 At age 36 , Smith started 1994 pitching better than ever . In his first 12 games , he had 12 saves and a 0 @.@ 00 ERA . After nearly two months , his ERA was still under 1 @.@ 00 and it was still under 2 @.@ 00 in mid @-@ July . Smith had been selected for the All @-@ Star Game in 1991 , 1992 and 1993 but had not played . After his sixth selection in 1994 , Smith was brought into the game to hold a two @-@ run American League lead in the ninth inning . Instead , he gave up a game @-@ tying two @-@ run home run to Fred McGriff , and the AL lost in ten innings . Smith 's bad streak continued for the next several weeks until the 1994 – 95 Major League Baseball strike ended the season . He filed for free agency again and signed a two @-@ year contract with the California Angels for over $ 2 @.@ 5 million while the strike was still in progress . 
