NL Games

The day began with the 1902 Pirates leading the NL East by 1.5 games, while the 1906 Cubs continued their steady journey to the NL West title. The 1897 Beaneaters, managed by Your Humble Blogger, trekked to Queens to open a three-game set with the Mets at Shea. The 1942 Cardinals, with the same manager, are playing host to the 1976 Reds and hoping to stem something of a free-fall which began a week or so earlier...

Beaneaters 2, Mets 0: The Beaneaters have the 2nd-worst ERA in the Cloverland Leagues, at 4.03 in a league whose average ERA is 3.38. However, Ted Lewis (16-19) managed to put together a 3-hit shutout, drive in Bobby Lowe and the only run he'd need, and simultaneously avoid his 20th loss of the year. Ron Darling (13-13) was the hard-luck loser, victimized by two Boston runs in the 5th on the aforementioned hits by Lowe and Lewis, another single by Fred Tenney, a sacrifice bunt and a judicious groundout. Tenney and Lowe each added additional hits as well. The Mets "attack" wasn't much, as Darryl Strawberry and Kevin Mitchell each doubled but not in the same inning. With the win and a Pirates loss, the Beaneaters closed to 0.5 game behind Pittsburgh.

New York Giants 4, Pirates 3 (10 innings): Meanwhile, over in Manhattan, Christy Mathewson (21-10) overcame two unearned runs to come up with a complete game, extra-inning victory. Pittsburgh struck first, taking advantage of an error by catcher Roger Bresnahan and scoring twice on a single by Fred Clarke. An injury to Pirates workhorse Jack Chesbro required a tired Ed Poole to come on in relief, however, and sloppy defense by Pittsburgh led to the Giants tying the game at 3-3 in the 6th. The Giants won in the 10, as Mike Donlin doubled off of Ed Doheny (11-11), and after two intentional walks and a sacrifice bunt, Bobby Gilbert singled Donlin home.

Phillies 9, Brooklyn Dodgers 3: Philadelphia led early and never looked back. Paced by Darren Daulton's 28th home run and 7 shutout innings by Brian Rivera (8-12), Brooklyn's postseason chances dimmed further. Cookie Lavagetto had three hits for the Dodgers, and Ducky Medwick homered for them as well.

Expos 19, Atlanta Braves 5: What can you say about a 19-5 game? Tom Glavine (17-8) gave up 4 runs in the 1st inning before additional runs in the 4th and 5th knocked him out of the box, and an eight-run 6th did not help Paul Byrd's ERA. The 'spos offense was keyed by home runs by Will Cordero (who had 5 RBI on the day before being pulled for a pinch hitter late in the game), Darrin Fletcher (3-5) and Mike Lansing (4 RBI before another mercy pinch hitter) also homered for Montreal. Things were so bad for Atlanta that the pinch hitters inserted to rest the Montreal regulars went 3-5 with 3 runs scored and 3 RBI...

Astros 2, Cubs 1 (12 innings): The worst team in the NL took on the best, and came out on top. Baseball, what a game! :) Three Finger Brown (16-9) went the distance for Chicago, striking out 8. A parade of Houston pitchers held the Cubs down after the 3rd inning. Jeff Bagwell scored the winning run as Brad Ausmus' squeeze play caught the Cubs infield flat-footed. Craig Biggio's double was the key blow in the inning for Houston. Mike Magnante got the win, raising his record to 2-1.

Milwaukee Braves 4, Padres 2: Del Crandall's 11th home run led Gene Conley and the Braves (12-5) to victory over Bob Tewksbury (9-18) and San Diego. Conley allowed two unearned runs thanks to a dropped fly ball by Hank Aaron, but scattered five hits otherwise. Don McMahon closed out the game for his 14th save.

Reds 3, Cardinals 2: Another frustrating loss for St. Louis, their 4th in a row and 9th in the last ten. Santo Alcala (5-13) pitched 7 effective innings before Rawly Eastwick and Will McEnany finished off the Cards. Joe Morgan scored twice for Cincinnati. Murry Dickson (7-7) pitched well, but as has often been the case of late, not quite well enough...

Los Angeles Dodgers 5, San Francisco Giants 4: Andy Messersmith (12-14) struck out 10 en route to a complete game victory for the Dodgers. Matt Jackson (5-4) took the loss for San Francisco, as a single by Davey Lopes off of a clean-handed Kenny Rogers drove in the winning run in the 7th. Barry Bonds drove in 2 runs, tying him for 5th in the league with 109. Ron Cey was 3-3 for LA with two doubles.