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Today in Blue Jays History: Ed Sprague Home Run

Toronto Blue Jays pinch hitter Ed Sprague (R) hits Photo credit should read DAVID MURRAY JR./AFP via Getty Images

27 Years Ago Today

Ed Sprague, batting in the 9th inning with the Blue Jays down 4-3, hit a pinch-hit home run to help us win game two of the 1992 World Series.

We had lost game one of the series 3-1. Jack Morris gave up 3 runs in the 6th inning, and we only managed 1 run off Braves starter Tom Glavine, who threw a complete game 4 hitter. Our lone run was a Joe Carter homer.

We started trade pickup, David Cone, in game two. We got him from the Mets on August 27th, sending Jeff Kent to New York. Cone has an excellent autobiography, he doesn’t go into much detail about his time with the Jays, but it is a good read. Unfortunately, Cone didn’t have a great day, giving up 4 runs, 3 earned in 4.1 innings.

The Braves scored one in the 2nd inning. David Justice led off with a walk, stole second, went to third on a Manuel (Manny) Lee error (Lee tried to get him out on a grounder to short, but his throw was off-line) and scored on a wild pitch.

They got one more in the 4th: Sid Bream walked to start the inning, Jeff Blauser single and, an out later, Mark Lemke singled home Bream.

We tied things at two in the 5th. Pat Borders took a two-out walk, Lee singled, and singles from Cone (the game was in Atlanta), and Devon White scored two. We should, one day, try to find the biggest hit by a Blue Jays pitcher in team history, but I’d imagine this one would be a candidate.

The Braves went up by two in the bottom of the inning. Two sport star Deion Sanders hit a 1-out single and stole second. Terry Pendleton walked. Justice singled home Sanders, and that was it for Cone. David Wells came in and gave up a sac fly to Brian Hunter.

We made it a 1-run game in the 8th. Roberto Alomar hit a 1-out double, Carter singled, and Dave Winfield singled home Alomar. That would be the end of the game for John Smoltz. He went 7.1, allowed 8 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned, 3 walks and 8 strikeouts. Lefty reliever Mike Stanton came in with runners on the corners and got John Olerud to pop out. Jeff Reardon replaced Stanton and got Kelly Gruber to strike out.

In the 9th, Reardon got Borders to line out. Derek Bell pinch-hit for Lee and took a walk. Then Sprague pinch-hit for Duane Ward. Sprague would knock the first pitch over the wall in left to give us our first lead in the game. On the list of crucial Blue Jays home runs, that one is easily in the top 10. We should have a poll one day to determine where they all sit.

Tom Henke came in for the save, and it wasn’t the nice neat save we would have liked. With 1- out, Henke hit pitch-hitter Lonnie Smith with a pitch. Ron Gant pinch-ran for Smith. Otis Nixon hit a fairly deep fly out to center. With Sanders up, Gant stole second. Then Sanders walked on a full-count pitch. But Henke got Pendleton to pop out to end the game.

We tied the series at one, going back to Toronto and would win the series in six games.

Our bullpen did a great job, 4.2 hitless innings from Wells (1.2 innings), Todd Stottlemyre (1), Ward (1, getting the win) and Henke (1, with the save). The Braves only had 5 hits, but 7 walks to go with them.

On offense, we had 9 hits and 4 walks. Cone had 2 of the hits (and one RBI). No other Jay had more than one hit.

Jays of the Day would have been Sprague (.669 WPA), Cone for his batting (.154) and Henke (.187).

Suckage: Cone for his pitching (-.273), Olerud (-.273, 0 for 4, 1 strikeout) and Gruber (-.181, 0 for 4, 3 strikeouts).

Here is the home run:

Toronto Blue Jays Table
Batting AB R H RBI BB SO PA Pit Str WPA Details
Devon White CF 5 0 1 1 0 1 5 16 12 0.040
Roberto Alomar 2B 4 1 1 0 1 0 5 15 6 0.004 2B
Joe Carter LF 3 0 1 0 1 1 4 22 15 0.067
Dave Winfield RF 4 0 1 1 0 1 4 12 7 0.069
John Olerud 1B 4 0 0 0 0 1 4 13 6 -0.273
Kelly Gruber 3B 4 0 0 0 0 3 4 16 11 -0.181
Pat Borders C 3 1 1 0 1 0 4 13 8 -0.018 2B
Manuel Lee SS 3 1 1 0 0 1 3 10 7 -0.042
Derek Bell PH 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 8 4 0.080
Alfredo Griffin SS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
David Cone P 2 0 2 1 0 0 2 9 5 0.154
David Wells P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Candy Maldonado PH 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 3 -0.045
Todd Stottlemyre P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Duane Ward P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ed Sprague PH 1 1 1 2 0 0 1 1 1 0.669 HR
Tom Henke P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Team Totals 34 5 9 5 4 9 38 139 85 0.524
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/18/2022.

Atlanta Braves Table
Batting AB R H RBI BB SO PA Pit Str WPA Details
Otis Nixon CF 5 0 0 0 0 1 5 17 13 -0.176
Deion Sanders LF 3 1 1 0 2 0 5 18 8 0.126 2·SB
Terry Pendleton 3B 4 1 1 0 1 0 5 25 14 -0.146
David Justice RF 3 1 1 1 1 0 4 12 5 0.217 SB
Sid Bream 1B 1 1 0 0 1 0 2 11 5 -0.003
Brian Hunter PH-1B 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 6 4 0.015 SF
Jeff Blauser SS 3 0 1 0 1 1 4 20 8 0.139 SB
Rafael Belliard SS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Damon Berryhill C 3 0 0 0 1 2 4 21 12 -0.070
Mark Lemke 2B 4 0 1 1 0 0 4 11 7 -0.112 GDP
John Smoltz P 3 0 0 0 0 2 3 12 8 -0.105 GDP
Mike Stanton P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jeff Reardon P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Lonnie Smith PH 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0.094 HBP
Ron Gant PR 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.045 SB
Team Totals 30 4 5 3 7 6 39 155 85 0.024
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/18/2022.

Toronto Blue Jays Table
Pitching
IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA BF Pit Str GSc IR IS WPA
David Cone 4.1 5 4 3 5 2 0 3.86 22 94 48 36 -0.273
David Wells 1.2 0 0 0 1 2 0 0.00 6 18 11 2 1 0.013
Todd Stottlemyre 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.59 3 8 6 0 0 0.021
Duane Ward, W (2-0) 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 5.40 3 15 8 0 0 0.028
Tom Henke, S (4) 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.00 5 20 12 0 0 0.187
Team Totals 9 5 4 3 7 6 0 3.00 39 155 85 36 2 1 -0.024
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/18/2022.

Atlanta Braves Table
Pitching IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA BF Pit Str GSc IR IS WPA
John Smoltz 7.1 8 3 2 3 8 0 2.60 31 57 -0.146
Mike Stanton, H (3) 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 1 1 1 2 0 0.162
Jeff Reardon, BS (1), L (1-1) 1.1 1 2 2 1 1 1 4.15 6 20 12 2 0 -0.541
Team Totals 9 9 5 4 4 9 1 4.00 38 21 13 57 4 0 -0.525
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/18/2022.