On a day when it looked like another game would get rained out (weather forecast was for 100% chance of rain), the Twins and Cubs got a gift from the man upstairs, as all of the rain surrounding New Scotland Town Park somehow stayed away long enough to allow us to play 7 innings. Thank you, Jesus!
The game was very well played (with just a couple of miscues), and was not decided until the final out. The top of the first saw the Cubs get out of the gate early. Lead off man, Scott Ross walked, and worked a perfect hit and run with number 2 hitter Paul Miles, putting runners on 1st and 3rd with no outs. Paul Miles then stole second base. After a bouncer back to the mound, for the first out, Ron Lochner drilled a 2-RBI single. Rookie, Pat Martone, then singled in his first CDMSBL at bat, moving Lochner to second. A fielders choice and a single by Ralph Caputo loaded the bases with two outs. Twins starter, Stefan Koustakis, wriggled off the hook getting Kevin Jackson to ground into a force.
Stefan took that lift and proceeded to keep the Cubs from doing any further damage until thew top of the sixth. With one out in the sixth, Ron Lochner smacked his 3rd hit of the game, a sharp single to left. Pat Martone followed with a walk. A wild pitch then moved both runners into scoring position, and rookie Marc Lochner lined the ball just out of the reach of the Twins SS, scoring his brother, to make the score 3-0. Koustakis then got a big strike out and a ground out, to keep his team in the game.
Meanwhile, Cubs starter, Mike Girard was breezing along through the first six innings, allowing just 1 walk and 2 singles while striking out 2. In those 6 innings the Twins were unable to bring more than 4 batters to the plate in any one inning.
The 7th inning would be a different story! Brian Allen worked a lead off walk. Tom King and Rick Saidenburg followed with singles to load the bases with nobody out. Girard induced a tapper to the right side, and bounced off the mound in time to get the ball and beat the lead runner home with an underhanded toss to Martone. Then Glenn Murray came through for the Twins with a huge 2-run single, bringing the Twins to within 1 run, and the putting the tying run on 2nd and the go ahead run on first, with just one out. Girard then induced a grounder to second forcing the go ahead run at second, but advancing the tying run to just 90 feet from home. With the game on the line, Girard was able to get the last out on a bouncer back to the mound.
Cubs win the opener 3-2.
Congrats to Jim Edelman and his Twins on a very good first game of the season. This team will win their share of their games this year. Good luck guys!
Next up for the Cubs, the defending champion Giants, on Tuesday 5/8, at the C-Diamond in Schenectady.
-- Edited by mgirard11 on Friday 4th of May 2018 08:03:03 AM
