Shane Reynolds probably will never forget Houston’s 12-3 rout of the Cubs on Monday at Wrigley Field.
For one thing, Reynolds’ 16th victory of the season and the 60th of his major-league career was his first at Wrigley. The last time he pitched in Chicago, he struck out 10 Cubs but lost 2-0 as rookie Kerry Wood pitched his 20-strikeout, one-hit masterpiece.
Monday’s victory was “scary” and “exciting,” Reynolds said, because he returned to the mound after a 1-hour-50-minute rain delay in the second inning and retired the first 12 Cubs he faced.
Reynolds had plenty to think about during the delay. It was not all cheery. He recalled that on May 12 last year he resumed pitching after a 98-minute rain delay in Miami and sustained the leg injury that ultimately caused him to undergo knee surgery.
“That was the scary part,” Reynolds said. “It wore on me mentally. But the game today was only in the second inning. I’d thrown only about 30 pitches (actually 29), so I was able to come back.”
Reynolds said he threw 60 to 70 pitches before the game and another 35 to warm up a second time. He permitted only one hit and no earned runs in the six innings he worked. He walked nobody and struck out six.
“He had not thrown that many pitches,” Houston manager Larry Dierker, a former pitcher, said of his decision to stay with Reynolds. “It was not a cold day, so the arm was less likely to stiffen. I think he remembered that injury in Miami and wanted to show he could come back after the rain delay and prove something to himself.”
Six of the first 10 outs Reynolds registered after the delay were on infield grounders. The other four were strikeouts.
“The Cubs have a good hitting team, and Sammy Sosa can hit off anybody,” Reynolds said. “The idea is to keep off base the batters in front of Sosa. I was able to do that today.”
Reynolds’ 16th victory matches his previous big-league high, reached in 1996.
