Like a couple of grand chess masters, managers Joe Torre of the Cardinals and Jim Leyland of the Pirates engaged in a series of maneuvers designed to outwit the other. Torre won, and the result was as unusual as it was satisfying.
On May 17, 1994, Torre utilized six pitchers to achieve a shutout against the Pirates at Pittsburgh.
At the time, the Cardinals tied a National League record. Since then, several teams have used more than six pitchers to record a shutout. The Indians established a major-league record by using nine pitchers in a shutout against the Tigers on Sept. 17, 2016, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Boxscore
Tom terrific
The Cardinals-Pirates game was played on a 40-degree Tuesday night at Three Rivers Stadium. The starting pitchers were left-handers Tom Urbani for the Cardinals and Zane Smith for the Pirates.
Urbani entered the start with a season record of 0-3 and a 5.04 ERA. The Cardinals wanted to send him to the minor leagues, but balked when left-hander Rheal Cormier injured his shoulder.
Both starters worked fast and the first seven innings were played in less than 90 minutes. The Cardinals scored a run in the sixth and another in the seventh and led 2-0.
The Pirates’ lone hit against Urbani was a single by Carlos Garcia leading off the fourth.
“I set up hitters and I got them out the way I wanted to get them out,” Urbani said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Torre observed, “Even when he didn’t hit his spots, he had enough on the ball where they didn’t get good wood on it.”
Mix and match
In the eighth, the Pirates had two on via walks with two outs when Torre lifted Urbani and brought in right-hander John Habyan to face Lance Parrish. Leyland countered by using Dave Clark, a left-handed hitter, to bat for Parrish and Habyan walked him, loading the bases.
Torre called for left-hander Rob Murphy to pitch to Orlando Merced, a switch-hitter, but again Leyland countered and switched to right-handed batter Don Slaught. Murphy got Slaught to hit a grounder to shortstop Ozzie Smith, who threw to second baseman Jose Oquendo for the inning-ending force on Clark.
In the ninth, Torre used three pitchers to get three outs.
Garcia led off with a single against Mike Perez. After Jay Bell popped out to second, left-hander Rich Rodriguez came in to face the former Cardinal, Andy Van Slyke.
A left-handed batter, Van Slyke turned on a Rodriguez fastball and hit it high and far. Van Slyke’s drive had home run distance but landed a few feet foul down the right-field line.
“I was able to get away with a pitch,” Rodriguez said. “I had new life and once I did I figured I’d better make something happen.”
Rodriguez switched to sliders and struck out Van Slyke.
Playing the percentages, Torre brought in right-hander Rene Arocha to face right-handed Brian Hunter and got him to fly out to shallow left, ending the game.
Urbani pitched 7.2 innings, limiting the Pirates to one hit and four walks, and earned his second career win in the big leagues. Boxscore
In using Habyan, Murphy, Perez, Rodriguez and Arocha to complete the shutout, Torre emptied his bullpen.
“I didn’t have any left,” Torre said to the Associated Press. “(Arocha) was the last I had.”
RetroSimba 
If you just looked at this game, you would think that the Cardinals had great pitching that year. In truth we had terrible pitching. Seventy seven games in which we gave up 4 runs or more. We lost fifty three of those games. The team ERA that year was 5.14. Ever since they changed the team name from the Perfectos to the Cardinals back in 1900, no pitching staff has had a higher ERA than the ’94 club.
Thanks for the keen insights, Phillip.