The Cubs beat a high quality opponent, the Red Sox, 4-1 on the road on 6/18.
This was a great game for the Cubs in the scorching 95+ Father's Day heat. Something about
playing the Red Sox that seems to get the Cubs to play good baseball. Tom Barnes was the story
in this one for the Cubs throwing the first 7 innings allowing just 1 run and 4 hits. Tom struck
out 4 and did not allow a hit after the 4th inning. It was a great outing for Tom.
Andy Luckhardt threw a scoreless 8th. Ken Hamm made his Cubs debut on the mound in the 9th
and pitched a scoreless inning while striking out a batter to pick up the save.
On defense, there were some great plays. Tom made 2 himself in the 5th. After the leadoff batter
reached, Tom fielded a sac bunt attempt and gunned the runner down at second in a close play. The
next batter hit a popup that was lost in the sun and Tom raced to the third baseline picked up the
ball and threw out that runner at second. Chris Ricker covered the bag on both plays. In the 4th,
Dennis Fontecchio made a hugs play. The Red Sox had runners at second and third with no outs in a 2-0
game. A grounder went to Dennis' left and he gunned down the runner trying to go from second to
third the first out of the inning which prevented the Red Sox from having a big inning. Luis Tiant
had a nice game at third making several nice plays. Eddie Murray ran down a deep fly to right in the
first inning. Mark Grogan made a nice catch on a ball hit deep to left in the 8th. The last play
of the game was a nice double play turned by Tim Shaver who fielded a grounder at second, tagged out
the runner and then threw out the batter at first.
At the plate, several Cubs had good games. Dennis Fontecchio led off the first with a line drive single
to right to set the tone and initiate the 2 run frame. Dennis also had a huge RBI single to left
in the 7th to make the score 3-1. Luis Tiant had a double and run scored. Paul Sonnett had a bases
loaded single in the first to drive in the first two runs. Ken Hamm delivered a double to score
Earl Carpenter's pinch runner, Paul Sonnett, in the 8th for the final run of the game. Several
Cubs hit line shots that ended up being caught for outs including Dennis, Earl, Andy Luckhardt, Tom
Barnes and Chris Ricker. Mark Grogan led off the 7th with a huge walk and scored on Dennis' single
which helped give the cubs some breating room.