Pittsburgh Pirates 2 at
Atlanta Braves 3, F --
Pittsburgh's ace
Doug Drabek was cruising along, holding the
Braves scoreless for eight innings, getting out of his only real jam (bases loaded, no out) in the sixth inning.
Atlanta's starter,
John Smoltz, was similarly solid, with the
Pirates scraping together two runs on an
Orlando Merced sacrifice fly and an
Andy Van Slyke single. The Bucs headed to the
9th inning with a 2-0 lead, just three outs away from the
World Series. And that's when it all went wrong. Manager
Jim Leyland stuck with Drabek, rather than bringing in a left-hander to pitch to
Terry Pendleton and
David Justice. Drabek allowed an inning-opening double to
Pendleton, and then in what would prove to be a crucial play, normally sure-handed second baseman
Jose Lind booted
Justice's grounder. A walk to
Sid Bream loaded the bases, and closer
Stan Belinda finally replaced Drabek.
Ron Gant then drove in a run with a warning track sacrifice fly to make it 2-1, and
Damon Berryhill walked to reload the bases.
Pinch-hitter Brian Hunter popped up to short, and it looked as though Pittsburgh would escape. But pinch-hitter
Francisco Cabrera, the last position player on the Atlanta bench, singled to left to score Justice, and Sid Bream, nobody's speedster, tore into a modern ""mad dash"" (recalling
Enos' Slaughter's go-for-broke baserunning play in
Game 7 of the 1946
World Seris) sliding across home plate just ahead of a skinny
Barry Bonds throw.
The Braves piled onto Bream at the plate in a famous scene,
Fulton County Stadium erupted, and Atlanta went back to the World Series.
- published: 01 Oct 2010
- views: 128897