Randy Johnson's 300th Win and His First: A Tale of Two Games

Five days after his twenty fifth birthday, the 6′10″ giant, donning a Montreal Expos jersey, took the mound in the major leagues for the first time.

This hurler, boasting a 100-mph fastball and a hard slider, was Randy Johnson.

He was nervous, but it didn’t matter. The whipping motion in his delivery, as well as his size, intimidated the Pittsburgh Pirates.

John Cangelosi stepped into the batters box and looked towards the mound. There Johnson, fourteen inches taller than the center-fielder, stood, anxiously waiting to make his dream a reality. Cangelosi, a twenty five year old himself at the time, saw a first pitch fastball blaze past him for a called strike. He saw another fastball, the fourth pitch of the sequence, and did all he could to make contact with the heater, snubbing it to second baseman Rex Hudler for a ground out.

Jose Lind, Pittsburgh’s second baseman and second-place hitter met a similar fate, fighting off the first pitch, then topped the second, the pop-up dropping into the busy glove of Hudler. Johnson missed with two of the first three pitches to Gary Redus, and, once the left-fielder fouled off a few pitches, found himself in his first battle. Redus came out on top, working a walk.

Bobby Bonilla, the only prominent, recognizable name on the Pirates, didn’t seem phased by the rookie. Bonilla, a 240-pound power hitter, was twenty five years old as well, and ready to take his hacks.

He ripped the first pitch foul, but connected solidly on the second offering, dropping it softly down the right-field line. Redus hustled around third, headed for home. Veteran right-fielder Hubie Brooks backed up his pitcher, gunning Redus at the plate. Johnson’s first major-league inning was over.

Johnson’s outing against the Washington Nationals, formerly the Expos, similarly began with a groundout. Even with 595 starts, 4,086 1/3 innings, five Cy Young awards, a World Series title, and 4,841 strikeouts under his belt, he was nervous. He had reason to be. After all, at forty five years old, he was attempting to join the twenty three before him, that reached the 300-win club.

Nick Johnson, a power-hitter, manned the two-spot in the lineup for the Nationals, differing entirely from Lind, a 5′10” speedster. Randy got the best of Nick, as he hit a frozen rope caught by center- fielder Aaron Rowand. Ryan Zimmerman, Washington’s best hitter, wanted nothing to do with Johnson, who, even at his age, can still rear back and fire 94-mph fastballs on occasion. Zimmerman looked at this pitch for ball one, then appeared fooled by the next.

Throughout his career, Johnson’s slider has been as, if not more, effective than his fastball. Out of his hand, it looks like a fastball, but as it draws near it dips, forcing the hitter to adjust in a split-second. Hitters have no chance in this situation, making contact is an accomplishment. Zimmerman did so, weakly hitting it to second base, ending the inning.

Expos right-fielder Glenn Wilson officially welcomed Johnson to the majors to start the second inning, smoking the fifth pitch of the at-bat deep into the left-field seats. With one crack of the bat, Johnson was forced off cloud-nine.

He would regroup against current Baseball Tonight analyst Orestes Destrade, who never saw a pitch he didn’t like. Johnson pumped in two straight called strikes, then, after Destrade defensively fouled off two, finished him off with the biting and ever-so confusing slider.

The next batter, catcher Junior Ortiz, put up more of a fight, but was retired after a lengthy battle on a fly-out to center. Johnson ended the frame with his second strikeout, this time disposing of Rafael Belliard.

Johnson struck out two Nationals in the second inning, as he did against the Expos, this time overwhelming Adam Dunn who, like Destrade, loves swinging the bat a bit too much, and Austin Kearns in between a groundout by Elijah Dukes. Kearns faced the minimum in recording his strikeout, swinging at the first fastball, staring at the second, then whiffing at the third. They were the only two strikeouts of Johnson’s night.

