It appears these Cubs are going to play hit-or-miss right to the end.
They either live with the home run or lose from lack of it.
Proof: They have scored 46 percent of their runs on homers and are 43-15 when they hit two homers in a game.
Corey Patterson took care of both categories Tuesday night when he knocked in all three runs with a pair of homers, the first tying the game in the eighth inning and the second winning it in the 12th as the Cubs beat the Pirates 3-2.
“Right on time too,” manager Dusty Baker said. “Everybody complains we just hit homers, but those two were the difference in the game.”
Patterson, not one of the Cubs’ three 30-homer club members, was “just trying to keep things simple” when he came up with two outs in the 12th.
“I try to treat every situation the same way,” the Cubs’ leadoff man said. “It’s hard, especially in a close game. That’s when you have to sit back and take a couple of deep breaths. I just try to block out the noise and the crowd.”
The victory was both dramatic and necessary because the Cubs already knew all their fellow wild-card playoff contenders had won, as did the 38,678 fans at Wrigley Field.
After the victory, they are right where they started the day Tuesday, a half-game behind San Francisco and a half-game ahead of Houston.
But this was a change of direction for the Cubs, who had lost seven of their previous eight one-run games and are 14-25 overall in those decisions. They are now a mediocre 14-14 in games won and lost in the last at-bat and a lousy 9-48 when scoring four or fewer runs.
But the Cubs are counting victories now, not how they get them.
Tuesday’s victory went to Todd Wellemeyer (2-1), who pitched a scoreless 12th inning.
Starter Matt Clement didn’t figure in the final decision, but made it through six innings pain free, which was a victory in itself. He had pitched only seven innings in his previous two starts because of tightness in his upper back. And while he showed early after-effects of the injury, he allowed only one hit in his final four innings.
“I felt great, it was real encouraging,” Clement said. “It was a huge win for us and something for me to build from.”
Clement was spared the loss when Patterson lofted a wind-aided home run barely into the basket in left field in the eighth inning. It came with Michael Barrett on board.
Tentative and wild at the start, Clement walked the first two batters on 10 pitches. Then he allowed four hits in the second for the two runs.
Meanwhile, Josh Fogg, who came into the game with a 10.06 ERA in four starts against the Cubs this season, had them swinging into outs through his 6 2/3 innings. He allowed only four hits and even fanned Aramis Ramirez, who hadn’t struck out in 71 at-bats dating back to Aug. 19.
Patterson had an explanation for that.
“We have a lot of guys who hit home runs and you look over the lineup, we don’t have one weak spot,” he said. “If we don’t get runs, the [opposing] pitcher is probably doing a good job.”
