Sun 06/24/2001 Game 1
The Cubs were shut out for the first time in team history. A terribly sloppy first
inning allowed the Orioles to score five runs. The Orioles didn't score for the rest
of the day!
(Tom Barnes contributor)
The Cubs had a horrendous first inning that put them in a
comeback position for the remainder of the game. Cubs Starter Chris
Greig had some early control problems that were compounded by committing
3 balks. The walks and balks combined with back to back doubles by Brendan
Doyle and Bunky Smith allowed for the Orioles to jump out to a 5-0 lead.
Grieg, regained his composure and pitched fine through four innings
before handing the ball to lefty Andy Schultz who kept the O's off the
scoreboard throughout the remainder of the contest.
The Cubbies bats were kept in check by O's complete game pitcher Rob Gray.
Gray pitched a 4 hit shutout with only 2 balls reaching the outfield the entire
game, and those occurred in the last inning. Tom Jette again was solid on defense
with the first 4 assists of the game! Dennis Fontecchio at short and Dan Gould
in left also had great defensive games handling several attempts without error.
Offensively, despite the small number of hits, the Cubs did manage to strand runners at
first and second situations twice and the bases loaded in the last inning. The Cubs
just couldn't manage to get the key hit to get back into the game. Dan Gould reached
base twice, once on a single and once on an error. Earl Carpenter ended the game with
a shot right at the center fielder with the bases loaded. It could have become interesting
if that hit had found a gap.