Before the Cardinals made him a third-round draft pick in 1987, Ray Lankford was the first running back in Modesto (Calif.) Junior College history to rush for more than 1,000 yards. On April 21, 1991, he put those skills to good use, running over Phillies catcher Darren Daulton in the 10th inning to score the winning run in a 7-6 St. Louis victory.
“I’ll do anything to win a game,” Lankford said. “It’s not that I want to hurt anybody or anything, but I’ll do whatever I have to do to score.”[1]
Lankford’s decisive score capped a five-run Cardinals comeback as starting pitcher Ken Hill lasted just 2 2/3 innings. In a five-run third, three of the Phillies’ four singles failed to reach the outfield, but those hits combined with a walk, an error, a wild pitch, and two sacrifice flies to give Philadelphia a 5-0 lead.
After the Cardinals got on the scoreboard in the third, Phillies shortstop Dickie Thon made the score 6-1 with an RBI double. For the Phillies, who had won just four of their first 12 games of the season, it felt like a bright spot in an otherwise dismal start to the season.
However, after starting pitcher José de Jesús walked Ozzie Smith to lead off the seventh (it was his sixth walk of the game), the Phillies bullpen failed to hold the lead. Lankford, who already singled in the first inning and doubled in the fifth, greeted lefthanded reliever Joe Boever with an RBI triple. Felix Jose followed with an RBI single and Perry drew a walk to chase Boever from the game.
“I felt I had my best stuff all year,” Boever said. “The pitch I threw to Lankford was up, but then I broke Felix Jose’s bat, and he ends up with a base hit. Then I threw four pitches to Perry, all down, and none were called strikes. Good morning, good afternoon, good night, have a nice day. I just didn’t catch a break.”[2]
Enter the Phillies’ next reliever: Roger McDowell. With runners on first and second, McDowell was looking for a double-play ball and he got it when Craig Wilson hit a grounder to Randy Ready at second base. However, the ball skipped under Ready’s glove, allowing Jose to score and cutting Philadelphia’s lead to 6-4. By the time McDowell got the third out of the inning, the Phillies held a one-run lead.
That slight advantage disappeared in the ninth. With Phillies closer Mitch Williams on the mound, Jose singled and Perry drove him home with a triple into the right-field gap. That crucial run tied the game 6-6 and forced extra innings.
With one out, Williams (who wasn’t known as “Wild Thing” for nothing) walked Lankford. After Williams nearly picked the rookie off, the Cardinals rookie stole his third base of the year. The Phillies countered by intentionally walking Jose, bringing Perry to the plate.
On the fifth pitch of the at-bat, Perry hit the ball hard between first and second. John Kruk made a nice pick and threw smoothly to second to force out Jose. However, when Thon looked to throw to first, neither Kruk nor Williams were there. He paused momentarily before realizing that Lankford had never stopped at third and was barreling home.
“Lankford was hustling,” Phillies second baseman Randy Ready said. “He never stopped at third. I started screaming at Dickie to throw home, but he was still looking toward first.”[3]
“From the start, I just decided I was going,” Lankford said. “I’m not sure if the third base coach (Bucky Dent) was waving me on or not. I was going whether he was or not.”[4]
Thon’s throw reached Daulton before Lankford, but the former running back lowered his shoulder and slammed into the Phillies catcher at full speed. Daulton flew backwards from the impact and the ball rolled out of his glove. Lankford celebrated with his teammates as Daulton remained on his knees and tried to regain his bearing.
“Your first instinct is to go for the double play,” Thon said, “but when I looked over there, I only saw the coach and (Perry). Then I saw the runner and threw to the plate. He made a good play. He never stopped, but he would have been out if (Daulton) had been able to hold onto the ball. We just didn’t execute, and that’s the name of the game.”[5]
Daulton was still woozy when he spoke to reporters afterwards.
“I was left out to dry and he got me pretty good,” he said. “I saw him out of the corner of my eye and then I don’t remember. They tell me I had the ball and it fell out of my glove.”[6]
From the on-deck circle, Wilson had a good view of the play.
“Daulton wasn’t really in too good of a position and Ray just put his shoulder down and ran right into his sternum,” Wilson said. “Ouch! Daulton is going to be sore tomorrow.”[7]
“He doesn’t have to wait until tomorrow,” Cardinals outfielder Bernard Gilkey added. “He’s sore right now.”[8]
With the win, the Cardinals improved to 7-6 on the young season. The Phillies, meanwhile, fell to 4-9.
“When it rains, it pours,” Ready said. “We’re not getting away with anything, and when that happens, there’s nothing you can do. You just have to try to play through it.”[9]
The Phillies did play through it, but they did so without the services of manager Nick Leyva, who was fired ahead of Philadelphia’s next game and replaced with Jim Fregosi. Under Fregosi, the Phillies recovered enough to finish third in the NL East at 78-84.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, finished second with an 84-78 record. Lankford, who hit .301 with nine homers, 69 RBIs, 44 stolen bases, and a league-leading 15 triples, placed third in the NL Rookie of the Year balloting behind Houston’s Jeff Bagwell and Pittsburgh’s Orlando Merced. That September, he became the first Cardinals rookie in 73 years to hit for the cycle in a win against the Mets.
[1] Dan O’Neill, “Cards Win In Crunch Time,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 22, 1991.
[2] Dick Polman, “Phils stumble to another loss,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 22, 1991.
[3] Dick Polman, “Phils stumble to another loss,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 22, 1991.
[4] Dan O’Neill, “Cards Win In Crunch Time,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 22, 1991.
[5] Paul Hagen, “Leyva looks to be on the way out,” Philadelphia Daily News, April 22, 1991.
[6] Paul Hagen, “Leyva looks to be on the way out,” Philadelphia Daily News, April 22, 1991.
[7] Dan O’Neill, “Cards Win In Crunch Time,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 22, 1991.
[8] Dan O’Neill, “Cards Win In Crunch Time,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 22, 1991.
[9] Paul Hagen, “Leyva looks to be on the way out,” Philadelphia Daily News, April 22, 1991.