Manager Jim Lefebvre leaned back in the leather chair behind the visiting manager`s desk and nodded his head.
”Now that`s what you call bullpen by committee,” he said with the satisfied grin of a cat next to an empty fishbowl.
Lefebvre spent almost as much time on the mound making pitching changes and he did sitting in the dugout Saturday. And every move he made paid off as the Cubs used five pitchers in a 5-4 come-from-behind victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Right-hander Shawn Boskie, summoned from the starting rotation, got the victory, his second without a loss. And left-hander Chuck McElroy, the new stopper-in-the-making, got the save, his third.
But dole out a little credit to Bob Scanlan and Paul Assenmacher, who took turns serving the committee when Lefebvre called them in at crucial moments.
”The job is to get guys out whether it`s the ninth inning or the sixth,” said Lefebvre. ”The last guy gets credit for the save, but sometimes the real save comes early when a guy gets you out of a jam.”
All four relief pitchers did that.
Boskie, who missed a start because the Cubs had two off days and a rainout last week, was the first to shut down the Cardinals after starter Frank Castillo allowed four runs, three earned, in four innings and left trailing 4-3.
The Cubs scored first when Andre Dawson was hit by a pitch in the second and Dwight Smith snapped out of a slump with a double to center.
But in the bottom of the inning, Smith helped take the lead away. He stumbled in right field going after a liner by Brian Jordan and still was scrambling to get up when the ball sailed over his head for a double.
With one out, Castillo compounded Smith`s gaffe by hitting Milt Thompson, then giving up a two-run triple to Tom Pagnozzi. Shortstop Jose Vizcaino finished the gift-wrapping when he tried to get Pagnozzi at third and threw the ball into the dugout.
That made it 3-1 after two, which would have been a safe enough lead for the Cardinals if the Cubs had maintained their early-season hitting form. They had scored only 22 runs in eight games coming into this series.
But in the fourth, Mark Grace singled to right, and one out later, Dawson launched his first home run of the year off loser Omar Olivares (1-2).
As soon as he connected, Dawson stooped low, bat still in hand, and watched the flight of the ball down the foul line until he was sure it was fair.
But the 3-3 tie was short-lived. Castillo gave up back-to-back doubles to Pedro Guerrero and Jordan for the go-ahead run with nobody out, and Lefebvre called the bullpen by committee into session. The Cardinals didn`t score again.
Meanwhile, Cub hitters delivered the winning two-out rally in the sixth.
After Sammy Sosa and Grace grounded out, Ryne Sandberg and Dawson singled, and Smith lashed a two-run double to center. That gave him three RBIs, one more than he had hits in his first 20 at-bats.
”If I keep hitting this way, I know I`ll get my share of playing time,” said Smith, whose role is expected to change when outfielder Jerome Walton returns from rehabilitation in the minors.
Boskie held the Cardinals scoreless for 2 1/3 innings but came out in the seventh when he walked Luis Alicea, who was hitting .125.
Assenmacher struck out pinch-hitter Gerald Perry, walked Ray Lankford, then finished the inning by getting Ozzie Smith to fly out.
Scanlan started the eighth and got Todd Zeile and Guerrero on flyballs. But Jordan doubled, and Scanlan was gone. It was Jordan`s third double, the most by a Cardinal in a game since Ozzie Smith did it against Atlanta in 1984. McElroy, who has three of the Cubs` four saves, came in and got Craig Wilson to ground to Sandberg to end the inning.
In the ninth, he gave up a two-out single to pinch-hitter Bernard Gilkey, who stole second, the third straight inning the Cardinals had the tying run in scoring position.
Then McElroy gaveled the bullpen committee back into order. He struck out Lankford to end the game.
”Yep, that`s what you call bullpen by committee,” Lefebvre said again.
”That`s the way it`s supposed to work.”
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Next:At St. Louis, Sunday, 1:15 p.m., WGN-TV (Ch. 9)
