The Cubs beat the first place Braves 6-5 in the first game of a double header on 8/2.
As always for the Cubs, it was pitching, defense and clutch hitting which led to the big win. Tom Barnes
started and cruised through 2 innings. However, staked to a 5-0 lead in the third, Tom showed the
effects of having pitched 9 innings the previous week and he lost command of the zone. Tom gave up 5 runs on
4 walks and 2 hits in that third inning. PJ O'Toole came in and gave up a 2 run single in which
the second run was nearly gunned down at the plate on a great relay from Earl Carpenter to Paul Sonnett
blocking the plate and applying the tag. PJ closed the door from that point on and was stellar in picking
up the victory with 4 and one third scoreless innings. PJ pitched 1-2-3 innings in the 4th and 5th and
then ran into trouble in the 6th as the first two batters singled putting runners at first and third with
no outs. PJ used the fake to third spin to first move to pick off the runner at first for the first out
with a nice tag applied by Chris Ricker at short. The next batter was the cleanup hitter who hit the ball
hard but Rich Wenning made a great play at third to snare the line drive. After a walk, PJ got the next
batter to ground out to short to end the huge threat. PJ retired the first two batters of the 7th but
an error and then a single allowed the Braves to mount another threat. PJ was able to strike out the final
batter of the game on a nasty 3-2 pitch.
Defensively, the Cubs played a pretty solid game. Earl Carpenter caught the first two innings and nailed a
base stealer in the second inning. Glenn D'Avanzo made two great picks of low throws at first in the 5th
inning. Brad Adams also played his typical great first base with several great stretches to help get outs.
The Cubs pounded out 12 hits in each game with contributions up and down the whole lineup. The Cubs scored
a run in the first. Glenn D'Avanzo led off with a single, stole second and scored on a John Gordon single.
The Cubs had a 4 run outburst in the 3rd inning to open up a 5-0 lead. The last 4 batters in the order all
reached and scored. Tim Shaver started the key rally with a triple to deep right. Brad Adams followed with
a single up the middle to score Tim. Rich Wenning drew a walk and then Rich Schwarz singled to center to load
the bases. Glenn and John followed with run scoring singles. Paul Sonnett hit a sac fly to deep right to end the
scoring in the inning. After the Braves mounted a 5 run bottom of the third to tie the game up, the Cubs
scored the deciding run in the top of the 4th without the benefit of a hit. PJ O'Toole reached second on an
error by the shortstop. He went to third on an Earl Carpenter groundout. Tom Barnes hit a grounder to third
that was bobbled and Tom ultimately beat the throw to first. PJ made a great base running play to wait for
the throw to first and he took off for the plate and beat the throw from first to home to score the eventual
game winning run.