Sun 05/15/2005
The Cubs won their 100th game as a franchise and first game of the 2005 season with an 8-7 win
over the Red Sox. Several clutch fielding plays, hits and pitching perforamnces allowed the
Cubs to win the tight game.
What a day for the Cubs in their first game of their tenth season! The Cubs picked up the 8-7 win
which was the 100th in franchise history. It was a great team win as all 14 players who attended
made contributions. The Cubs defense was shaky at times, but came up with some absolutely huge plays
when needed. It started in the second inning with a hot shot between third and short that Chris Greig
slowed down and Dennis Fontecchio picked up the ball and threw out the runner from short. Another big
play occurred in the 5th with the Cubs up 5-3 and the bases full of Red Sox, a smash to left field was caught by
Mark Grogan to end the threat. In the sixth, it was 5-4 Cubs with a Red Sox runner on third and 1 out.
Tom Barnes induced a slow grounder to the mound and he threw home to Paul Sonnett who tagged out the
runner trying to score and then threw a bullet to first to complete the improbable 1-2-3 double play.
In the 7th, Andy Schultz got a force from right field to Dennis covering at second for the first out.
The final big play occurred in the 9th with the Red Sox trailing 8-7 and having runners on first and
third with one out. In a very tense moment, Earl Carpenter got the number 2 hitter to hit a roller to
short that Dennis fielded and threw to Paul Sonnett who made a great tag to prevent the tying run from
scoring.
The Cubs used 5 pitchers:
Andy Schultz first 3 with 2 runs
Chris Greig with a scoreless inning
Tom Barnes 2 innings and 2 runs, one earned
Brad Adams collected the win with 1 inning of work allowing 2 runs
Earl Carpenter with the save in two innings allowing 1 unearned run.
At the plate, Andy Luckhardt hit a big triple and scored in the 7th. Dennis Fontecchio had a double
and run scored in the first and a sac fly in the 7th. Paul Sonnett was 2-2 with a HBP and 2 runs
scored. Earl Carpenter was 1-1 with 2 runs scored and a sac fly for an RBI. Tom Barnes had an RBI
ground rule double in the 5th and a sac bunt helping set up the deciding 2 run 8th. Tim Shaver had
a huge 2 run double in the 5th and a run scoring single in the 8th to break the 6-6 tie. Brad Adams
had a big RBI single in the 5th. Chris Ricker was 1-3 and Matt Corkum stroked a left center field
gap double in the 9th.