Dateline: Stratton Woods
Frost covered the field on a quite cool Fall morning as the Cubs faced the Vienna Mets to complete their three game home stand. Dylan gave up a leadoff weak infield single and a run scored on some wild pitches, but Dylan settled down to blast three quick strikeouts past the Mets hitters. The Cubs got right back in the game with a walk to Conor, he stole second and was gunned down while trying to steal third on a great play by the Mets. Justin singled, Greg was hit by a pitch, Kaz walked to load the bases and Robbie got an RBI walk to score Justin. After one it was tied at one a piece.
In the second, four weak ground balls and a few misplays by the Cubs infield resulted in four runs for the Mets. Dylan withstood it all and got a batter to pop out to Kaz at first, groundnut back to the mound, and ground out to first to end the inning. The Cubs battled back with a huge single by Kengo to center, walks to Michael, John, Jordyn, and Colin to score Kengo and Michael. Conor got a big single to score John, but Jordyn was gunned down at the plate on a great play by the Mets left fielder. Justin walked and Greg got a huge single to score Colin. Conor scored on a wild pitch. When the dust had cleared the Cubs led 6-5.
Greg came on to pitch the third and he struck out the first batter, hit two and walked two to score one run for the Mets, but John made a great play firing down to Justin at third to get a runner foolishly trying to steal third for out two. Greg struck out the last batter to end the Mets third. Cubs bats stayed strong with walks to Kaz, Dylan and Robbie. Kengo came through again with a big single to score Kaz. Michael walked to score Dylan and Robbie scored on a wild pitch. Suddenly the Cubs were ahead 9-6.
Greg pitched the fourth and threw a lot of strikes, but this reporter doesn’t want to get into it as three runs scored on some problems in the infield. Greg settled down and got the next batter to line one right back to him for out one and he struck out the next batter for out two. Greg hit his pitch count limit and Danny came in for his first appearance of the season. He looked good and threw heat but a couple of wild pitches resulted in two more runs. Cubs bats were quiet in the fourth and just as quickly the Cubs now trailed 11-9.
Conor came on in the fifth and blasted two quick strike outs. The third batter grounded out to Christian who made a nice play as he threw to Justin at first for out three. The Cubs needed two to tie and three to win in the fifth as time was running out. Kaz walked and moved to second, third and home on wild pitches. Unfortunately, Cubs bats were quiet and the final score was Mets 11 Cubs 10.
Coach Grossman had very little time after the game as the Cubs play a makeup game at Fox Mill tomorrow. He said, “Our guys played a very good team to a one run game.” When asked if he thought he had personally cost the team the game by having Conor steal third and Jordyn run home when each play cost the Cubs a run he said, “Who knows, but it certainly isn’t fun to have to answer questions like that from you reporters. I saw a lot of improvement out there today — our guys were on their toes and looked better in the field — but we clearly need to do better. I think we will have a good last two weeks of the season.”
Coach Goldstein said, “A tough loss, but how about John’s nice throw down to second. Also I have to point out that Michael has been on a streak offensively lately — he’s getting on base all the time.”
