Even guys who have bad years can have good nights.
In fact, Frank Castillo and Dave Magadan have each erased part of their memory banks. Rewind their tapes and you will find that after bleak starts, Castillo has won three of his last six games and Magadan has 10 hits in his last 30 at-bats. Their thought processes go back no farther than that, fearing remembrance.
The two rejuvenated Cubs sparked their team to a 3-2 victory Saturday night over Montreal in which the Cubs scored the winning run in the ninth without a hit.
Brian McRae made two smart baserunning plays to get the run home. First, with Jose Hernandez in a rundown between second and third and one out, he dashed for second. From there, he scored when third baseman Andy Stankiewicz dropped Ryne Sandberg’s grounder and failed to get him on a throw to first. McRae rounded third and never stopped.
Turk Wendell returned to his closer’s role in the ninth and preserved Larry Casian’s first victory since Aug. 3, 1995.
Castillo was replaced in the seventh by Terry Adams after he gave up the Expos’ first run. Extra-base hits in the inning by Moises Alou (off Castillo) and Rondell White (off Adams) allowed Montreal to tie it 2-2.
Magadan flared a bases-loaded single into center in the first to score McRae and Mark Grace. The hit gained importance after the Cubs stranded eight runners in the first four innings. Sammy Sosa went down on strikes in the fourth with the bases full.
Tyler Houtson ended two innings by flying out with runners in scoring position. This was his first start behind the plate in place of Scott Servais since July 28. Houston has been bothered by a disc problem in his back.
