Game two of the Cubs-Yankees semi-final series was quite a battle.
The Cubs would take a lead and the Yankees would battle right back all night long.
This game was in doubt, right down to the final out.
The Cubs plated three, in the top of the first, on two singles (by Bryce Cutler and Dave Mitchell), a walk, three stolen bases, and an error. The Yankees fired back, in the bottom of the second, with two runs on a Tony Parella home run and three consecutive singles by Jallah Kujic, Paul Post, and Rich Robertson.
The Cubs dialed up the pressure, in the top of the third, plating three more runs on singles by Randy Craft, Ron Lochner, and Andy Hoyle, a walk, another Yankee error, and a couple of wild pitches. The Yankees responded well to the pressure by answering with 3 runs of their own, in the bottom half, on consecutive singles by JJ Pearsall and Ryan Johnson, followed by a 2 RBI double by Tony Parella, and a RBI single by Kujic.
The Yankees pulled even, in the bottom of the fourth inning, on a leadoff double by Robertson, a sacrafice bunt to move him to third, and a sacrafice fly by Sylvester Rodriguez.
The Cubs would re-establish the lead, in the top of the fifth, on a leadoff single by Cutler, a stolen base, an error, a RBI double by Lochner, and a 2RBI double by Hoyle. The Cubs lead was 9-6.
Manager, Jim McQuade, brought on Jon Martin to pitch the bottom of the fifth, but the Yankees resolve was strong, and (Cub-killer) JJ Pearsall drove a 2-run homer well over the right field fence, to cut the lead to one run. Jon Martin then gave the Cubs a little relief by retiring Ryan Johnson, Parella, and Kujic in order, without the ball leaving the infield.
The Yankees brought JJ Persall (on one day's rest) on to pitch the sixth, and he was able to retire the Cubs without giving up a run, allowing only a two-out single and a stolen base by TJ Scorsone.
The bottom of the sixth started with promise for the Yankees, as Paul Post led off with a single. Robertson was the asked to bunt him over, but was unable to get the bunt down on the first two tries. Rich was then free to swing, and hit a hard grounder up the middle, but TJ Scorsone showed his range by, not only getting to the ball, but being able to step on second and throw to first in time to turn the double play. The inning ended quietly on a ground out to shortstop.
The scoreboard (if there really was one) showed Cubs 9 Yankees 8 as the 7th inning started. Pearsall retired Cutler on a groundout and got Craft to swing at strike three, but the ball got away from the catcher, and Craft was on first with one out. Craft moved to second on a wild pitch and got to third when Lochner grounded out to first base. With two out and Craft on third, Mike Girard hit a ball in the hole that (Yankee shortstop) Eric Duelmer back handed while sliding toward third. Duelmer planted and threw to first but Girard was called safe on a bang-bang play at first. The Cubs now had an insurance run and led 10-8.
Jon Martin retired S-Rod on a ground ball to short to lead off the inning, and thought that he had the second out as well, when Lex Herlett lifted a routine fly ball to short right center field. The only problem was that the lights at Bob Moore were so poor, that Tom Maney was unable to find the ball until it was too late, and Lex was on with a double. That brought the tying run to the plate. Mr. Martin induced Duelmer to ground the ball to Craft at short. Randy threw ahead of the runner at third, and after a run-down, Lex was out and Duelmer was on second with two outs. That brought Mr. Pearsall (4 HR's against Cubs pitching) to the plate with the tying run. After some discussion, JJ was unintenionally-intentionally walked on five pitches. That brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the person of Yankee clean-up hitter Ryan Johnson. Jon Martin won this battle and got Ryan to lift a fly ball to center that Tom Maney some how found in time and grabbed for the final out.
The Cubs win a tough one (10-8) and advance to the finals to take on the winner of tonight's Orioles-Outlaws finale. Congratulations to the Yankees on a fine season. The Cubs wish you a happy and healthy off-season.