Stechschulte was called up from the minors five different times by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2000, appearing in 20 games for the NL Central champs. The right-hander earned his first major-league win with two innings of scoreless relief on June 23rd vs. Los Angeles. A closer in his minor-league career, Stechschulte developed into a bullpen mainstay for the Cardinals in 2001, tallying six saves while working more than 60 games.
On April 17, 2001, Stechschulte became the fifth Cardinal to homer in his first major-league at-bat. Pinch-hitting for Mike James in the sixth inning of a massacre at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks, the reliever took pitcher Armando Reynoso deep on the very first pitch he saw. (AG/AGL)
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FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
»April 17, 2001:
The Diamondbacks beat up on the Cardinals, 17–4, collecting 15 runs in the first four innings off Dustin Hermanson and Chad Hutchinson. The last two runs come in the 9th off Bobby Bonilla, making his ML pitching debut. The most successful Card pitcher is Gene Stechschulte, who belts a 6th inning pinch homer on the 1st pitch of his 1st ML at bat (he is the 15th pitcher to accomplish this, according to home run maven David Vincent). Also getting beat up is Umpire Larry Young who is struck in the forehead by a throw from Arizona's Jay Bell and requires 14 stitches to close the gash. He'll be out 2-3 weeks. Arizona is paced by Jay Bell's four hits, including a home run, and WP Armando Reynoso.
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