‘87 Bucs take 2 of 3 from ‘79 Cubbies

Cubs and Pirates fighting to remain in the conversation regarding the post-season.

Game 1 - Bob Walk held the Cubs to 1 hit over 7 innings and Sid Bream belted a 2-run double in the 3rd to lead the Buccos to a 5-0 win in the opener.  Lynn McGlothen struggled, allowing 12 hits in his 6.1 innings of work.  Chicago finished with just 1 hit, a Ted Sizemore single in the 2nd inning.

Chic 0   1   1
Pit    5  12  1
W - Walk (3-1), L - McGlothen (2-2)
HR - none

Game 2 - Pirates take a 3-2 lead after 3, but Chicago gets to Brian Fisher in the 5th.  Ted Sizemore led off with a single, then a pair of walks loaded the bases for Bill Buckner.  Buck singled in a pair to put Chicago up 4-3.  Jerry Martin followed with a single, 5-3 Chicago.  A walk forced Fisher from the game, and Steve Ontiveros singled off Hipolito Pena to make it a 6-3 game.  In the 7th, Pena walked a pair, setting up Mike Vail's PH single to extend the lead to 7-3.  How important was that run!  In the bottom of the 8th, Willie Hernandez and Bruce Sutter almost gave the lead back.  A single and three consecutive walks made it a 7-4 game.  A DP grounder made it 7-5, and Junior Ortiz' PH single off Sutter made it 7-6.  Sutter got Andy Van Slyke to ground out to send the game to the 9th, Cubs up 7-6.  In the 9th, the Pirates got a 2-out runner, but that was it.  Cubs win, 7-6. 

Chic 7  10  4
Pit    6  11  0
W - Krukow (2-3), L - Fisher (1-3), S - Sutter (5)
HR - Van Slyke (6)

Game 3 - Doug Drabek was tough, allowing just 4 hits and 2 runs in 8 innings as the Pirates took the rubber game 5-2.  Drabek held a 3-0 lead after 4 innings and carried that into the 7th.  Then with 2 outs and 1 on, Dave Kingman doubled in a run and Steve Ontiveros singled in Kingman.   Bottom of the 8th, the Bucs added 2 insurance runs.  Sid Bream led off with a triple.  A walk to Johnny Ray brought Bruce Sutter in, but he walked the next two batters to force in a run.  A ground out added another run, and the Pirates led 5-2.  In the 9th John Smiley allowed a lead off single and nothing else.

Chic  2   5  0
Pit     5   7  2
W - Drabek (2-2), L - R. Reuschel (2-5), S - Smiley (2)
HR - none

The Pirates improve to 16-15, while the Cubs drop to 15-16.

--submitted by Jesse Elicker--

http://distantreplay.org/MLB/KOD9/