Pittsburgh pitcher David LaPoint led off the third inning, striking out promptly. Cangelosi, pondering his previous meeting, dug his cleats into the batters’ box, hoping for revenge. After taking a called strike and two balls, he sawed off Johnson’s offering into shallow left-field. Before a pitch to Lind was thrown, he was off on Johnson’s first move home, swiping second base.

A career .250 hitter, Cangelosi made the most of his time on base. In 1986, at the age of twenty three, with the Chicago White Sox, he batted a measly .235, but managed to steal fifty bases in sixty seven attempts. He never had such success on the base paths again, but was in fine form against the rookie.

Two pitches into Lind’s at-bat, he took off for third base, stealing it easily. Despite his efforts, nothing came of it. He was forced stay at third when Lind’s rocket back to the mound was stopped by Johnson, then was stranded completely once Redus struck out and Bonilla flew out.

Ronnie Belliard, Rafael’s cousin, started off the fourth inning against Johnson. He took a called first strike, fouled off the next, and beat the third, a rare changeup from Johnson, into the ground. Shortstop Edgar Renteria made the routine play, throwing him out at first. Renteria made the exact same play on an impending grounder by Will Nieves. The pitcher, Jordan Zimmerman, went quietly as well, grounding out to Johnson to conclude an eight-pitch inning.

Wilson, leading off another inning, dug another two-strike hole. He did exactly what he did the first time, this time crushing the ball deep into the left-center field seats. Wilson faced Johnson later in his career, tallying eight at-bats in total. Of those eight, he collected three hits, including these two long balls. The third was a two run, home run. He had his number. One of few who could say so during Johnson’s illustrious career.

Aside from a walk to Belliard, the rest of the inning went smoothly.

The fourth frame against the Nationals was another simple one, working around an eight-pitch walk to the other Johnson. His fastball, touching 92 on the radar gun, was lively, and continued to give Washington all sorts of fits. Hitters in this era can catch up to this velocity, especially names like Johnson, Zimmerman, and Dunn. However, since his presence on the mound was so imposing, it was as if he was throwing ninety eight miles per hour. 

Twenty-one years ago, ninety eight miles per hour flowed out of his hand with ease. Cangelosi grounded out on that fastball, then Lind reached base again, coaxing a walk. Redus struck out again. Bonilla collected another hit. This meant, down two runs, that Wilson was the go-ahead run. After watching ball one, he looked at strike-one and swung through strike-two.

Forced to swing at anything close, he made contact, but didn’t do the damage he had previously accomplished. Johnson’s first threat was averted. Fittingly, his outing was ended on that note. His bullpen held down the fort while his offense poured it on. It was a 9-4 victory for the Expos and Randy Johnson's his first win.

To start the sixth inning, Johnson threw an inside slider to Nationals' pinch hitter Anderson Hernandez. He hit a sharp grounder back to the mound. Johnson knocked it down, calmly found the ball, picked it up and, in mid air, flung it to first baseman Travis Ishikawa to just beat the hustling Hernandez. The forty five year old, has had two back surgeries in recent years, and yet, the lunging, acrobatic play was made with grace and ease.

Johnson allowed a unearned run in the final inning of his outing, made possible by Renteria's sixth error. He finished the sixth inning by throwing three sliders to Dunn, getting him to pop-up on the third. His fate, holding a one-run lead, was left to the bullpen.

Like against the Expos twenty one years ago, the bullpen held the lead and the offense poured it on late. Brian Wilson, who finished the eighth inning, took the mound in the ninth to close the door. He struck out the first two hitters, Dukes and Kearns, then, after a single by Belliard, retired Nieves on only three pitches.

Each pitch was clocked at ninety eight miles per hour, the speed Johnson threw effortlessly throughout his debut. Wilson celebrated catcher Bengie Molina and walked back to the dugout. Johnson shook hands with everyone in the dugout, receiving hugs from some.

Washington’s stadium was near empty, much like Expos Stade Olympique dome was, as heavy rain dampened on fans' chances to witness history: the 300th victory of Johnson’s illustrious career.