Tuesday night's game at Watervliet High School pitted the 5-0 Cubs vs the 2-2 Giants. The Giants were missing a large number of their regulars due to injuries and work commitments, so much so, that they needed to borrow Tim Burns and Jim Tesereiro from the idle Dodgers, in order to field 9 players. The Cubs had a few key guys missing, but had 12 regulars show up.
To the casual observer, one might think that this was a recipe for a blow out. It was not! The players that did show up for the Giants played with a lot of effort and got good pitching from John Cortese and stellar defense behind him. The Cubs were able to collect 14 hits against John, but he limited the damage to just 4 runs. In most 55+ games, 4 runs against is giving your team a real good shot to win. On this night, Chris Dunn made those 4 runs look like 14. He was masterful on the hill, giving up just 3 singles (Mike Aiello - 2nd, Tim Burns - 3rd, and Ron McCarthy - 4th). Chris never allowed a runner to get past 1st base, and never even had 3 balls on any batter all night. He finished with just 2 K's, but nobody squared him, up all night. The Cubs defense was solid behind him all game; committing just 1 error, and following that error immediately with a slick 5-4-3 double play.
Dunn also supplied most of the run production for his team. He singled home Dave Mitchell, after Mitch led off the the top of the second with a double. In the 4th inning, Jerry Rosen and Mike Girard got a rally going with back to back singles. Mike Reutter's RBI single gave the Cubs a 2-0 lead. One out and one error later, Dunn drove in the Cubs' 3rd run with a RBI single. In the 7th, still clinging to just a 3-0 lead, He provided an insurance run with a booming RBI triple, driving in Dave Mitchell, who had singled with one out. Dunn's 3 for 3 performance led the Cubs 14-hit attack, with Mike Girard adding 3 hits, and Mike Reutter and Dave Mitchell adding two hits each.
A tip of the cap to the Giants regulars and their two borrowed players, who put up a hell of a fight, diving for baseballs all over the yard. They won the effort game for sure. If they can get their full team to show up, they are going to be a handful for any team in this division.
Next up for the Cubs is their second showdown with the 2-time defending champs - The Whiz Kids, on Thursday night at New Scotland, at 6:00 pm. It promises to be a great game.
-- Edited by mgirard11 on Wednesday 14th of June 2023 08:57:10 AM
