Grace Uplifting, Gets Chicago Even : First Baseman Has Four RBIs in Cubs’ 9-5 Victory

For a Chicago Cubs team that has been thrilled just about enough for one postseason, redemption took all of 18 pitches Thursday night.

Swinging as fast as Rick Reuschel could throw, five of the first seven Cub hitters pelted the San Francisco starter with three singles, a double and a triple. Leaving the field before he could pitch for the cycle, Reuschel spent the next three hours watching his teammates duck as the Cubs rolled up a 9-5 victory to even the National League Championship Series at one game each.

Before a raucous crowd of 39,195 at Wrigley Field, the Cubs countered the Game 1 heroics of the Giants’ Will (the Thrill) Clark with some Amazing Grace. That’s Mark Grace, who had a night worth singing about with two doubles and four runs batted in. Throw in a fifth-inning knockout of Clark by Cub reliever Paul Assenmacher that took the Giants’ last big chance, and you have a Cub team that flew to San Francisco for Saturday’s Game 3 with renewed confidence.

“You can tell by the way they came out today that we know, one loss ain’t the end of the world,” Cub Manager Don Zimmer said. “The thing about this team is, they still know it’s a game.”

The Giants, who romped, 11-3, in Game 1 Wednesday night, were left to wonder how something that felt so good could end so soon.

“What we’ve got to do is shake ourselves,” Giant outfielder Brett Butler said.

The Cubs did a nice job of that, rendering three Giant homers useless, making heroes of guys like Mike Bielecki, Les Lancaster and Assenmacher.

Although Assenmacher faced only three batters, he was the biggest star, and all he needed was one pitch. It was thrown in the fifth inning, with the Cubs leading, 6-2, but Giants on first and second.

Starter Bielecki was on the mound. Will Clark stepped to the plate. Assenmacher was warm in the bullpen.

Remember Wednesday night, when Zimmer ignored Assenmacher and allowed Greg Maddux to pitch to Clark in a similar situation? That grand-slam ball could still be rolling around Sheffield Avenue somewhere.

Zimmer remembered too, because this time he summoned the lefty Assenmacher to face the lefty Clark. Not that it made any Cubs feel any better.

Cub shortstop Shawon Dunston said: “I was saying, ‘C’mon Will, you don’t need to get a hit every time, do you?’ ”

Catcher Joe Girardi: “I was just saying, ‘Is this guy up again? This guy is always up with men on base. What’s the story?’ ”

The story was, one curveball. One swing that caught the ball on the end of the bat. One weak grounder to first baseman Grace to end the inning and ultimately the game.

And one relieved reliever.

“I think it was a curveball, but . . . I’m not sure where the ball was thrown,” said a wide-eyed Assenmacher. “I’m not sure what I did. I just know he swung.”

Clark said: “Yes, it was a curveball. I just got overanxious.”

It was the first time he had been retired in the series, as his first-inning walk and fourth-inning single gave him seven straight plate appearances without making an out.

“Yeah, the percentages, that was the key, that was what I was thinking,” said Assenmacher, collecting himself. “I mean, he had to make an out sometime, didn’t he?”

“A weird game,” observed Giant catcher Terry Kennedy. “A humbling game.”

And it happened so quickly Thursday. That, said Clark, was what made this game so strange.

“It was like their hitters knew exactly what was being thrown,” he said.

They did. Knowing Reuschel, they knew he would be throwing strikes. So after spending most of the pregame time in their clubhouse, away from a rainstorm that drenched the city during the day, the Cubs came out knowing exactly what to do.

“Hacking,” Dunston said. “Our strategy was to hack.”

So they did, allowing Reuschel to throw them an average of fewer than three pitches per batter.

Jerome Walton hit Reuschel’s first pitch of the game to left field for a single. Two pitches later, Ryne Sandberg drove a ball into the right-field corner for a triple. One out later, Grace lofted a ball over the head of right fielder Pat Sheridan, who misjudged it and watched it fall harmlessly into the ivy for an RBI double.

“Everything started to build, then you could feel the whole dugout lift,” Bielecki said.

Andre Dawson drove a ball over the left-field bleachers and on to Waveland Avenue, but it was foul. Dawson struck out, but the impression was made. Reuschel was a man in trouble.

Luis Salazar singled to left field for a run, Dunston hit another single to left, and Reuschel was gone, saddled with one of the worst starts in playoff history and, subsequently, one of the worst overall records. In 20 1/3 postseason innings for three different teams, Reuschel has allowed 16 earned runs while compiling an 0-3 record and a 7.08 earned-run average.

“You’re always surprised when you get lit up like that,” the stoic Reuschel said. “They have guys who don’t take a lot of pitches. They came up swinging at the first pitch they can hit. Tonight, they did a good job of it.”

Reuschel was replaced by Kelly Downs, who immediately walked Girardi to load the bases and then did something far worse. Facing Bielecki, who entered with three hits in 70 at-bats this season, he served up a fat full-count fastball that Bielecki drove to center field for a two-run single. Walton’s bloop double finished the Cubs’ big inning at six runs.

“That Bielecki hit was like finding a four-leaf clover in the middle of Wrigley Field,” Zimmer said.

After that, the game was left to Giant homers (Kevin Mitchell, Matt Williams and Robby Thompson) and more Grace heroism. The Cub first baseman beat out an infield single in the second, was intentionally walked in the fourth and followed Walton’s single and walks to Sandberg and Dwight Smith with a three-run double off Craig Lefferts in the sixth.

Grace’s six hits in two games (six for eight) ties a league championship series record and has placed him in direct comparison with Clark, who is five for seven. Each has six RBIs.

“That’s the story here,” Dunston proclaimed. “They’ve got Clark, we’ve got Grace. We’ll just have to see what happens.”