The Cubs beat the As 7-4 on Father's Day game on 6/21!
It was a dreary drizzly Father's Day morning on 6/21. The Cubs played the expansion As for the first time ever.
This matchup was at the Cubs home field, Mooney Field in Southboro. It seemed the weather had some impact on
baserunning as there were several baserunning mistakes made by both teams. The Cubs played better defense and
controlled this game until a 3 run top of the ninth made the game a bit tight. The Cubs won their 4th straight
by beating the As 7-4.
Tom Barnes was a key figure in this game pitching 8 innings allowing just one run which was unearned. He also
went 2-5 at the plate and drove in the 4th run. Tom allowed 6 hits and 7 walks, but continued to escape jam after
jam with either pickoffs, double plays or strikeouts. Tom struck out 4. The first batter of the game reached by
a walk and reached second when Tom did the fake "I forgot you're on second, pretend to use the windup move" which
worked almost too well as the runner took off immediately and almost beat the throw to third. Tom also picked a
runner off first in the third inning. There appeared to be at least two other pickoffs that were called safe.
The play of the game occurred on the defensive side of the ball for the Cubs in the top of the 5th. The score
was 4-0 Cubs and the As had just loaded the bases with two outs. The second batter in the order was up and putting
on a great at bat fouling off tough two strike pitches. He finally hit a liner up the middle that appeared to be
a sure 2 RBI single. However, John Gordon, playing second base, came out of no where, made a fully extended dive to
catch the ball. It was the turning point of the game as the Cubs went on to score 3 times in the bottom of the 5th
to take a commanding 7-0 lead. The Cubs also turned a nice 4-6-3 double play. Glenn D'Avanzo played first base and
made a huge play to prevent a run in the first when he dove towards right field to snap an errant double play throw.
Jeff Fitton made a nice play at third on a slower roller towards short to get the leadoff runner in the 9th inning.
On offense, Glenn set the tone with a leadoff triple in the first inning to very deep left center. That started a
3 run first inning. The Cubs scored a run in the second and then 3 in the 5th for the 7 runs. 7 different Cubs scored
runs. Glenn ended up with three hits, while Tom Barnes and Paul Sonnett had 2 a piece. Chris Ricker walked three times.
Dennis Fontecchio played his first game of the season and played all game at short while going 1 for 3 with a walk
at the plate.