Cubs win weird one in 12
Leave it to the Cubs and Astros to have co-authored this one.
The two worst teams in the National League Central got together on a gloomy Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field just a short night's sleep after the Cubs had lost a four-hour, 11-inning game at Cincinnati.
Cubs starting pitcher Matt Garza looked ready to make quick work of the Astros, coming within one strike of his second complete game of the year and a possible 3-1 victory.
Garza tried to blow a fastball past Carlos Lee, but Lee had other ideas, sending the pitch into the left-field bleachers for his second home run of the day.
An hour-and-a-half or so later, the Cubs came away with a 4-3 victory in the 12th inning on Marlon Byrd's bases-loaded infield single down the third-base line.
The Cubs got a couple of breaks. First, the ball appeared to be foul. Second, Houston third baseman Chris Johnson made a play on it, touched it and third-base umpire David Rackley ruled it fair.
“That would be, ‘We don't do anything the easy way around here,'” said Cubs manager Mike Quade, whose team improved to 66-85 while the Astros fell to 51-99.
Here's more crazy stuff: Byrd was 1-for-16 with the bases loaded entering Friday and was hitting .192 with runners in scoring position.
“I think I set a record for the shortest walk-off,” Byrd said. “It's a funny game. Guys in scoring position this year, hit them soft, hit them hard, it seems like it's been right at people. Today, it just found a way to stay fair.”
Not according to Johnson.
“I was right over top of it, so I had a really good look,” the victimized third baseman said. “Once I saw it hit foul, I just tried to make contact with it because the ball's dead, you know? I'm not gonna blow anybody up, really. We know the ball was foul. They'll (the umpires) probably know it after looking at replays. We'll just move on. People make mistakes.”
Speaking of mistakes, Garza helped prolong the agony by trying to overpower Lee, who now has 23 home runs at Wrigley Field.
“It is what it is, man,” said Garza, using one of his favorite lines. “It's one of those situations where I say, ‘You know what? Here's my best. What do you got?' He guessed right, and he beat me. I shook (catcher Geovany Soto) off twice. The two pitches I shook off were a fastball and a slider. I knew where I had to put that pitch for him to not hit it. I just left it over the middle, and he got it.”
Soto acknowledged there were other plans than to challenge Lee.
“I suggested going away from him a little bit, but at that point, it's his ballgame, and I felt, ‘Let's go at him; let's go after him,'” Soto said He's a great hitter. He's done stuff in this game. He's hit a lot of homers. He got us today.”
More fun is sure to come the rest of the weekend.