(Updated July 20, 2024)
In April 1994, with injuries taking a toll on Cardinals pitchers, manager Joe Torre let two rookies, Frank Cimorelli and Bryan Eversgerd, make their big-league debuts in the same game.
On April 30, 1994, before a Saturday night crowd of 49,927 at Houston’s Astrodome, the Astros jumped on St. Louis starter Allen Watson for a 5-1 lead through four innings.
Cimorelli, 25, a 37th-round pick in the 1989 draft, entered in the fifth and yielded a run after Jeff Bagwell and Ken Caminiti opened the inning with consecutive singles. In the sixth, the Astros scored four runs on RBI-doubles by Steve Finley and Bagwell, and Caminiti’s two-run single, before Cimorelli recorded an out.
Torre replaced Cimorelli with Eversgerd, 25, who signed with the Cardinals as an undrafted free agent in 1989. Eversgerd finished the inning without allowing a run.
Houston went on to a 15-5 victory. Boxscore
When the Cardinals returned to Houston in July, Cimorelli and Eversgerd were involved in one of the franchise’s most embarrassing losses.
On July 18, 1994, at the Astrodome, the Cardinals led 11-0 in the third inning. In the sixth, with the score 11-4, Cimorelli again relieved Watson. The Astros scored 11 runs in the inning _ including four against Cimorelli (who retired one batter) and four against Eversgerd (who faced four batters and retired none).
Houston won, 15-12, and tied a National League record for overcoming the largest deficit. Eversgerd took the loss, though there was plenty of blame to share. Boxscore
“I just pitched the wrong pitchers,” Torre said to the Associated Press. “It’s my fault we lost.”
Cardinals catcher Tom Pagnozzi told the wire service, “I don’t think anyone in the ballpark could have dreamed this. We couldn’t get anybody out. I was involved in a game like this when I was 8 years old, but not in the big leagues.’
Cimorelli pitched in 11 games for the 1994 Cardinals, compiling an 0-0 record, one save and a 8.77 ERA. The save was earned when he pitched three scoreless innings in St. Louis’ 11-4 win over the Rockies on July 1, 1994. It was his only big-league season.
Eversgerd pitched in 40 games for the 1994 Cardinals. He was 2-3 with a 4.52 ERA.
In April 1995, the Cardinals traded Eversgerd, along with pitcher Kirk Bullinger and outfielder DaRond Stovall, to the Expos for pitcher Ken Hill.
Eversgerd pitched for the 1995 Expos (0-0) and 1997 Rangers (0-2).
In January 1998, Eversgerd, a free agent, signed with the Cardinals and ended his big-league playing career with them. He was 0-0 in eight appearances for the 1998 Cardinals.
Eversgerd became a Cardinals minor-league coach in 2001, took a two-year hiatus (2002-03) and returned to the organization in 2004. He was pitching coach at Class AAA Memphis from 2013-17. Among the Cardinals pitching prospects Eversgerd has been credited with helping during his minor-league coaching career: Michael Wacha, Shelby Miller, Seth Maness and Jack Flaherty.
In 2012, Eversgerd received the organization’s George Kissell Award for coaching excellence.
Eversgerd was named Cardinals bullpen coach on Oct. 26, 2017, and remained in that position through the 2022 season. He was the bullpen coach on the staffs of three Cardinals managers: Mike Matheny (2018), Mike Shildt (2018-21) and Oliver Marmol (2022).
RetroSimba 
You appreciate Manager Joe Torre wanting to take responsibility for the Cardinals being unable to hold on to an 11 run lead. But for those of us who remember, the early 90’s was not a good time for Cardinals baseball. Joe Torre did the best he could with what the Organization gave him. It’s an understatement to say that pitching was not the strong point of the 1994 team. In a strike shortened season the pitching staff gave up at least 6 runs 51 times. The bad pitching negated quite a few good offensive nights. The Cardinals lost 18 games in which they scored at least 6 runs. How Joe Torre remained cool and calm enduring all that is beyond me.
Thank you, Phillip, for those statistical insights about the 1994 Cardinals pitching staff. Those stats tell the story well. It was merciful for the Cardinals that the strike ended the 1994 season in August. To think just two years later, the same manager, Joe Torre, with a much different cast with the Yankees, won the World Series championship.