Mike Bielecki found himself precariously involved in one of a dozen situations in which the Cubs could have blown Sunday`s game to the Houston Astros.
Bielecki and the Cubs led 4-2 in the fifth, but the Astros had runners on first and third with nobody out. Pitching coach Billy Connors came to the mound, uttered some words of wisdom to Bielecki and returned to the dugout.
The next batter, Jeff Bagwell, grounded into a double play as Steve Finley scored to establish the eventual final score: 4-3 Cubs.
What pearl of inside baseball advice did Connors deliver to the Cubs`
first 10-game winner of the season? Manager Jim Essian had trouble suppressing a smile as he answered.
”Billy told Bielecki, `Throw him a double-play ground ball,` ” said Essian after the Cubs had won for the ninth time in their last 13 games. ”And that`s exactly what I told Billy to tell Bielecki.”
Essian wasn`t kidding. Bielecki confirmed the message.
”Well, the first batter in the inning (Finley) beat out a bunt,”
Bielecki said, ”and the next one (Craig Biggio) just cued a hit off the end of his bat. So Billy said, `Don`t let it get you down. . . . give him a double-play ball. . . . ` ”
Now comes the moral of the story. Talk is cheap. Bielecki, throwing an inside fastball on a two-ball, no-strike count, threw a pitch good enough to induce Bagwell to ground to Jose Vizcaino at short. It was one of a dozen
”little things” the Cubs did to avert defeat.
This was the type of game the Cubs will have to win to be any kind of a factor in a pennant race. They beat a last-place team that clearly won the contest of statistics.
The Astros outhit the Cubs 13-5. They also came close to a half-dozen other extra-base hits on fouls that landed within a couple of feet of the outfield foul lines. The Cubs` last 16 batters made outs, six of them by strikeouts. The Astros had three extra-base hits to the Cubs` one.
Most significantly, perhaps, the National League home-run leaders won their third game in a row, all without hitting a homer.
”Yes, there may be something significant in that,” said Essian as his team was readying to depart on a road trip that begins Monday night in Atlanta. ”It means that we don`t have to rely on the long ball to win. We can do other things. We can run and handle the ball and work the hit-and-run.”
A hit-and-run call enabled the Cubs to avoid hitting into an inning-ending double play in the first inning. This provided Andre Dawson the chance to single home Chico Walker to offset Finley`s leadoff homer and tie the game 1-1. Walker was streaking to second when Ryne Sandberg grounded sharply to short. Eric Yelding had no play at second, so he retired Sandberg at first.
”If it hadn`t been a hit-and-run, I might not have hit the ball there,” said Sandberg. ”But it turned out right. It was no double play.”
Other ”little things” that offset the Astros` superior stats included better defense by the Cubs, better execution and standout relief pitching.
Bielecki struggled with his control. He threw 44 balls before his 106-pitch stint ended with two on and two out in the sixth.
Lefty Chuck McElroy came in and threw one pitch to retire Finley, who had a homer and two bunt singles on the day. McElroy, Dave Smith and Paul Assenmacher combined to blank the Astros over the last 3 1/3 innings.
Bielecki felt that some of the success of the bullpen pitchers was due to starters who have been regularly working into the seventh inning or beyond.
”We have a feel for those guys,” said Bielecki of his relievers.
”Earlier in the season, they were getting no rest. Now they`re better rested.”
In the Execution or Lack of It Department, the Cubs played errorless ball, while Yelding`s error made two of three runs in the Cubs` third unearned. Also, Biggio failed to bunt Finley to second in the ninth, and the next batter, Bagwell, singled to left.
George Bell contributed the Cubs` only extra-base hit, a double that raised his RBI total to 57.
