Scott Sanderson enhanced his status as a starter by pitching a 10-inning gem against the Cardinals before the largest crowd to attend a baseball game in Montreal.
Sanderson was 23 and in his second major-league season with the Expos when he earned the complete-game win versus the Cardinals in the second game of a doubleheader on Sept. 16, 1979, before 59,282 spectators at Olympic Stadium.
After yielding seven hits in 4.1 innings, Sanderson retired the next 17 Cardinals batters in a row. Sanderson earned the win, but his effort was overshadowed by second baseman Dave Cash, whose improbable grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the 10th lifted the Expos to a 5-1 victory.
Big chance
Banished to the bullpen in late July by Expos manager Dick Williams after a stretch of ineffective starts, Sanderson’s stint against the Cardinals was a turning point in his big-league career.
The Cardinals and Expos played consecutive doubleheaders Sept 15-16. In the opener of the Sept. 16 doubleheader, Expos starter Ross Grimsley was lifted after two innings and the club used three relievers in a 4-3 loss to the Cardinals.
Looking to salvage a split of the doubleheader before the big crowd, the Expos needed a strong performance from Sanderson, who was making his second start since July 27 and seeking his first win since Aug. 1.
“I was hoping somewhere along the way I could be used as a starter and help this team out when it needed it,” Sanderson said to the Montreal Gazette.
The Expos scored a run in the first against Cardinals starter John Denny on Cash’s RBI-double and the Cardinals tied the score in the second on Ken Oberkfell’s sacrifice fly, scoring Jerry Mumphrey from third.
Denny went seven innings, but Sanderson kept going. “I wanted to go as long as I could,” Sanderson said.
Unbelievable error
After the first two Expos batters made outs in the bottom of the 10th, “the game looked as though it would go on forever,” the Gazette reported.
Gary Carter sparked the rally when he looped a liner to left and hustled to second for a double, beating the throw from Lou Brock. Jerry White was walked intentionally, bringing left-handed batter Warren Cromartie to the plate to face left-hander Darold Knowles.
Cromartie hit a routine grounder “ever so softly” to Oberkfell at second base, the Gazette reported, for what appeared to be an inning-ending out.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Oberkfell fielded the ball cleanly enough, then inexplicably, as he prepared to throw to first, dropped it. Desperately, he reached for the ball on the ground but fumbled it again.”
Cromartie was safe at first and the bases were loaded.
“Obie wouldn’t boot that play away again if he tried for 100 years,” said Cardinals manager Ken Boyer.
Cromartie theorized Oberkfell made the error “because he was watching me bust my ass down to first.”
Said Oberkfell: “It was the easiest ball hit to me all day. I don’t know how I did it.”
Cashing in
Boyer brought in right-hander George Frazier to face Cash, who’d spent most of the season as a utility player before replacing Rodney Scott at second base in late August.
Cash hit Frazier’s third pitch over the left-field wall for his first home run of the season and the only grand slam of his 12-year career in the major leagues.
“I knew if I could hang in there long enough I’d get a chance,” Cash said to the Post-Dispatch.
In a baseball version of the red carpet treatment, Williams and Expos outfielder Ellis Valentine stretched out towels from the entrance of the clubhouse to Cash’s locker cubicle as the hitting hero arrived from the field.
“Almost overlooked in the euphoria,” the Gazette reported, was the effort of Sanderson, who showed the Expos he had the right stuff to stay a starter. Boxscore
Consistent winner
Sanderson finished the 1979 season with a 9-8 record and 3.43 ERA for the second-place Expos.
In 19 seasons (1978-96) in the major leagues, Sanderson, a right-hander, was 163-143 with a 3.84 ERA. His career record versus the Cardinals was 10-11 with a 3.63 ERA.
Sanderson pitched for the Expos (1978-83), Cubs (1984-89), Athletics (1990), Yankees (1991-92), Angels (1993), Giants (1993, White Sox (1994) and Angels again (1995-96).
Playing for manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan, Sanderson was 17-11 with a 3.88 ERA in 34 starts for the 1990 Athletics, who won the American League pennant. The 17 wins were his single-season career high.
In six seasons with the Expos, Sanderson was 56-47 with a 3.33 ERA. In six seasons with the Cubs, he was 42-42 with a 3.81 ERA.
RetroSimba 
With a little more help from the A’s potent offense, Scott Sanderson could have been a 20 game winner. Of the 11 games that he lost, in 10 of them the A’s produced 2 runs or less. In four of those games they were shutout. For Sanderson, this trend would unfotunately continue in the World Series against the Reds.
Thanks for the research and the insights it yielded.