Orlando Gregorio Peña Guevara (born November 17, 1933) is a

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former

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. The right-hander played in

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for all or parts of 14 seasons between and for the Cincinnati Reds,

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, Detroit Tigers,

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

, Pittsburgh Pirates,

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and California Angels.Baseball Reference
/ref> Born in Victoria de Las Tunas, he was listed as tall and .

Baseball career

Peña was one of many Cuban players who entered the Cincinnati Redlegs' minor league system in the mid-1950s when the

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club affiliated with the

Havana Sugar Kings The Havana Sugar Kings were a Cuban-based minor league baseball team that played from 1946 to 1960. From 1954 until 1960, they belonged in the Class AAA International League, affiliated with Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds. Their home ...

of the Triple-A International League. After four successful years in the

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, Carolina and International leagues, he was recalled by Cincinnati in August 1958 and was the

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in his MLB debut on August 24. Coming into a game against the

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in the eighth inning with the Redlegs trailing 5–4, he held the Dodgers to one

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and no runs and

struck out In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is denote ...

three in two full innings of work. When Cincinnati's

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hit a two-run

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in the ninth inning, Peña emerged as the winning hurler. He also earned the first three saves of his MLB career before the 1958 campaign ended. Peña spent all of on the Cincinnati roster, and got into 46 games. But his effectiveness declined, and he would bounce between Triple-A and the majors for the next three seasons. Acquired by the Kansas City Athletics in August 1962, Peña was plugged into the second-division team's

starting rotation R rabbit ears :Indicates a participant in the game who hears things perhaps too well for their own good. A player who becomes nervous or chokes when opposing players or fans yell at or razz them is said to have rabbit ears. Also, an umpire ...

and won six of ten decisions, posted a solid 3.01

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and threw six complete games, including a three-hit

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against the Angels on August 29.

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br>box score: 1962-08-29
/ref> He continued to take a turn in the Kansas City rotation for the next two seasons and won a dozen games each year for the struggling Athletics, but he also led the

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in games lost (20) in and

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(40) in . When he lost his first six decisions of , Peña was

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to the Tigers, where he became an effective relief pitcher through the end of . In , Peña registered a career-high eight saves for the Tigers and Indians with an earned run average of 3.59, but Cleveland sent him back to the minors in 1968 and Peña would not return to the majors until June 1970 when he signed as a

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with the Pirates. Working out of the Pittsburgh bullpen, he was successful for his first month with club, but rocky outings during August ruined his Pirate tenure and he was released August 26. The 37-year-old Peña was not ready to retire, however. He signed with the Baltimore Orioles' organization for and was highly effective in minor league assignments (winning 33 games, losing eight, and posting a brilliant 1.14 earned run average in 317 innings pitched) through . He was mediocre in two trials for the Orioles, but, upon being acquired by the Cardinals on June 15, 1973, he became a key part of the Redbirds' bullpen, appearing in 84 games and notching nine wins and seven saves with a 2.36 ERA before being sent to his final MLB destination, the Angels, in September 1974. The Angels released him the following May, but Peña continued pitching in the minors for the next two seasons, and made an abbreviated comeback at age 45 with the

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in the 1979 Triple-A

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. His professional pitching career in organized baseball encompassed 22 years. In all or parts of 14 major league seasons, Peña posted a 56–77 record with 818 strikeouts and a 3.71

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in 427 games pitched, including 93 starts, 21 complete games, four

s, 40 saves, and 1,202 innings pitched. After his playing retirement, Peña was a scout for the Tigers and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

References

External links

Orlando Pena
at SABR (Baseball BioProject)
Orlando Pena
at Baseballbiography.com
Orlando Pena
at Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Professional Baseball League) {{DEFAULTSORT:Pena, Orlando 1933 births Living people Almendares (baseball) players Baltimore Orioles players California Angels players Chicago White Sox scouts Cincinnati Redlegs players Cincinnati Reds players Cleveland Indians players Cuban expatriate baseball players in the United States Daytona Beach Islanders players Detroit Tigers players Detroit Tigers scouts Havana Sugar Kings players High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms players Jersey City Jerseys players Kansas City Athletics players Leones del Caracas players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from Cuba Miami Amigos players Miami Orioles players Navegantes del Magallanes players Cuban expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Omaha Royals players People from Las Tunas (city) Pittsburgh Pirates players Portland Beavers players Rochester Red Wings players St. Louis Cardinals players Seattle Angels players Tiburones de La Guaira players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Tucson Toros players

Baseball career

See also

References

External links