Wednesday, October 9 - Braves go quietly 5-1

 Braves go quietly 5-1

Drabek, Walk give Pittsburgh opening victory

By I.J. Rosenberg, The Atlanta Constitution, October 10, 1991

         Pittsburgh - The Atlanta Braves came to the City of Steel confident that they were ready for a playoff showdown against the club with the major leagues' best record. Nervous? Not really, they said. Concerned about only having a few players with postseason experience? No problem, they promised.

    But when the CBS cameras clicked on Wednesday night and all of the baseball world turned their eyes on the Braves, they froze like an actor with stage fright. The result was one of their least effective offensive performances in some time, a 5-1 loss to Pittsburgh in the first game of the National League Championship Series before 57,347, the largest crow ever to see a baseball game in Three Rivers Stadium.

    "It was the first time for a lot of our guys and I could see us being overanxious," said right fielder David Justice. "But once we got to the third or fourth inning, it was a regular game for us." By then, however, it was over as this in no way resembled the club that handled Pittsburgh so easily during the regular season, winning 9 of 12 meetings and averaging 5.9 runs a game.

    The Braves collected just five hits, three off of last year's Cy Young winner Doug Drabek who left the game after sixth with a strained hamstring but is not expected to miss his next start. Twenty-game winner Tom Glavine should be thankful most of the Cy Young votes are in. He continued his first-inning troubles, getting down 1-0 before the third out and by the time he left after the sixth-inning he  had given up four runs.

    The Braves made a costly coaching mistake in the fourth when trailing 3-0, third base coach Jimy Williams waved Mark Lemke to third for the first out in the inning. There only run came when it meant very little on a ninth inning homer by Justice.

    "Somebody had to lose game 1," said manager Bobby Cox. "We'll come back fighting tomorrow night." The Braves have put themselves in the position of almost having to win tonight's game against former Brave Zane Smith, a pitcher they have owned all season.

    "I have been two behind before and won but it would be nice to leave here with one," said third baseman Terry Pendleton, who played on two playoff teams in St. Louis. Then again, the Pirates won the first game of the playoff's last season only to lose to Cincinnati in six, prompting Pirates manager Jim Leyland to say, "We're not getting overly excited about this." But from the start it was easy to tell which club was doing the fingernail bitting.

    Glavine got the first two outs and up stepped Andy Van Slyke, who hit just .195 against lefthanders during the regular season, getting four home runs in 185 at-bats. No matter. Van Slyke has always been tough on Glavine and he sent a breaking ball over the right-field wall. Glavine has now allowed 12 runs in the first inning of his last seven starts.

    The Pirates scored two more off Glavine in the third and another in the sixth on a double by Drabek. "It certainly wasn't the worst one I had all year," said Glavine. But it came at the worst time. Atlanta still hasn't won a playoff game in seven tries. 

    Still this could have been a different game had Williams not sent Lemke to third in the fourth inning. Lemke led off the inning by sending a ball to Gary Redus at first. It got by him and into the right field corner but Lemke was waved around second and tagged out. It proved very costly as Drabek walked Pendleton and Justice singled before he retired the next three batters. "I thought Mark would make it," said Cox. "He didn't, they threw him out and it looked like a bad call. But you got to play aggressively."

    Except from there the Braves went quietly as Drabek pitched six scoreless innings and former Brave Bob Walk's only mistake in three innings of relief was the homer to Justice. Said Van Slyke of Drabek, "The way Dougie pitched, it didn't matter if Ruth, Gehrig and Mantle were up there." "I don't think anybody in here is worried about the first loss," said first baseman Sid Bream. "We have battled back all year and showed courage."

Atlanta Hitting Recap:

Lonnie Smith, lf   0 for 4 with 1 so

Mark Lemke, 2b   0 for 4

Terry Pendleton,3b   0 for3 with 1 bb and 1 so

David Justice, rf    2 for 3 with 1 r, 1 rbi, 1 bb and 1 so

Ron Gant, cf   0 for 4 with 1 so

Sid Bream, 1b   2 for 4 

Greg Olsen, c   0 for 4

Raphael Belliard, ss   0 for 2 with 1 so
   Jerry Willard, ph   0 for 1 with 1 so
Tom Glavine, p   1 for 2 
   Tommy Greg, ph   0 for 1 with 1 so

HR: D Justice (1, off B Walk, 9th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to deep RF)
RBI: D Justice (1)
Team LOB: 6
With RISP: 0 for 2

Pitching Recap:
Tom Glavine (L, 0-1) 6 ip, 6 h, 4  r, 4  er, 3 bb, 4 so
Mark Wohlers   1 ip, 1 h, 0 r, 0 er, 0 bb, 0 so
Mike Stanton   1 ip, 1 h, 1 r, 1 er, 2 bb, 1 so

Other Info:
DP: 1, L Smith-G Olsen
E: R Belliard
Outfield Assists: R Gant (D Drabek at 3rd base); L Smith (G Redus at home plate)

Pittsburgh Hitting Recap:

Gary Redus, 1b   1 for 4

Jay Bell, ss   1 for 3 with 1 r and 1 so

Andy Van Slyke, cf   2 for 4 with 2 r and 2 rbi

Bobby Bonilla, rf   2 for 3 with 1 r, 1 rbi and 1 bb

Barry Bonds, lf   0 for 2 with 2 bb

Steve Buechele, 3b   1 for 3 with 1 r, 1 bb and 1 so

Don Slaught, c   0 for 3 with 1 bb and 1 so

Jose Lind, 2b   0 for 3 with 1 rbi

Doug Drabek, p   1 for 3 with 1 rbi and 1 so

Bob Walk, p   0 for 1 with 1 so

2B: A Van Slyke (1, off T Glavine); S vBuechele (1, off T Glavine)
HR: A Van Slyke (1, off T Glavine, 1st inn, 0 on, 2 outs to Deep RF)
SF: J Lind (1, off M Stanton)
SH: J Bell (1, off M Stanton)
RBI: A Van Slyke 2 (2); J Lind (1); B Bonilla (1); D Drabek (1)
2-out RBI: D Drabek; A Van Slyke
Team LOB: 7
With RISP: 2 for 11

Pitching Recap:
Doug Drabek (W, 1-0), 6 ip, 3 h, 0 r, 0 er, 3 bb, 4 so
Bob Walk   3 ip, 2 h, 1 r, 1 er, 0 bb, 2 so

Other Info:
E: G Redus (1)
Outfield Assists: B Bonilla (M Lemke at 3rd base)
SB: G Redus (1, 2nd base off M Wohlers/G Olsen)

Atlanta ........ 000 000 001 - 1 

Pittsburgh ... 102 001 01x - 5

Time: 2:52

Attendance: 57,347