The Cubs and Pirates got together on Friday night, at the A-Diamond for a rather enjoyable game.

The Cubs got out to an early lead, plating one run in the top of the 1st. Scott Ross led off with a walk, and
immediately stole second base. Two outs later, George Schillinger delivered Ross with a clutch RBI single.

The second inning started well for the Cubs, as Ron McCarthy and Alex Marin singled. Then Pirates ace, Wayne Newcomb,
got the Cubs' 2-hitter to pop out to third, and induced a ground out to short, by Jerry Rosen that plated McCarthy.
With two outs and runners on first and second, Wayne looked to escape the inning without further damage, but Mike Girard singled
on the first pitch of his at bat, and the Cubs owned a 3-0 lead.

Ralph Caputo got the start for the Cubs, and pitched two innings, giving up only a 2 out single to Dan Durback (filling in for the Pirates).
Ralph came out to start the third inning, but when Jim Denny led off the inning with a double, he was quickly pulled from the game, in favor of Cubs'
long reliever, Ron Lochner. Lochner induced a fielder's choice and two pop ups to the infield, and the Cubs escaped the inning, with their 3-0
lead in tact.

The top of the 4th saw the Cubs expanding their lead to 4-0. Ron Massaroni singled with one out, and advanced to second on a wild pitch.
One out later, Ron McCarthy came through with a two out, RBI single.

The bottom half of the inning saw the Pirates threaten to get back in the game with a rally vs Lochner, in his attempt at a second inning of work on the mound.
Newcomb led off with a single, and Lochner walked the next two batters. With the bases loaded and no outs, Mike Girard was called on to come in and limit the damage,
with the Pirates' 4, 5, and 6 hitters coming up. He got the first hitter on a strike out, and induced the second hitter to ground the ball to first, where Ed Class fielded the ball
and went to second for an attempted double play. He got the out there, but there was no throw to first, as Gene Kruppa hustled out of the box, and clearly would have beaten out
any throw to first, and the Pirates were on the board. Girard got the next hitter on a come backer, and the rally was over with the Cubs still in possession of a 4-1 lead.

Alex Marin led off the top of the 5th, with a walk and a stolen base. A ground out moved Marin to third, and Girard followed with a triple to the right center field wall,
scoring Marin. Up next was Paul Miles, and a check swing made contact with the ball, resulting in a perfect squeeze bunt, scoring Girard from third.
The Cubs were now owners of a 6-1 lead.

Next up for the Cubs pitching staff was Ron McCarthy. Ron got himself into a jam right away. He hit the first batter, and then gave up a single to Denny, and a
walk to Cos Dibari, loading the bases with no outs. Ron pulled a Houdini, when he got the next batter to hit a soft liner back to the mound, which he speared
with his bare hand, for the first out, and then turned and fired a strike to second, to catch Denny off base and get the second out. He was able to wriggle completely
off the hook, when the next hitter popped out to the mound.

The Pirates were back at it in the bottom of the 6th, but this time they were able to plate two runs against the Cubs' 5th pitcher, Jerry Rosen. Jerry walked the first batter he faced
but got Newcomb to hit into a fielder's choice. Newcomb advanced to second on a wild pitch. Jim Jasiewicz followed with a RBI single. A single by Jim Ansel got Jasiewicz to third, and
he scored on a RBI ground out by Brock. Rosen got a comebacker from the next batter, and the Cub's were out of the inning with their lead cut to 6-3.

The Cubs reinflated that lead to 9-3, with 3 runs in the top of the 7th on back to back one out singles by Massaroni (his 3rd hit of the game); an error by the Pirates SS; and a
booming 2 RBI double by Andy Hoyle. Ron Massaroni mopped up in the bottom of the 7th, for the Cubs' (their 6th pitcher in the game), allowing just a lead off single to Durback.

The Cubs move to 10-1-1 with the victory, and look forward to a rematch with the very tough Whiz Kids, next Wednesday at 5:00 pm at the A-Diamond. The last meeting was a 1 run
victory by the Cubs, so the Whiz will be out for revenge. It should be a good one!

-- Edited by mgirard11 on Friday 11th of September 2020 09:21:07 AM