Oops! The cannon misfired Friday night.
Andre Dawson, who has been responsible for more Cub victories this season than any other player with his potent bat and powerful right arm, unleashed an errant throw that paved the way to a telltale three-run seventh inning for the Pittsburgh Pirates in their 5-2 victory.
If Dawson was the goat, Andy Van Slyke was the hero. The center-fielder`s offensive and defensive contributions played a big role in the Pirates`
triumph in front of 20,408 fans at Three Rivers Stadium.
Van Slyke was 3-for-3, including a home run, and drove in three runs. He also threw out David Martinez at the plate after catching a fly ball with the bases loaded in the fourth inning.
Pittsburgh has won five of seven games this season from the Cubs, who remained 5 1/2 games behind the first-place Cardinals and in fourth place, percentage points behind the New York Mets. The defeat was the Cubs` third straight.
The error by Dawson helped the Pirates break a 2-2 tie.
Jim Morrison opened the seventh with a single to right that Dawson cut off adroitly. When Morrison rounded first, Dawson tried to throw behind the runner to catch him napping.
Instead, the throw went past first baseman Leon Durham and catcher Jody Davis, who was moving up the line to cover first. The throw wound up in the Cubs` dugout, and Morrison wound up on third.
”I wasn`t throwing to the bag, I was trying to throw to the trail man,” said Dawson. ”I was hoping that once he (Morrison) stopped, it would be hard for him to kick it back up. It was just a bad throw. It`s probably still rolling. That`s probably the game right there.”
Mike LaValliere followed with a walk. Pinch-hitter Bobby Bonilla delivered a one-out ground-rule double that bounced over the wall in left-center to score Morrison with the winning run.
Frank DiPino relieved starter Greg Maddux and struck out Barry Bonds. But Van Slyke rapped a two-strike single up the middle to drive in two more runs. Pirates starter Doug Drabek lasted 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on nine hits. Reliever Barry Jones (1-1), who was the third pitcher in the seventh, was credited with the victory. Don Robinson finished up for his 10th save. Maddux (4-7) took the loss.
”I think the big part of the game was Van Slyke getting that two-out hit against DiPino and putting us up by three runs. It made things a lot easier for me,” said Robinson.
Drabek, whom the Cubs beat 6-3 in Chicago June 21, ”has a good arm,”
said Cubs manager Gene Michael. ”I don`t think we saw enough of him to determine how good he can be.”
Bonds slugged his 11th homer of the season to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the third inning.
The Cubs had an opportunity to come right back in the top of the fourth, when they loaded the bases with no outs. Martinez walked and Rafael Palmeiro and Dawson followed with singles.
Durham hit a fly ball to medium center field. Van Slyke fired a strike to the plate on the fly, and catcher LaValliere blocked the plate for the putout of Martinez. Keith Moreland ended the threat by lining out to shortstop Al Pedrique.
”He could have broken my leg,” said Martinez of LaValliere`s unorthodox block of the plate with his left leg.
The Cubs, who stranded eight runners, also left two runners on base in the fifth. They finally cashed in with a two-run sixth inning, Durham singling in one run and Davis` sacrifice fly accounting for the other.
Van Slyke golfed his 10th home run of the year in the sixth to tie the score at 2.
Could the Cubs, who have scored only five runs in their losing streak, use more fiery, hard-loser types?
”It`s nice to have a little fire on the team, but it`s hard to get people to change their ways,” said Michael. ”If you try to get them to change and they fail, they`re going to blame you.”
