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Message #: 31920
The most-talented offense in the N.L. shows up for work for a change, scoring 35 runs in 4 games in a Wrigley Field sweep of the Cubs. The Reds notched a pair of complete-game wins and a pair of just barely-aborted bullpen chokes.... Game 1: CHN lefty starter Sid Fernandez, despite an excellent card, suffered the same fate that any lefty who opposes the Reds should face. El Sid was massacred for 10 hits and 8 runs in less than 3 innings, and although the Cincy offense terminated itself early Tim Pugh was able to cruise to a 10-3 win. Barry Larkin and Billy Ashley, with 4 hits apiece, led the all-righty attack, while Herbert Perry homered and drove in 4 runs. The Cubs offense was efficient, LOBbing only 1 runner. ================================================================================ Game 2: CHN lefty starter Trevor Wilson, despite a card nowhere near as good as Fernandez', fared far better (6 IP, 8 hits, 3 runs) against the Reds than his teammate had. Chicago took a 2-1 lead against John Smiley in the bottom of the 2nd, but solo homers from Reggie Sanders and Mark Lewis put the Reds back in front by the score of 3-2 in the 6th. Sanders' second homer of the game was the key hit in a 5-run 7th which extended the lead to 8-2. Smiley left for a pinch hitter during that rally, and so it was left to the Arson Squad to do what it always does. Dave Burba, as he always does, choked immediately by gophering one up to the very first batter he faced. It didn't get any better, as a second gopher cut the 6 run lead down to 4. Tim Fortugno took over and allowed the first 3 batters in the bottom of the 9th to reach base, the lead was down to 3 with the tying run at the plate and nobody out, and we were just moments away from yet another routine 6-run choke by the foremost experts in the field. But the next batter of the game turned out to be the last one for the Cubs, as Brian McRae rolled a 3-12 loMax and lined into a game-ending ***TRIPLE PLAY***! Cincy 3B Jeff Branson caught the liner, tagged Ozzie Timmons and threw to first before Turner Ward could dive back to the base. It takes a miracle to prevent the Arson Squad from doing its job, and a miracle is what we got. ================================================================================ Game 3: The Cubs switched to a right-handed starter, but the results were no different. Jim Bullinger lasted 3.2 innings and left after permitting 9 hits, 3 walks & 9 runs. Brian Keyser registered the first complete game of his career for the Reds, and won by the score of 11-2. Practically all of the damage was confined to an 8-run 4th inning, topped off by a Grand Slam from Chad Curtis. ================================================================================ Game 4: The Reds started a 4e88 at SS and a 4e41 at 2B (replacing our 2e5 who fields like a 4e41 much of the time) so naturally the Cincy infield turned 5 double plays. Pitchers Mark Mimbs and Jeff Shaw needed every bit of that defensive support to eke out a 5-4 win. The visitors jumped out to a 5-0 lead after an inning and a half and went into hibernation thereafter. Mimbs, shaky though he was, took a shutout into the 6th inning. It was broken up by a run-scoring GIDP but the Cubs were hardly finished (scoring or hitting into DPs). A major fire in the CHN 7th was extinguished by DP #4, but Mimbs had no such assistance in the 8th when the Cubs scored 3 times, chasing the lefty from the hill in place of Arsonist Shaw who of course allowed an RBI hit to his first batter. Hal Morris tripled in the Cincy 9th and was LOBbed, setting the stage for the inevitable choke. Shaw gave up a 1-out single, but Jose Hernandez mercifully hit into DP #5 (the third off his bat today) to end the contest and the Reds escaped with a 1-run win in the primary manner we get such things -- by forfeiting a much larger lead. Alan |
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