Fregosi's Phillies 1991: The Unlikely 13 Game Winning Streak

On July 28, 1991, after the Phillies dropped a close 2-1 game to the San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park, they were a last place team with a 40-58 record, 21.5 games behind the first-place Pittsburgh Pirates. It had already been a tumultuous year. Manager Nick Leyva was fired 13 games into the season and was replaced by former All-Star shortstop, twice failed manager, and close friend of General Manager Lee Thomas, Jim Fregosi. Despite Fregosi's promise of "better communication" and "rapport with the players", three months into his tenure, the results on the field had not improved much.

Starting on July 30 in San Diego, however, the Phillies went on a remarkable 13 game winning streak that dug them out of the cellar, and set them up for an improbable third place finish in the National League East Division. Heroes during the winning streak included many names that would be core members of the 1993 National League pennant winners and a few other names that have faded into obscurity. Here is how it happened. 

Game 1: The streak began with a tight 2-1 win over Tony Gwynn and the Padres. Jose de Jesus, a wild and inconsistent righthander who had been acquired from Kansas City a year earlier in a trade for Steve Jeltz, started and scattered eight hits and seven walks over eight innings. Mitch Williams earned the save. Doubles by Wes Chamberlain and John Kruk plated the Phillies two runs. 

Game 2: The next night, left fielder Chamberlain led a Phillies offensive onslaught as they beat the Padres by a 9-3 score. Chamberlain was four-for-four with two three-run home runs for six RBIs. Mickey Morandini was three-for-three. Lefty Bruce Ruffin picked up the win, with relief help from Roger McDowell and Joe Boever.

Game 3: On August 1, the Phillies travelled to Montreal to take on the Expos. Chamberlain was again the hero in a 4-1 Phillies win. Chamberlain hit his third three-run home run in two days as part of a four-run fourth inning. Terry Mulholland gave up a triple and a single to the first two batters he faced and then shut the Expos down on one hit the rest of the way.

Game 4: It took the Phillies 11 innings to win their fourth straight. Shortstop Dickie Thon played the hero with a top of the eleventh inning home run that gave the Phillies a 6-5 lead. It was Thon's second home run of the game and his sixth of the year. Mitch Williams got the win. Mike Hartley worked the bottom of the eleventh for his only save in a Phillies uniform.

Game 5: Right-hander Tomy Greene raised his season record to 8-4 by pitching seven shutout innings. Dale Murphy was the hitting star with a three-run home run. The Phillies defeat the Expos again, this time by a 7-1 score. 

Game 6: The streak continues with another extra inning nail-biter. Jose de Jesus pitches eight strong innings and the Phillies score two unearned runs to send the game into overtime. A Dale Murphy double scored Lenny Dykstra with the winning run in the ninth. Mitch Williams pitched two shutout innings for the win, striking out Tim Wallach to end it with a flourish.

Game 7: On August 6 the Phillies bring their winning streak home to Veterans Stadium to meet the Chicago Cubs. A crowd of 26,000+ is on hand. Those fans see an all-time classic. The game is tied at 1 after eight innings. Ruffin pitched a strong 7.1 innings, and Hartley bailed him out in the eighth by inducing a double play line drive from the Cubs George Bell. In the ninth, the Cubs take a 2-1 lead as reliever Boever struggled. Lefty Wally Ritchie got the dangerous Mark Grace out with two men on for the final out of the ninth. Dykstra erased the Cub lead with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the ninth off Cub lefty Paul Assenmacher. Ritchie retired the Cubs in the 10th and, after the Phils also fail to score, Mitch Williams got the Cubs out in the 11th. In the bottom of the eleventh, right-hander Les Lancaster came in to pitch for the Cubs. Dykstra led off with a walk and Darren Daulton singled him to third. Chamberlain strikes out swinging and the left-handed hitting Kruk is intentionally walked. That brings Murphy to the plate, and he sets off the fireworks and sends everyone home happy with a walk-off grand slam home run.

Game 8: It's more of the same the next night as another crowd of 26,000+ sees another 11-inning walk off win. At the end of regulation, the game is tied at four. The Phillies get a home run from Kruk and a triple from Chamberlain along the way. Mulholland works eight innings but struggles allowing four runs. Hartley keeps the score tied with two innings of shutout relief. Williams pitches the top of the 11th and is the winning pitcher for the third night in a row, as, in the bottom of the inning, a Chamberlain single with the bases loaded off the unfortunate Lancaster, brings home Randy Ready with the winning run.

Game 9: There is no drama the next night as the Phillies romp 11-1 behind a strong seven-inning outing from Danny Cox and four RBIs from third baseman Charlie Hayes. Right fielder Jim Lindeman contributes two hits, and an RBI and reliever Steve Searcy follows Cox with two shutout innings.

Game 10: The Expos visit the Vet, and it is time for first baseman Ricky Jordan to get into the act. Jordan's bases loaded double in the seventh scores three and gives the Phillies a 4-3 lead. The Cubs tie the game in the top of the eighth on a bases loaded walk by Williams, but a Dickie Thon sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth provides the margin for victory. Williams scores both a blown save and a win.

Game 11: Once again the pitching of Jose de Jesus is the story as the Phillies prevail 4-2. De Jesus goes seven strong innings while Hartley and Williams finish off the game. Chamberlain, Hayes, and Thon contribute RBIs. 

Game 12: Jim Lindeman is the hitting star as the Phillies use five pitchers to hold off the Expos in a 5-4 win. A Lindeman double plates two, while Ruffin, Boever, Ritchie, Hartley, and Wiliams all contribute on the mound. Williams records the save. The winning run scores on a wild pitch in the eighth.

Game 13: In this game the Phillies Terry Mulholland outpitches the Expos Dennis Martinez, 2-1. Both pitchers throw complete games. Hayes has two doubles for the Phillies and Dykstra and Murphy have the RBIs. Mulholland raised his record to 11-10 with another dominant effort over the Expos. 

The streak ended the next night in Pittsburgh as the Phillies fell 4-3 to Doug Drabek, but the 13-game winning streak was followed by continued improved play by the team. The streak included four extra-inning games and two walk-off wins. Mitch Williams racked up five wins and three saves during the streak. An on-fire Wes Chamberlain contributed 17 hits and 13 RBIs. Dale Murphy, with 11 hits and 11 RBIs, had perhaps his best run of games in his mostly disappointing tenure with the Phillies. The erratic Jose de Jesus pitched very well in his three starts during the streak, winning two.

The Phillies had one other 13 game winning streak in their modern history in August of 1977, a year they won 101 games. The 1887 Phillies, led by pitchers Don Casey and Charles Ferguson, won 16 in row at the end of the season.

In 1992 the Phillies would fall back to last place, but the building blocks that propelled the Phillies to a pennant in 1993 were at least partly in evidence as Jim Fregosi put his stamp on this team during this historic run of games.