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Rod Brewer and Stan Royer, corner infield prospects, each had his best performance in one of the Cardinals’ most productive games.

On Sept. 20, 1992, Brewer had five hits, a walk, four runs scored and a RBI, and Royer had four hits, a walk, four runs scored and four RBI, in the Cardinals’ 16-4 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

Brewer, a first baseman, and Royer, a third baseman, combined for nine of the Cardinals’ 22 hits.

Rather than launch them into starting roles the next season, the performances represented the pinnacles of the short Cardinals careers of Brewer and Royer.

By July 1994, neither remained in the Cardinals’ organization.

Getting a look

Brewer and Royer came to the Cardinals by different paths. Brewer was taken by them in the fifth round of the 1987 amateur draft. Royer was one of three players acquired by the Cardinals in the August 1990 trade of Willie McGee to the Athletics.

In 1992, Brewer and Royer were standouts with Louisville, the Cardinals’ top farm club. Brewer, 26, batted .288 with 18 home runs and 86 RBI for Louisville. Royer, 25, hit .282 with 31 doubles and 77 RBI.

Both were called up to the Cardinals in September 1992 when rosters expanded. Manager Joe Torre started them in the Sunday afternoon series finale against the Cubs. Brewer played first base and batted fifth in the order. Royer played third base and batted sixth.

They would be facing Cubs starter Shawn Boskie, who had won his first three decisions and four of his first six before fading.

Head scratcher

Boskie faced seven Cardinals batters in the first inning without getting an out. He yielded six hits and a walk and was charged with six earned runs. Brewer and Royer each singled and scored in the inning. Royer’s hit drove in a run.

“My main problem is all in my head,” Boskie said to the Chicago Tribune. “That’s the last thing I want to admit _ that I’m a head case _ but if I was looking at it from the outside, that’s what I’d have to say.”

The Cardinals totaled 22 hits and five walks against five Cubs pitchers.

“The Cubs not only embarrassed themselves _ they humiliated everyone who paid to watch them wallow through perhaps their most wretched loss of the season,” wrote the Tribune.

Royer hit his first major-league home run, a two-run shot, in the sixth against Jeff Hartsock, who was making his second appearance in the big leagues. There to witness it was Royer’s father, Harold, who coached him at Charleston (Ill.) High School.

“I love this ball park,” Royer told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “It’s bricks and grass _ what a ball park should be.” Boxscore

Decisions, decisions

The breakout game for Brewer and Royer naturally raised questions about where they fit in the Cardinals’ plans for 1993.

“It was a good day,” said Torre, “but when you play 162 games you don’t get overly excited about one day. You’ve got to watch a number of at-bats and then make up your mind. That’s like a guy hitting two home runs on Opening Day and thinking he’s going to hit .320.”

Cardinals instructor George Kissell had called Royer “a Ken Boyer type” _ referring to the Cardinals’ standout third baseman of the 1950s and 1960s _ but Torre added, “Not that he has Boyer’s ability, obviously, but just the way he carries himself.”

The 1992 Cardinals had Andres Galarraga at first base and Todd Zeile at third base. Galarraga was an impending free agent, creating a potential opening at first in 1993, but Zeile was entrenched at third.

“It’s tough to see where he fits in,” Torre said of Royer, “but if you hit, they will find a place for you.”

Regarding the status of he and Brewer, Royer said, “If we both play well, something is going to happen. Somebody is going to want us. I would love to play for the Cardinals. I grew up watching them and St. Louis is close to my family (in Illinois), but I can’t say that if I had a chance to go somewhere else I wouldn’t be excited.”

Not in the Cards

Brewer and Royer both made the most of their opportunities with the 1992 Cardinals. Brewer hit .301 (31-for-103) in 29 games. Royer hit .323 (10-for-31) in 13 games.

Neither, though, won a starting job in 1993. After Galarraga departed for the Rockies, the Cardinals acquired Gregg Jefferies from the Royals to play first base. Zeile remained at third base.

Brewer spent 1993 as a Cardinals reserve. He hit .286 with two home runs and 20 RBI. After the season, he signed with a team in Japan.

Royer spent most of the 1993 season with Louisville. In 24 games for St. Louis, he hit .304 (14-for-46).

In 1994, Royer stuck with the Cardinals as a reserve, but hit .175 (10-for-57). He was released in July, picked up by the Red Sox and ended his big-league career with them that year.

Previously: Why Cardinals traded Willie McGee to Athletics

Attempting to hit a home run at the most urgent point in the most crucial game of the season, Terry Pendleton had the presence of mind to make an adjustment in the middle of his at-bat and accomplished his mission.

Delivering one of the most improbable home runs in franchise lore, Pendleton revived the Cardinals and deflated the Mets.

