Today in Jays History: Devon White homers to leadoff game and homers in extras

28 Years Ago Today

Devon White led off with a home run and then hit a home run in extra innings, scoring the game-winning run. That has only happened six times in MLB history. The extra-inning home run was an inside the park homer. Devon could fly.

In the game, played at the wondrous thing called the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. If you don’t remember it, it had this white trash bag like roof (actually fiberglass), which was held up mostly by air pressure. We scored 1 in the top of the first.

Dave Stieb got the start. At 34, he wasn’t the Dave Stieb of old.

In the third: Kent Hrbek hit a leadoff homer. Then, with one out, Chili Davis and Pedro Munoz had back-to-back singles. After another out and a walk to Jeff Reboulet, Shane Mack singled to score two. Stieb would pitch 7 innings, and these were the only runs scored against him.

We tied the game in the sixth. John Smiley was the starter for the Twins. In the sixth, Roberto Alomar singled, and Joe Carter followed with a home run.

That was all the scoring until the top of the tenth. With 1 out, Devon White hit his inside the park homer:

An out later, Joe Carter singled and scored on Dave Winfield’s double.

After Stieb came out of the game, Duane Ward came in and pitched 2 scoreless innings allowing just 1 hit. He got the win. And Tom Henke pitched the bottom of the tenth, picking up his 9th save of the season. Henke would end up with 34 saves in his last season with the Blue Jays.

The win made the Jays record 32-19, which had us in first place, a game ahead of the Orioles. I don’t have to tell you how the rest of the season went.

The loss gave the Twins a 27-21 record. They were first in the AL West (this was before we had a Central Division). They finished 2nd to the A’s, 6 games back. They had a pretty good team in that era; they won the World Series the season before. They had some of my favorite players:

• Chuck Knoblauch was an excellent second baseman and top of the order guy, and then, one day, he forgot how to throw to first base. He had been Rookie of the Year in 1991. He finished 1992 with a .297/.384/.358 line with 34 steals.
• As I’m sure you remember, Kirby Puckett was a center fielder with a fullback body. He hit .329/.374/.490 with 210 hits that year. Kirby’s in the Hall of Fame. His career ended when he lost vision in one eye due to glaucoma. Kirby died young of a stroke.
• Kent Hrbek was the prototype first baseman of the era. Big and strong, he could hit the ball a mile. Kent was nearing the end of his career in 1992. He hit .244/.357/.409 with 15 home runs that year.