It was a playoff atmosphere Wednesday night at Central BabeRuth, as the Nationals took on the Cubs, with the coveted 3rd seed hanging in the balance. The Cubs got first crack, and looked like they would get the lead in the first inning. Shawn Maney, fresh off his honeymoon, led off the game with a single and Randy Craft followed with a walk. Nats starter, Bobby Poulin, then induced Mike Girard to hit into a 4-6-3 double play and got the Cubs' clean-up hitter to pop-out to first, to get out of the inning unscathed.
The Nats had a polar opposite bottom of the first. Cubs' starter, Ron Massaroni, retired the first two Nationals, but with two outs and nobody on, the Nats would scratch out a run. Fred Anderson singled and was wild pitched to second, and Bobby Lane followed with a sharp RBI single to left.
With the game at 1-0, both pitchers kept the opposing offenses at bay. Neither team seriously threatened to score in the 2nd and 3rd innings. The Cubs played solid baseball to get the tying run in the top of the 4th inning. Randy Craft led off with a single and stole second. Mike Girard was able to lift a long fly ball to right center to move Craft to third, with one out. Andy Hoyle followed with a RBI single to get the Cubs even at 1.
Both teams threatened in the 5th, but could not score.
The Cubs had two out and nobody on in the top of the sixth, when Andy Hoyle worked a walk. Ron Lochner followed with a single, to move the go ahead run into scoring position. Steve Lounello then doubled over the head of the center fielder to plate Hoyle and Lochner, but was thrown out at third trying to stretch the hit double into a triple.
That was all that the Cubs would need as Ron Massaroni got a huge strike out with two outs and runners at second and third, in the bottom of the sixth. Then Steve Lounello came on to get the Nats in order in the bottom of the seventh to record the save!
Hats off to both starting pitchers! Bobby Poulin was the hard luck loser, scattering 10 hits , 3 walks, and 1 HBP, while striking out 2. Ron Massaroni looked playoff ready as he gave up just 5 hits, 2 walks, and 1 HBP, while striking out 4.
With the win, the Cubs secured the 3rd seed with a final record of 14-6. With the tough loss, the Nats record dropped to 12-7, with one game to go against the Orioles on Thursday night.