Cubs 1998 Season-Game 149
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Cubs 15, Brewers 12
- WP: Rod Beck (2-2)
- LP: Bob Wickman (6-9)
Saturday, September 12th, 1998
Wrigley Field
This rollicking, back-and forth affair between local rivals Milwaukee and Chicago in late September is one of the most memorable victories for the Cubs' during their 1998 Wildcard season.
The Setup
The Cubs had won 11 of 15 games from August 26th up until the first game of this three-game series, which was played the day before. The Brewers defeated the Cubs in an offensively-charged game, and this game would prove no different.
At the start of play the Cubs were tied with the Mets for the National League Wildcard.
The First 6 Innings: Cubs fall Behind BIG
Starting for the Cubs was Mike Morgan. Morgan was a 16-game winner for the Cubs in 1992, and had returned to the team in late August after being traded for Scott Downs on August 25th. Ironically, Morgan had beaten the Cubs earlier in the season while pitching for Minnesota.
The Cubs staked Morgan to a 2-0 lead on a 2-run single by Cubs' second baseman Mickey Morandini in the bottom of the second inning. Morgan, however, was not able to protect the lead, giving up eight runs (5 earned) in the top of the third. Morgan served up three home runs, a triple, a double, and two singles, and yet Cubs' manager Jim Riggleman let him finish the inning.
Morgan's successor in the game, Dave Stevens fared little better, giving up four earned runs while eating up 3 2/3 innings. It should be pointed out that the previous day's game had forced the Cubs to use 7 pitchers to get through a 9-inning game (Milwaukee used only 4) so Riggleman, with two weeks left in the season and in the thick of a struggle to make the playoffs, was asking his pitchers to absorb some punishing Milwaukee offense when they clearly didn't have their good stuff. When Stevens was relieved with two outs in the seventh inning, the Cubs trailed 11-5, having earlier been down 10-2 going into the bottom of the fifth inning. Stevens' reliever--Felix Heredia-- proceeded to serve up the 12th run of the game on a single by Cub Killer Fernando Vina, before Vina was thrown out at second trying to take the extra base on the hit.
Heading into the bottom of the 7th inning, the Cubs trailed 12-5.
Cubs Strike In The Seventh, Eighth
Milwaukee starting pitcher Rafael Roque was in line to get the victory when he left after six innings leading 12-5. Roque was relieved Valerio De Los Santos, who was tagged for four runs when he served up back-to-back home runs to Sammy Sosa and Glenallen Hill, Sosa's being a three-run shot after Lance Johnson and Mark Grace had reached base on a walk and a double, respetcively. Suddenly, the Cubs only trailed by three, 12-9.
After Heredia handily retired the Brewers in the top of the 8th, Tyler Houston, pinch-hitting for Cubs' catcher Scott Servais, homered off of future Cub Chad Fox to lead off the bottom of the 8th inning, to close the score to 12-10. Fox pitched around a two-out single to Jose Hernandez to escape further damage, and the Brewers took a two-run lead into the 9th.
The 9th Inning
Terry Mulholland and Rod Beck teammed up to keep Milwaukee of the board in the top of the ninth. In the bottom of the ninth, against Milwaukee's Bob Wickman, who was in his first season as a closer, Sosa led off with a single, bringing the tying run to the plate in Hill. Hill also singled, and the remaining members of an announced crowd of 39,170 began to shake Wrigley Field in the hopes of pushing them to a crucially important late-season victory.
Veteran Cub third baseman Gary Gaetti, who was a waiver-wire pickup and help spearhead a number of victories down the stretch, successfully executed a sacrifice bunt, moving the tying runs into scoring position.
The next batter was Morandini, who managed to draw a walk from Wickman, loading the bases. Next stepped up Houston, who ripped a Wickman pitch into right field, scoring the eleventh and twelfth run for the Cubs to tie the game.
Of course, with Morandini having made it to third base at the tail end of the previous play, he was a simple sacrifice fly away from winning a game for the Cubs that would have seemed implausible 90 minutes earlier. Instead of hitting the sacrifice fly, however, Cub pinch-hitter Orlando Merced did one better--he blasted a Wickman pitch over the wall in right field to end the game on a walkoff, three-run homer. The Cubs, who had trailed 10-2 halfway through the game, mobbed Merced at home plate, celebrating a wild 15-12, and keeping them at least a part of the lead for the Wildcard.
Postscript
That evening, Mets ace Rick Reed failed to keep his team in-step with the victorious Cubs, as the Mets lost in Montreal against the Expos, 5-3. This put the Cubs 1 game up on New York for the Wildcard lead.
After another heart-stopping, come-from-behind victory the following day against the Brewers, the Cubs would remain in the Wildcard lead. They went back-and-forth for the following week with the Mets before the emerging San Francisco Giants joined the picture during the season's final week. The Mets eventually faded and the Cubs, despite losing 6 of their final 8 originally scheduled games, were able to win the Wildcard when they defeated the Giants in a one-game playoff.
Trivia
9 home runs were hit in this game.
Merced, a thirty-two year old utility player/pinch-hitter, had been signed by the Cubs after being released by the Boston Red Sox eleven days earlier. His game-winning home run was one of only three hits he had for the Cubs. After spending the following season in Montreal, Merced would eventually settle into a secure role for the Houston Astros coming off the bench, and he would often torment his former club by delivering big hits against them.
The game was somewhat similar to another big comeback in Cub history, this game in 1989
Joan Cusack was the guest conductor for the game's seventh inning. Cusack would later be the pitchwoman for U.S. Cellular, a telecommunication provider who enjoy sponsorship of the stadium that houses the crosstown Chicago White Sox. Some people may refer to this park as "The Joan" a reference to Cusack's association with U.S. Cellualr's products and services.
External Links
Game information courtesy of Retrosheet
