GAME 3/ 11 INNINGS
CUbs 5
Marlins 4
MIAMI – The Cubs lost a gut-wrenching, 11-inning NLCS home opener on Tuesday, and it was hard to fathom a defeat could be more harrowing.
Now the Marlins have felt that pain.
Pinch-hitter Doug Glanville’s hit-and-run, one-out RBI triple in the 11th off Braden Looper scored Kenny Lofton and gave the Cubs a 5-4, 11-inning victory in the pivotal Game 3 of the NLCS.
“Everybody recognizes it’s not an easy job to come off the bench and do your thing,” said Glanville, who has been buried on the pine nearly since his July 30 acquisition from Texas. “It’s a great thrill to contribute at this point. Now we know we’re gonna take the series back to Chicago at the worst. It’s big, and we feel good about our chances.”
Chicago recovered home-field advantage and took a two games to one lead heading into tonight, when the Cubs’ No. 4 starter Matt Clement duels rookie left-handed phenom Dontrelle Willis.
As the series shifted to South Florida, so did the pulsating drama. Randall Simon auditioned for the role of late-inning October hero with a go-ahead, one-out, two-run homer in the eighth, but pinch-hitter Todd Hollandsworth answered with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the inning.
“It seems like every game gets played out where everything happens,” said winning pitcher Joe Borowski, who pitched 21/3 innings. “You had so many highs and lows. It’s just such a momentum swing. Going 11 and winning is huge.”
The teams remained tied until the 11th, when two moves by Cub manager Dusty Baker paid off. He sent Glanville to the plate for Borowski and sent Lofton in motion, and Glanville lined a single through where shortstop Mike Mordecai would’ve been.
The ball scooted through the outfield grass and narrowly eluded Jeff Conine’s glove, allowing Lofton to come home.
The Cubs couldn’t get an insurance run in the 11th, but Mike Remlinger saved the game for Borowski. And the ending was as wild as anything else in the four-hour, 16-minute marathon.
With one out, Luis Castillo reached first on a wild pitch after he struck out and advanced to second. But he was stuck in a rundown on Derrek Lee’s fielder’s choice to third, because Aramis Ramirez didn’t handle the ball cleanly and could only make a play on Castillo.
After a brief rundown, Castillo was tagged out.
“Any kind of play you wanted to see, you saw it,” McKeon said ruefully as he stepped off the podium after his postgame news conference.
The supposedly unbeatable Kerry Wood faltered in the seventh and was chased after allowing a go-ahead RBI single to Pudge Rodriguez, putting the Cubs in peril and setting up a situation their fans dared not think about.
But Simon’s two-run homer off Florida’s Chad Fox with one out in the eighth took Wood off the hook and gave the Cubs a 4-3 edge. With pinch-hitter Tom Goodwin on third after a one-out triple to the deepest part of Pro Player Stadium, Simon crushed the next pitch from Fox into the seats in right field 397 feet away.