Bob Scanlan never expected to pitch for the Cubs Saturday.
And when Scanlan, called an ”exercise monster” by manager Jim Essian, saw the way fellow rookie Frank Castillo warmed up for the game against the Mets, Scanlan was certain he`d get very little exercise.
”Frank looked superb,” Scanlan said. ”He was real strong. He had control of his fastball and his breaking ball. I thought, `They sure won`t need me today. . . . `
”But, lo and behold, I was in there in the first inning. I was surprised.”
Scanlan was also very good, nearly perfect, in fact. After he replaced Castillo, who sustained a strained shoulder that was not regarded as a serious injury, Scanlan pitched 5 2/3 innings of one-hit ball. He allowed only one unearned run. And thanks to Ryne Sandberg`s three-run home run in the sixth, Scanlan received credit for the 6-2 victory.
”Scanlan is an `exercise monster,` ” Essian said of the 6-foot-7-inch pitcher. ”He keeps in great shape, has very little body fat. He loves to throw often. I think he`s one of those pitchers who can get ready without throwing a great number of pitches.”
Castillo threw only five pitches Saturday. He retired Vince Coleman on a fly to George Bell. After his second called ball to Kevin Elster, he clutched his right shoulder and left the game. Scanlan was hastily summoned, and home plate ump Greg Bonin told Scanlan he could have as much time as he needed to heat up.
”When I was starting, I needed 10 or 15 minutes,” Scanlan said, ”but since I`ve been in the bullpen, I`ve warmed up more quickly. Today maybe I needed five minutes. I felt good. I don`t know what the protocol is. I looked to the ump and motioned `let`s go.` ”
Scanlan retired the two men he faced in the first. He put down the Mets 1-2-3 in the next two innings. He permitted his only hit when Coleman bunted to lead off the fourth and reached when both Scanlan and first baseman Mark Grace went for the ball and left first uncovered.
The Mets went ahead 1-0 without making a hit in the sixth when Scanlan`s hurried throw on another Coleman bunt went for the error that made the run unearned.
In the Cubs` sixth, after Doug Dascenzo had batted for Scanlan and grounded out, Chico Walker singled and Grace made the second of the three hits that stretched his streak to 16 games in a row and hiked his batting average to .293.
That brought up Sandberg to face Tim Burke, whom he called ”a good pitcher who`s always given me trouble.”
”He threw me three breaking balls in a row,” Sandberg said. ”I missed a bad ball on the first pitch and laid off the second. Then he threw a slider away, and I was able to stay in there. . . . ”
Sandberg pounded the ball through the wind into the left-field seats for his 20th homer and his 66th, 67th and 68th RBIs of the year.
The Cubs` sixth straight victory over the Mets lifted their record to 54-55, one game under .500, as they were when Essian took over as manager last spring.
”We`re not out of it yet,” Sandberg said. ”We`ve just got to try to catch the teams that are ahead of us and go from there. Right now, that means the Mets (57-52).”
The Cubs scored three more runs in the seventh, upping their lead to 6-1. Relief pitcher Chuck McElroy singled home Rick Wilkins, who had doubled, and took second when Hubie Brooks cut down Jerome Walton at the plate when he also tried to score on the hit. Grace`s third hit brought home McElroy, and Walker scored when Howard Johnson allowed Sandberg`s grounder to go through him at third.
Scanlan turned in his fifth straight outstanding outing from the bullpen. In that span, he`s pitched 16 2/3 innings on a yield of five hits and no earned runs.
”I`m feeling more comfortable pitching out of the bullpen,” Scanlan said. ”It`s different. I don`t have two or three days to think about what to pitch to each batter as I did when I started. But today I was able to get physically and mentally ready in a hurry.”
