This Day In Baseball
History: May 17, 1979
It was on this date in 1979 that
the game that would be known as the “Slugfest at Wrigley” was played. On a
Thursday afternoon, the Chicago Cubs played host to the Philadelphia Phillies
in front of 14,952 fans at Wrigley Field on the North Side of Chicago. The
starting pitching match-up was Randy Lerch for the Phillies against Dennis Lamp
of the Cubs. Neither pitcher would get out of the first inning.
The Phils scored seven runs in
the top of the first while the Cubs responded with six in their half of the
inning. Thirteen runs in the first inning alone! That pretty much set the tone
for the rest of the afternoon. After a scoreless second, Philly poured on eight
more runs in the top of the third for a 15-6 lead. That wasn’t even half of the
total runs that would be scored.
Two more for the Phils and three
for the Cubs in the fourth (17-9 Philly) would be followed by four for Philly and
seven for the Cubs in the fifth (21-16 Philly). This may just have well have
been the Eagles against the Bears.
The Cubs cut the lead to two
with three in the bottom half of the sixth (21-19). Philadelphia scored one in
the seventh while the Cubs tied the game at 22 with three in the eighth. A
scoreless ninth moved the game into the tenth. Phillies third baseman Mike
Schmidt hit a solo home run with two out and the Cubs couldn’t respond making
the final score 23-22 for Philadelphia.
Five home runs were hit by the
Phillies: Schmidt had two, starting pitcher Lerch hit one before getting rocked
himself when he took the mound, and catcher Bob Boone and outfielder Garry
Maddox each had one. The Cubs hit six: left fielder Dave Kingman had three,
while third baseman Steve Ontiveros, first baseman Bill Buckner (yes, THAT Bill
Buckner) and centre fielder Jerry Martin had one.
Six Phillies and seven Cubs had
multi-hit games (shortstop Larry Bowa led Philly with five, while Buckner was
the Cubs leader at four). Neither team stole a base, both teams committed two
errors and the Cubs’ pitchers walked 12 Phillies’ batters. Needless to say, the
game was not one that will ever be showcased on an instructional video about
pitching.
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