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Friday, Sep. 29 7:05pm ET
Victory pleases Pirates legend Stargell | |||||
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GAME LOG
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Willie Stargell was in the Pittsburgh Pirates' dugout and the stands at Three Rivers Stadium were filled with cheering fans. It felt like the old days of 1979 instead of another game finishing a dreary 2000 season on Friday night. Adrian Brown hustled home from second base on an infield grounder in the seventh inning to score the tiebreaking run in the Pirates' 8-4 win over the Chicago Cubs. Stargell, the only living Hall of Famer who spent his entire career with the Pirates, came back for the announcement that the team will honor him with a statue at its new park next season. He was also part of an on-field pre-game ceremony that featured a video collection of his career highlights. "You can tell that was really special for Willie," said Pirates manager Gene Lamont. "He hasn't been in the best of health and I think it was important for him to come back to say goodbye to this stadium. "Heck, for him Three Rivers Stadium is as important as Yankee Stadium was to Mickey Mantle or Yogi Berra." Brown pinch-hit for winning pitcher Marc Wilkins (4-2) and drew a leadoff walk from Steve Rain (3-4). Mike Benjamin bunted Brown to second. Jason Kendall followed with a grounder to the right side that was fielded by first baseman Julio Zeleta. Zeleta flipped to Rain for the out but Brown never stopped and scored easily ahead of Rain's wild throw. "It was heads-up play on both ends," Lamont said. "Jason hustled down the line and made the pitcher run through the bag and set it up for Adrian to score." The Pirates put the game away with three runs in the eighth. Pinch-hitter Adam Hyzdu had an RBI single and Brown broke an 0-for-18 streak with a two-run single. "It was awesome," catcher Jason Kendall said. "To play in a packed house this late in the season, considering where we are, that was absolutely awesome. It gave me the chills. I'll remember that forever." Chicago pitchers walked 10 batters and the Cubs turned 10 hits and eight walks into just four runs. "We had a couple of chances to break open the game and we couldn't come up with the hit to do it," Cubs Manager Don Baylor said. "It's frustrating on the offensive end." Trailing 4-0, the Cubs scored three runs in the fourth. Gary Matthews singled in two runs and the third scored on Chad Meyers' infield out. Chicago got the tying run in the fifth on doubles by Sammy Sosa and Shane Andrews. The Pirates had a 4-0 lead after three innings against emergency starter Jerry Spradlin. Spradlin, whose major-league career had consisted of 309 relief appearances, was called upon when scheduled starter Todd Van Poppel had stiffness in his back. John Vander Wal had a two-run single in the second, the same inning that starting pitcher Dan Serafini delivered an RBI single. Keith Osik led off the second with a double, went to third on Emil Brown's single and scored by beating second baseman Eric Young's high throw to the plate. The Cubs have lost 22 of their last 28 games. Game notesZuleta had three hits for the second consecutive game. ... Spradlin's most recent relief appearance was two innings against the Phillies in which he allowed six runs on Tuesday. ... Young established a career high with his 54th stolen base in the eighth. ... Attendance was 40,128, the Pirates' second-largest crowd of the season. It trailed only the opening-night crowd of 54,399 on April 4. That will be surpassed on Sunday for the last baseball game at Three Rivers Stadium. ... Pirates first baseman Kevin Young sat out the second and last game of the suspension imposed on him by the commissioner's office for making contact with an umpire during an argument on Sept. 21. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Chicago Cubs Clubhouse Pittsburgh Clubhouse RECAPS Baltimore 13 NY Yankees 2
Pittsburgh 8
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