Cubs 1995 Season-Game 141

From Sports Library

1 Pregame
2 Game
3 Postgame
4 Trivia
5 External Link

Pregame

On September 28th, the Cubs entered this game--the 141st on a strike-shortened 144--mathematically alive. They trailed wildcard-leading Colorado by four games with four games to play. Their opponent on this day, the Houston Astros, were three games ahead of the Cubs and thus, only one back of Colorado.

Game

It was one of the wildest games of the year with eight lead changes. Houston led 1-0, 6-5, 7-6, 9-7, 10-9, and 11-10. The Cubs led 2-1, 5-2, and by the final score 12-11. The Cubs trailed six times in the game.

In the 8th inning, with the game tied at 7, Cubs reliever Randy Myers entered the game with one out and Craig Biggio on first base. Two outs later and with Biggio on third base, Myers served up a two-run home run to James Mouton. John Murray, a young stockbroker who was sitting near the front row around home plate, had sworn to his friends that if "Myers gives up a run, I'm going to kick his ass." Sure enough, after the home run to Mouton, Myers was stunned to see Murray walking toward him. Because Myers had been trained in the Martial Arts, he disposed of Murray rather quickly.

Order was restored, and Terry Adams replaced Myers to get out of the inning. The Cubs picked up their pitchers for the fourth time in the bottom half of the eighth inning on a Howard Johnson RBI single and a Mark Grace RBI double.

Mike Walker gave up a the go-ahead run in both the 10th and 11th innings. Both times the Cubs came back. In the tenth, they stayed alive when Sammy Sosa hit a sacrifice fly to score Johnson. After Walker allowed a homerun to ex-Cub Mike Brumley in the 11th inning, the Cubs came back with two runs. Scott Bullett drove home Shaown Dunston with the game-tying run, and Mark Parent ended the game by scoring Bullet on an RBI double.

Postgame

The heart-stopping victory left the Cubs at 72-69. After another stunning comeback the following day against Houston, the Cubs had not yet been eliminated, and whatever chances Houston had were painfully slipping away. After Colorado lost to San Francisco later that evening on the 29th, the Cubs were only two games back with two games to play. The magic ended on the 30th in yet another thrilling, see-saw battle. This time, however the Cubs were on the losing end. An 8-7 loss on the second-to-last day of the season had finally eliminated them.

Trivia

The winning pitcher was Anthony Young who two seasons earlier had set the major-league mark (still standing) of 27 consecutive losses in games in which he had had a decision. Young had been acquired prior to the 1994 season for Jose Vizcaino.