GAME 1 - Expos 7, Pirates 6
This game was all Pirates early on. Bryn Smith just didn't have it as the Pirates punished him for 5 runs in 5 innings, which included a huge 4 run 4th. R.J. Reynolds tripled home Johnny "Cry" Ray and Al Pedrique with one out. Smith got his opposing number Brian Fisher to line out to third but could not get the next two hitters: Andy Van Slyke (double) and Barry Bonds (single). Montreal finally got on the board with 2 in the bottom of the 5th. Tim Wallach led off with a so called harmless walk and moved to third on Warren Cromartie's double off the right field wall. Wallach scored on a Chris Speier grounder to first and Cromartie scored on a sac fly from pinch hitter Manny Trillo. The Pirates added an insurance run in the 6th when Ray singled home Van Slyke with 2 outs to put Pittsburgh back up by 4 (6-2). It would stay that way until the bottom of the 9th when the Expos mounted one of the most unlikely comebacks in KOD history. In a move that sure looked like they were throwing in the towel the Expos sent up Bobby Ramos to pinch hit for All-Star catcher Gary Carter. Ramos hit a dribbled up the 3rd base line and wound up with a 85 foot single. Doug Flynn flew out to right for out number 1. Cromartie walked and a wild pitch put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Speier then worked the count against Pirate reliever Don Robinson, to 3-1 before hitting a flare that Sid Bream narrowly missed diving for. Ramos scored and there were now runners on the corners with the score 6-3. Robinson now had to face pinch hitter Mike Vail, who worked the count to 2-1 before Robinson air mailed the next pitch to the backstop to score Cromartie and move Speier to 2nd. The score was now 6-4. Vail then lined out to Pedrique at short for the second out. Speedy Tim Raines was next up and with the count 0-1 he
lined one into right to put runners on the corners. Brian Little stepped to the plate and took the first pitch as a called strike to allow Raines to swipe his 7th base of the season and to put the tying run on 2nd. With the count at 2-2 and Pittsburgh 1 strike and 1 out away from victory Little lined one to right that fell just in front of R.J. Reynolds to score both runners and tie the game. Robinson by this point was in complete melt down mode. He was able to get a quick strike over to the next batter, Al Oliver, but on the next pitch Montreal's lefty first baseman sliced the ball just inside the chalk on the left field line. Little was running on the play and never broke stride as he scored the game winner easily. Montreal came all the way back from the dead and virtually stole this one vs a Pirate bullpen that blew a great effort from Fisher. Chris Welsh notched the win with 2 scoreless innings of relief.GAME 2 - Pirates 3, Expos 1
To stop the bleeding Pittsburgh tapped former Cub ace Rick Reuschel to start. Montreal countered with their own ace, Steve Rogers. Rogers pitched a pretty good game, yielding only 3 runs in 9 full innings of work. Reuschel pitched a fantastic game, scattering 8 hits over 9 innings and allowing only 1 unearned run in the 6th. The big man himself booted a grounder by Little, then struck out Oliver for out #2. The slumping Andre Dawson served one into right center for a hit and "The Kid", Gary Carter, singled Little home to make it 1-0. Meanwhile, Rogers was
posting goose eggs on the scoreboard until the top of the 6th when R.J. Reynolds got back a pound of flesh for the insult of an intentional pass to the previous batter (Al Pedrique). Reynolds locked in and lined Rogers offering into center to score Sid Bream and tie the game a 1 all. Rogers looked solid as the 8th inning began. He got two tough lefties in a row (Van Slyke and Bonds) to make easy outs. Bobby Bonilla doubled off the wall in right and Sid Bream followed suit to make it 2-1. Johnny Ray singled home Bream to put the Pirates up 3-1, which is how it would stay.GAME 3 - Pirates 6, Expos 5
The "rubber match" was as wild and crazy as the opener. Starters Mike Dunne (PIT) and Bill Gullickson (MON) were not fooling any hitters. Both were gone by the end of the 6th inning with the score knotted at 4. Both teams exchanged runs in the 7th, so the game remained tied going into the 9th. Montreal had their hopes riding on long relief man Ray Burris' broad shoulders. Burris too over in the 6th and to this point had allowed only a solo run in the 7th. Pinch hitter Junior Ortiz flew weakly to center to lead off the top of the 9th. Andy Van Slyke went fishing on a 1-2 breaking ball for the second out of the inning. On a 2-0 count Burris decided to challenge that skinny kid from the Bay area with a fastball. Young #24, Barry Bonds, turned on Burris' offering and hit a high fly ball down the right field line. Warren
Cromartie raced back and got to the wall and jumped. He narrowly missed pulling the ball back in. Baseball is a game of inches and that ball was just fair and just over the fence by inches to give the Bucs a 6-5 lead. It was also Bonds' 4th hit of the day to go along with his 2 RBI's and 2 runs scored. It even overshadowed his running mate, Bobby Bonilla, who was 3 for 4 with a homer and 4 RBI's. Jim Gott came on board for the save and got the Expos to go down weakly in the home half of the 9th.
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