Fellow Dominican and former big-league pitcher Mario Soto told ESPN Deportes that Andujar had been suffering from diabetes for years and died Tuesday in his hometown of San Pedro de Macoris.
MORE: Notable sports deaths of 2015
Andujar originally signed with the Reds as a teenager in 1969 but broke into the majors with the Astros in 1976 and made the first of his four All-Star teams a year later. He reached his highest level with St. Louis, where he was brilliant in the 1982 postseason, posting a 1.35 ERA in two World Series starts against the Brewers but losing out to his batterymate Darrell Porter for series MVP honors.
The right-hander stumbled to a 6-16 record and 4.16 ERA the following season but bounced back to lead the majors with 20 wins in 1984, posting a 3.34 ERA in an NL-best 261 1/3 innings to earn Sporting News NL Comeback Player of the Year honors. He won 21 games in 1985 as the Cardinals returned to the Fall Classic but couldn’t match his postseason effectiveness from the previous time around, allowing 14 runs (12 earned) over three starts in the NLCS and World Series.
His career flamed out after a trade to Oakland in 1986, and he returned to Houston for one final season in 1988, working mostly out of the bullpen, before retiring at age 35.
Among those paying tribute to Andujar on Tuesday was Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano, so said in an Instagram post that the pitcher’s death was a blow to all baseball fans, especially Dominicans.
A photo posted by Robinson Cano (@robinsoncano) on Sep 8, 2015 at 2:59am PDT
