubs in December 1980, Herzog told general manager Joe McDonald: “We’ve got to get him into the game tomorrow or the next day and get him that [record-breaking] save. And then, Joe, get out that checkbook.”15

The next day the Cubs scored four runs in the first inning and went on to post a 9-5 victory. In the season finale, on September 30, the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead into the eighth and brought in Sutter with an opportunity to set the saves record. He retired the Cubs in order in the eighth but gave up three straight singles to open the ninth; the third one by Thad Bosley tied the game. A walk loaded the bases, and after a force out at home on a groundball to third, catcher Glenn Brummer’s throw to first for an attempted double play sailed into right field, allowing Bosley to score and give the Cubs a 2-1 victory.16

Sutter was saddled with the loss, dropping his record to 5-7. Combined with his major-league-leading 45 saves, he was involved in 50 of the Cardinals’ 84 wins in 1984 while posting a snappy 1.54 ERA and appearing in a career-high 71 games.

“I know you guys have to write a story, but [the record] really doesn’t make that much difference to me,” said Sutter, who signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves on December 7.17 “I had a good chance at it and it didn’t happen. I would have liked to have set the record, but it’s not a life-and-death thing. It didn’t lose the pennant.

“I was consistent all year long. That’s important to me. Losing this game is not going to ruin my winter.”18

In his four seasons with the Cardinals, Sutter set the franchise record with 127 career saves – a total that ranked fourth through the 2022 season.19

With its 84-78 record. St. Louis wound up third in the NL East, 12½ games behind the Cubs.

Chicago, which finished the regular season 96-65 and won the division by 6½ games over the Mets, took the first two games of the best-of-five NLCS against San Diego at Wrigley Field before the Padres reeled off three victories in a row at Jack Murphy Stadium to advance to the World Series.

Andújar went 21-12 in 1985 as the Cardinals captured the NL pennant. Through the 2022 season, he remains the last St. Louis pitcher to record back-to-back 20-win seasons.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Thomas J. Brown Jr. and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted the Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org websites for pertinent material and the box scores noted below.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN198409280.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1984/B09280CHN1984.htm

Notes

1 Trout had the best season of his 12-year career in 1984, going 13-7 with a 3.41 ERA. He pitched six complete games, including two shutouts. Trout was the winning pitcher in the first game of the September 23 doubleheader against the Cardinals that snapped a five-game losing streak by the Cubs.

2 Matthews finished the season with 103 walks to lead the NL, and his .410 on-base percentage tied Eddie Murray of the Baltimore Orioles for best in the major leagues.

3 Prior to the game, Cubs manager Jim Frey informed Bordi that he would not be part of the team’s 25-man playoff roster. Bordi, who called the decision “totally unfair,” was traded to the New York Yankees on December 4, 1984, as part of a six-player deal.

4 Rohn also was told before the game that he would not be on the playoff roster.

5 At this time, Uribe, a 25-year-old rookie appearing in his sixth major-league game, was known as José Gonzalez. In 1985 he changed his professional name to José Uribe.

6 Rick Hummel, “Hallelujah! Andujar Wins His 20th Game,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 29, 1984: 2D.

7 Andujar was 2-2 against the Cubs in 1984. He started four games, pitching 35 innings and allowing just six earned runs (1.54 ERA) and 19 hits with nine walks and 22 strikeouts.

8 Baltimore’s Mike Boddicker led the American League with 20 wins.

9 Sutcliffe was acquired by the Cubs from the Cleveland Indians on June 13, 1984, and went 16-1 with a 2.69 ERA, seven complete games, and three shutouts after the trade.

10 The Cardinals sent Tony Scott to Houston in the deal.

11 “Hallelujah! Andujar Wins His 20th Game.”

12 “Hallelujah! Andujar Wins His 20th Game.”

13 Fred Mitchell, “Andujar, Sutter Hit Milestones,” Chicago Tribune, September 29, 1984: Section 2, 5.

14 “Hallelujah! Andujar Wins His 20th Game.”

15 “Hallelujah! Andujar Wins His 20th Game.”

16 The Cardinals were 71-2 when leading after eight innings in 1984. The losses came on June 23, when Ryne Sandberg hit two home runs against Sutter, and September 30.

17 In the September 30, 1984, St Louis Post-Dispatch, Rick Hummel reported that the Cardinals and Sutter had a “very encouraging” meeting the previous day in Chicago. “I think [the front office] will sign Bruce,” Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog said. “Bruce wants to stay.”

18 Rick Hummel. “Even Sutter Can’t Save Birds in Finale,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 1, 1984: 1C.

19 Jason Isringhausen held the record with 217 saves, followed by Lee Smith (160) and Todd Worrell (129).