April 27, 1991
Atlanta Braves 2
Houston Astros 1
13 innings
8-7, 2nd place
1.5 games out
Better to talk about an ugly win than muse poetically about a great performance in a loss. The 17,000 fans who came out on Saturday night to see a fine early-season pitchers duel between Braves youngster Steve Avery and new Astros acquisition Pete Harnisch, and the teams did not disappoint, providing fans with four innings of what Braves announcer Skip Caray fondly (and sometimes not so fondly) refers to as "free baseball." Houston scored a run in the top of the first, and the Braves pitching staff shut them out for the next twelve innings en route to a satisfying 2-1 win over the Astros under the dome.
Steve Finley tripled with one out in the bottom of the first and then scored on Craig Biggio's sacrifice fly to center field. And Houston spent the rest of the night like a "player" at the local strip joint - they kept threatening, but they never could score. Avery settled down and pitched six solid innings, surrendering only one other hit during his time on the mound. But Pete Harnisch was up to the task, scattering seven hits and striking out seven before giving way to the bullpen in the eighth inning. Harnisch, too, was undone by his offense, most notably when Eric Yielding was picked off of second base in the bottom of the sixth by Jeff Treadway. That play may well have saved the game for the Braves as it prevented the Astros from having a runner at second with one out and the power hitters coming up.
It wasn't until their final swings that the Braves finally broke through against the bullpen. In fact, the Braves got down to their last out against Astros closer Curt Schilling, and it was a walk to Deion Sanders that did in the Astros. Perhaps becoming unsettled by walking the speedster, Schilling promptly gave up a deep triple to Treadway that scored Sanders and kept the Braves' hopes alive. Although Schilling retired Ron Gant to close out the ninth, the game was still tied.
But the Braves dodged a huge bullet in the bottom of the tenth with the new pitching battery of Juan Berenguer and Francisco Cabrera. Jeff Bagwell led off with a double and went to third on an infield grounder by Ken Oberkfell. Needing only one deep fly in two chances, the Astros watched helplessly as the Braves intentionally walked the next two hitters to set up the force play at home and then struck out Mark Davison and got Yielding to pop to second base, wasting the opportunity and preserving the tie.
In the top of the 11th, it was the Braves' turn to waste a chance when Cabrera was gunned down at home plate with a perfect throw by rightfielder Tuffy Rhodes. But it was Houston's night to waste chances as once again in the bottom of the 11th they got the winning run to third and - once again - they went back out to start the next inning when the Braves retired the hitters. This time, it was Biggio getting aboard with a one out walk, moving to second on a single and then third on a fly out. This time, Cox called on Doug Sisk to save the Braves with the bases loaded, and he did with an easy grounder on Casey Candelae.
It was at this point the game got even weirder.
Tom Glavine came in as a pinch-hitter for Doug Sisk and promptly drew a walk. Pendleton bunted the pitcher over to second and then Cabrera lined a single to center that scored Glavine and put the Braves in their first lead of the night, 2-1. It probably should have been more as a Jeff Blauser single moved Cabrera to third, but Blauser ran the Braves out of the inning when he was caught stealing to end the top of the 13th.
As Glavine wasn't properly warmed up, Cox put Jeff Parrett in to close out the game. Parrett promptly gave up a single to Biggio to start the inning, and he got to second on a sacrifice bunt. But Parrett buckled down and got the next two hitters on infield pop-ups to close out a truly remarkable come-from-behind win for the Braves that pushed them a game above .500 and into second place early in the season. Sisk got his second win of the season while Parrett brought home the save. While the game was infuriating, it was also fun - unless, of course, you're a fan of the Astros.
Atlanta Braves 2
Houston Astros 1
13 innings
8-7, 2nd place
1.5 games out
Better to talk about an ugly win than muse poetically about a great performance in a loss. The 17,000 fans who came out on Saturday night to see a fine early-season pitchers duel between Braves youngster Steve Avery and new Astros acquisition Pete Harnisch, and the teams did not disappoint, providing fans with four innings of what Braves announcer Skip Caray fondly (and sometimes not so fondly) refers to as "free baseball." Houston scored a run in the top of the first, and the Braves pitching staff shut them out for the next twelve innings en route to a satisfying 2-1 win over the Astros under the dome.
Steve Finley tripled with one out in the bottom of the first and then scored on Craig Biggio's sacrifice fly to center field. And Houston spent the rest of the night like a "player" at the local strip joint - they kept threatening, but they never could score. Avery settled down and pitched six solid innings, surrendering only one other hit during his time on the mound. But Pete Harnisch was up to the task, scattering seven hits and striking out seven before giving way to the bullpen in the eighth inning. Harnisch, too, was undone by his offense, most notably when Eric Yielding was picked off of second base in the bottom of the sixth by Jeff Treadway. That play may well have saved the game for the Braves as it prevented the Astros from having a runner at second with one out and the power hitters coming up.
It wasn't until their final swings that the Braves finally broke through against the bullpen. In fact, the Braves got down to their last out against Astros closer Curt Schilling, and it was a walk to Deion Sanders that did in the Astros. Perhaps becoming unsettled by walking the speedster, Schilling promptly gave up a deep triple to Treadway that scored Sanders and kept the Braves' hopes alive. Although Schilling retired Ron Gant to close out the ninth, the game was still tied.
But the Braves dodged a huge bullet in the bottom of the tenth with the new pitching battery of Juan Berenguer and Francisco Cabrera. Jeff Bagwell led off with a double and went to third on an infield grounder by Ken Oberkfell. Needing only one deep fly in two chances, the Astros watched helplessly as the Braves intentionally walked the next two hitters to set up the force play at home and then struck out Mark Davison and got Yielding to pop to second base, wasting the opportunity and preserving the tie.
In the top of the 11th, it was the Braves' turn to waste a chance when Cabrera was gunned down at home plate with a perfect throw by rightfielder Tuffy Rhodes. But it was Houston's night to waste chances as once again in the bottom of the 11th they got the winning run to third and - once again - they went back out to start the next inning when the Braves retired the hitters. This time, it was Biggio getting aboard with a one out walk, moving to second on a single and then third on a fly out. This time, Cox called on Doug Sisk to save the Braves with the bases loaded, and he did with an easy grounder on Casey Candelae.
It was at this point the game got even weirder.
Tom Glavine came in as a pinch-hitter for Doug Sisk and promptly drew a walk. Pendleton bunted the pitcher over to second and then Cabrera lined a single to center that scored Glavine and put the Braves in their first lead of the night, 2-1. It probably should have been more as a Jeff Blauser single moved Cabrera to third, but Blauser ran the Braves out of the inning when he was caught stealing to end the top of the 13th.
As Glavine wasn't properly warmed up, Cox put Jeff Parrett in to close out the game. Parrett promptly gave up a single to Biggio to start the inning, and he got to second on a sacrifice bunt. But Parrett buckled down and got the next two hitters on infield pop-ups to close out a truly remarkable come-from-behind win for the Braves that pushed them a game above .500 and into second place early in the season. Sisk got his second win of the season while Parrett brought home the save. While the game was infuriating, it was also fun - unless, of course, you're a fan of the Astros.