The Cubs and Twins got together last night, at the A-Diamond for a tight one.
The Twins would get on the board early, with an unearned run. With two outs and nobody on, Lee Madsen would get on, when the Cubs shortstop could not make the play on a slow grounder, and threw the ball away allowing the runner to get to second. Tom King followed with a booming double to left, giving the Twins a 1-0 lead.
The Cubs would get even, in the bottom of the 3rd. Dave Mitchell led off with a single that got by the Twins left fielder, allowing Dave to reach second. One out later, Ralph Caputo singled, and Mitchell advanced to third. Dave Schillinger followed with a grounder that was misplayed by the Twins' third baseman allowing Mitchell to score with the tying run.
Lee Madsen singled to lead off the top of the 4th for the Twins. He was forced at second on a fielder's choice. Terry McCarthy followed with a walk, to put runners on first and second with one out. Cubs' starter Ron Massaroni made a great pick-off move to second and King took off for third. The throw to third was into the runner and got past third, allowing King to score the go ahead run and move McCarthy to second. After Massaroni struck out the next Twins batter, Newman came through with a two out RBI single to left center, and the Twins owned a 3-1 lead.
As good teams do, the Cubs bounced right back with a run of their own, in the bottom half of the inning. Dave Mitchell led off with a rocket to third off of the third baseman's foot. Massaroni followed with a single, moving Mitchell to third. Ron then stole second to give the Cubs two runners in scoring position with no outs. Ralph Caputo hit into a fielders choice, with Mitchell being tagged out in a run down, but staying in the run down long enough to get the runners to second and third. Dave Schillinger then delivered Massaroni with a RBI single. Twins' starter, John Newman then induced two infield pop outs in a row, to escape further damage and preserve a one run lead.
That lead would not last long. After Massaroni retired the Twins in order in the top of the 5th, The Cubs were back at it in the bottom of the 5th. Alex Marin got things going with a one out single and advanced to second on a ground out to the right side. He would score the tying run, when Ron Lochner reached on an error by the Twins shortstop, that allowed Marin to score all of the way from second.
With the Game tied 3-3, Mike Girard came on in relief of Massaroni, who had thrown 2 innings the day before for his 45+ team. Girard retired all 6 batters that he faced in the 6th and 7th innings without a ball leaving the infield. That set up the Cubs for some last inning drama, in the bottom of the 7th. Dave Schillinger led off with his second single of the day, and immediately followed it up with his second stolen base of the day. His brother George followed with a perfect sacrifice bunt, moving Dave just 90 feet away from the winning run. With one out, it looked like Newman would work some more magic, as he got Ron McCarthy to pop a ball in the third base foul area, but his third baseman was unable to snag the pop up, as he was running in at full speed. This gave Ron a second life, and with two strikes, he drilled a screaming liner into the left center field gap, for the game winning RBI.
The walk off win pushes the Cubs record to 12-1-1, with a reunion game on Wednesday vs the Angels at the A-Diamond. The game has been moved up to 4:00 pm, so that there can be more time for the after game cooler session. Is it Wednesday yet?!
-- Edited by mgirard11 on Tuesday 22nd of September 2020 08:03:15 AM
Although the Twins were plagued by subpar defensive play at several crucial moments in the game, I must point out that Twins pitcher, John Newman, turned in an outstanding full game performance giving up 6 hits and no earned runs. In his first outing against the Cubs earlier in the season, a 4-2 loss, he also gave up no earned runs. I can tell you that, to a man, the Twins are more than a little pissed off that we didn't do a better job supporting John in those 2 strong performances.
