Cub players and fans were left in the dark Thursday when the second game of a double-header with the Atlanta Braves was suspended in the eighth inning because of darkness.
The Cubs were leading 8-6 after dropping the opener 5-2. The Braves are not scheduled to return to Chicago this season.
According to Rule 4.12, C-4 of the Baseball Rulebook: ”If a suspended game has not been resumed and completed on the last date scheduled for the two clubs, it shall be a called game.”
That means, according National League director of publicity Katy Feeney, it would be a completed game and the Cubs would win 8-6.
The onus, it appears, would be on the fifth-place Braves, who have corresponding off-days with the Cubs on Sept. 3 and Sept. 10. Would the Braves want to travel to Chicago to complete that game in addition to the other game wiped out by rain in this series?
”I`m sure that if we don`t play it, and it doesn`t affect the standings for either team, there`s no sense in playing it,” said Cubs reliever Frank DiPino.
The Braves had a man on base and one out in the eighth when Lee Smith was called in to relieve DiPino. When catcher Jim Sundberg struggled to see Smith`s warmup pitches, chief umpire Dick Stello stopped the game.
”Smitty throws so hard, you can`t take a chance of somebody getting hurt,” said DiPino.
”I don`t think there was anything else for the umpires to judge on except to see me dodge to catch Smitty`s throws,” said Sundberg.
”I kept checking with the other umpires during the game,” said Stello.
”No one was complaining, and they were hitting the ball. But when Sundberg couldn`t see the ball, that was it.
”The umpires wanted to call the game earlier, and I told them we had played in a lot darker times that this,” said Cubs manager Gene Michael.
The Cubs rebounded from a 4-0 deficit in the top of the first inning of the second game to score five times in the bottom of the first.
When it was suspended, Leon Durham had hit two homers, and Keith Moreland, Jerry Mumphrey and Andre Dawson one each for the Cubs, who have a league-leading 179 for the season.
The statistics from the suspended game go into the record book regardless of whether the game is completed.
Dawson`s fifth-inning shot was his 42d of the year and his 14th in August. It gave him the Cub record for homers in a month, eclipsing the mark of 13 hit by Ernie Banks (three times, including August of 1958) and Hack Wilson (1930).
Dawson, who has hit 27 of his home runs this season against Western Division clubs, says he`s noticed a different pitching pattern against him since the All-Star break.
”Now, I`m starting to see everything away,” said Dawson. ”I`m not necessarily trying to pull that ball. I`m thinking up the middle or right field. If the ball, by chance, is on the inside part of the plate, I try to be quick with my hands.”
Durham`s two-homer game was the ninth of his career.
”It was good to see Bull help us out like that,” said Michael.
Shortstop Shawon Dunston was lifted from the second game after grounding out to second in the fifth inning. He made three errors on the day.
”When he came back to the bench . . . he had a little bit of a rough day . . . he popped off, so I took him out,” said Michael. ”I talked to him about it, and he`ll be fine tomorrow. I think he understands.”
The Braves captured the first game behind Zane Smith`s seventh complete game of the season. Smith (14-7) survived a two-run first inning, fueled by two Atlanta errors. After that, the left-hander allowed just three hits. He walked one and struck out three for the game.
Smith is now third in the league in wins after being dropped from the Braves` starting rotation last season with an 8-16 record.
”If not to myself, I think I`m proving to other people what I can do,”
said Smith. ”I`m at the top of my game.”
Smith credits much of his resurgence to the fact that veteran Ted Simmons has caught his last seven starts. Smith is 6-1 with a 2.91 earned run average in those starts.
Cubs starter Jamie Moyer (10-11) took the loss after walking five batters in seven innings and falling behind in the count on numerous hitters. He was charged with five runs on six hits before giving way to Dickie Noles in the eighth.
Rookie Kevin Blauser drove in a run with a double and Smith was credited with an RBI in with a ground out in the fourth inning to tie the game 2-2. Gerald Perry led off the Atlanta fifth with a triple before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Gary Roenicke to give the Braves a 3-2 lead.
Dale Murphy lined a two-out, two-run homer into the basket in left to give the Braves a more comfortable 5-2 advantage.