On Sept. 11, 1987, Pendleton hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning against Roger McDowell, tying the score. The Cardinals won in the 10th, a victory that propelled them on a path to a National League pennant.

“A big morale boost for us,” second baseman Tommy Herr said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “We got some of the spunk back that we had early in the season.”

Tight race

The 1987 Cardinals entered September in first place in the NL East Division, 5.5 games ahead of the second-place Mets.

However, the Mets, defending World Series champions, appeared to have regained their swagger as they opened a three-game series with the Cardinals at New York’s Shea Stadium. The Cardinals had lost three in a row, and four of their last five, and their lead had shrunk to 1.5 games ahead of the Mets.

Game 1 of the series matched John Tudor of the Cardinals against Ron Darling of the Mets. Before a raucous crowd of 51,795, the Mets scored three in the first against Tudor and carried a 4-1 lead into the ninth. A victory would move the Mets to within a half-game of the Cardinals and put them in position to secure first place with a series sweep.

The Cardinals were held to one hit through eight innings. Vince Coleman got a bunt single in the sixth. Darling, trying to field the ball, stumbled, attempted to break his fall with his right hand and jammed his thumb, tearing ligaments.

The injury foreshadowed the trouble to come in the ninth.

Handling heat

McDowell, the third Mets pitcher in the game, worked a scoreless eighth.

In the ninth, he walked the first batter, Ozzie Smith. Herr grounded out to first, with Smith moving to second. Dan Driessen struck out.

“It didn’t look very good,” Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog said.

McDowell got ahead in the count, 1-and-2, to the next batter, Willie McGee. With the Mets one strike away from victory, the crowd rocked the stadium.

“I wasn’t really worried about the pressure,” McGee said to the Hartford Courant. “When you’ve been there after a while, you learn how to deal with it.”

McGee swung at a pitch up in the strike zone and grounded a single into center field, driving in Smith and making the score 4-2.

Pendleton plan

Next up was Pendleton. He hadn’t hit a home run in a month _ Aug. 11 versus the Pirates _ and McDowell hadn’t yielded a home run in more than a month.

Yet, Pendleton went to the plate with the intent of hitting a home run.

“That’s all I was thinking,” Pendleton said. “I knew that’s what we needed.”

The first pitch from McDowell was a sinker. Pendleton grounded it foul.

“So I decided to move up (in the batter’s box) a little bit and see if I could catch one before it sank,” Pendleton said.

McDowell threw another sinker. “It was down,” McDowell said. “I thought it was a pretty good sinker.”

Pendleton connected with the pitch before it dipped too low and drove it to straightaway center. Center fielder Mookie Wilson moved back toward the wall. “I knew he hit it well,” Wilson said, “but the wind was blowing in.”

The ball carried over the wall at the 410-foot mark for a two-run home run, tying the score at 4-4 and stunning the crowd.

“He is not a home run hitter,” Mets first baseman Keith Hernandez said, “but that’s what it called for _ and he got it. He probably got the biggest hit of the year for them. If they win it, that will be the hit that did it.” Video

David Green followed with a double, but Tom Pagnozzi struck out, ending the Cardinals’ half of the ninth.

Ken Dayley, the Cardinals’ fifth pitcher of the game, held the Mets scoreless in the bottom of the ninth.

Wakeup call

Mets manager Davey Johnson brought in Jesse Orosco to pitch the 10th. With one out, the Cardinals got consecutive singles from Coleman, Smith and Herr. Coleman scored on Herr’s hit, giving the Cardinals the lead. Driessen grounded out, scoring Smith from third and putting St. Louis ahead, 6-4.

Dayley retired the Mets in order in the 10th, sealing the win and sending the Mets reeling. Boxscore

“It was another chance for us to go for the jugular and we weren’t able to do it,” said Hernandez, the former Cardinal. “That’s a big, big win for them. It has to be very uplifting.”

Said Pendleton to the Associated Press: “This will wake us up.”

The victory stretched the Cardinals’ lead over the Mets to 2.5 games.

The next day, Sept. 12, the Mets started their ace, Dwight Gooden, against the Cardinals’ Greg Mathews. Herr produced three RBI, Mathews pitched a complete game gem and the Cardinals won, 8-1, extending their lead to 3.5 games. “Doc was wild,” Johnson said of Gooden, “and he didn’t have very good stuff either.”

Said Mets second baseman Tim Teufel: “We had the momentum going into this series and they took it away from us.”

The Cardinals went on to finish 95-67 _ three games ahead of the Mets _ and clinch the division title. They also won the pennant, beating the Giants in the NL Championship Series, before losing to the Twins in a seven-game World Series.

Previously: Top 10 facts about 1987 NL champion Cardinals