The game was set at the Twins Stadium at their spring training complex in Fort Myers.

It was a seesaw affair for 7 innings, before the "inning from hell" cost the Cubs dearly.
The Orioles scored first in the top of the second, on a double and two singles.

The Cubs would get even, in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Jim McQuade battled and earned a walk to lead off the inning.
He then stole second. One out later, Paul Cerrone dropped down a perfect drag bunt, and there were runners at the corners.
Tim Brown followed with a RBI single, and the game was tied at 1.

The Cubs would take a brief lead, in the bottom of the 4th. With one out Ron Massaroni singled.
Pete Geanellis singled and runners were at first and second with 1 out. A base running error on a groundball
cost the Cubs a runner advancing to third, but Bobby Bolt came through with a two-out RBI single, and the Cubs
had a 2-1 lead.

The Orioles would jump back in front with two runs in the top of the 5th inning. They got a lot of help with
3 walks and a hit batter, in the inning. They scored two runs with only one hit.

The Cubs tied it at 3, in the bottom half of the inning. McQuade was hit by a pitch, was wild pitched to second, and
John Weber delivered him with the Cubs' third run.

The top of the 6th, saw the Orioles again take the lead. Again they only needed one hit to score two runs.
This time it was one walk and one error. The Orioles left the inning with a 5-3 lead.

The Cubs again would not quit. Shawn Martin bombed a triple over the head of the left fielder, to start off the bottom of the 6th.
Jerry Rosen followed with a similar bomb, but stopped at second, after driving in Martin. After Mike Girard's screaming liner found
the Orioles' center fielder, but Dave Mitchell then plated Rosen with a very solid single. That made the score Cubs 5 and the Orioles 5.

The Orioles regained the lead, in the top of the 7th. With 2 outs and nobody on, a single, a walk, and a hit batter loaded the bases.
A wild pitch allowed the go ahead run to score, and the Orioles were back on top 6-5.

By now you have heard about all of the charity that the Cubs bestowed on the Orioles in the form of walks, hit batters, wild pitches,
and errors. Well, the Cubs got really charitable in the 8th inning, handing 6 runs to the Orioles on just 3 hits. This time the gift was
in the form of 5 errors. This charity caused the good guys to be chasing 7 runs with just one inning left.

A Tony Nardacci single; Shawn Martin single; along with a PJ Martone single and Pete Geanellis single were enough to provide the Cubs
with 2 runs, but the game was called via the 3 hour time limit, with the Cubs on the short side of a 12-7 score.

All of the quality pitching and error free defense that the Cubs displayed in the first 4 games was missing on this day. The really
great news is, that this came at the perfect time. If it had happened in the playoffs we would be eliminated. With this happening on
the last day of the Round Robin, it only effected the seeding of the Cubs for the upcoming playoffs. That is great timing for an unfortunate
flop on the field.

The Cubs will get a day off on Thursday and start the playoffs fresh on Friday. I will post the seedings when they are announced.
Fingers crossed.
















-- Edited by mgirard11 on Wednesday 8th of November 2023 05:13:27 PM