In Game 7 of the 1924 World Series, the Washington Senators had their starting pitcher, Curly Ogden, pitch to only two batters and then brought in a left-handed pitcher, with the intent of locking the opposing team into their left-handed lineup. Similarly, in the 1990 National League Championship Series, the Pittsburgh Pirates decided to open the game with right-handed relief pitcher Ted Power before installing the announced starting pitcher, left-hander Zane Smith, in an attempt to get the Cincinnati Reds to change their batting lineup. In 1993, the Oakland Athletics had a poor starting rotation, and manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan split their pitchers into platoons, with a core of dedicated relief pitchers. Though the experiment lasted for only six games before the Athletics returned to a traditional starting rotation, Ron Darling, a member of the 1993 Athletics, called it "a precursor to all the things that you see today". La Russa and Duncan also used an opener on the last day of the 2007 Major League Baseball season when their St. Louis Cardinals handed the ball to Troy Percival, a longtime closer with 358 career saves and 702 relief appearances to go along with this, his only career start. Percival worked an inning before being relieved by Kip Wells, a pitcher for whom 219 of his 296 career appearances were as a starter.