August 24, 1983

Managers like to have an emergency catcher available, but they rarely use him voluntarily.  Yet Orioles skipper Joe Altobelli did just that in this date’s game against the Blue Jays.  In the fifth inning, he pinch-hit catcher Joe Nolan for Rick Dempsey with the bases loaded; in the bottom of the ninth, trailing by two, he sent up Benny Ayala to hit for Nolan.  Ayala drove in one run, another followed, but now the Orioles had to face extra innings with second baseman Lenn Sakata making his first professional appearance behind the plate.

Toronto led off the tenth with a home run and a single, and Altobelli brought in his closer, southpaw Tippy Martinez.  The Jays were eager to exploit the presence of Sakata – too eager.  First, Martinez picked off Barry Bonnell, the inherited runner.  Dave Collins walked, and then Martinez picked him off, too.  Willie Upshaw then singled – and Martinez completed the trilogy by picking him off to end the inning.  In the bottom of the tenth, Cal Ripken tied the game with a leadoff homer; eager to avoid having to go back out and do all that squatting, the light-hitting Sakata cracked his second home run of the season, a three-run walkoff for a 7-4 victory.  Tippy Martinez is not the only pitcher to get credit for a win without retiring a batter, but he’s surely the only one to work a full inning while doing so.