The virtual Northern California legends had such a commanding virtual lead in the virtual I-5 Series that their virtual thoughts must have turned to virtual Champagne showers in a virtual postgame celebration.
Then came virtual Mark McGwire to crash the virtual party.
With a four-run lead and nine outs from clinching “Golden Greats: The I-5 Series” championship, the North envisioned a festive ending to Game 5 at San Diego’s Petco Park.
What could go wrong?
McGwire hit a two-run triple in the seventh and walk-off homer in the ninth to lead Southern California to a stunning 9-7 victory and force the Series to return to the Bay Area for a Game 6 with the North leading three games to two.
The South trailed 7-3 when Randy Johnson took the mound in the seventh, and Mr. Bonds opened the crucial rally. Not Barry but his dad, Bobby, who pinch hit and drew a walk in his first appearance in the Series.
George Brett doubled home Bonds, and Ted Williams walked, making it clear to everyone in the Gaslamp Quarter that Johnson was losing it. But he faced one more batter — one too many, that is.
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McGwire roped a two-run triple to make the score 7-6, and a pitching change finally came. Dave Righetti gave up a game-tying single, the seventh run charged to Johnson.
“After feeling I was invincible with my pitching moves,” Northern California manager Bruce Jenkins said on the “Giants Splash/A’s Plus” podcast, “I made one that didn’t work out so well.”
More than one.
Jenkins stuck with Righetti in the ninth, and it wasn’t pretty. Williams walked again, and McGwire strolled to the plate and then strolled around the bases after blasting his game-ending home run to left field.
Afterward, Jenkins was second-guessed more about leaving in Johnson than leaving in Righetti.
“There’s something about going out there and looking at a guy like Randy Johnson,” said Jenkins, a Chronicle columnist who conceived the idea of an I-5 Series.
“He’s furious. He can barely even look at you. He just wants to kill somebody, and McGwire’s coming up, the right-handed hitter, red hot. Everything said, ‘Take him out.’
“What did I do? I showed faith in him, and (McGwire) ripped an opposite-field triple.”
McGwire homered twice, including a solo shot in the first inning, and finished with five RBIs. He also hit two homers in Game 4, putting him in the thick of the I-5 Series MVP race with Barry Bonds, who has five homers in the series.
Leadoff hitter Jackie Robinson, after sitting for two games, also homered in the first inning for a 2-0 Southern California cushion, but the North answered next inning with four runs off Walter Johnson.
Willie Stargell poked a hit-and-run double that scored Bonds, and Tony Lazzeri hit an RBI double, stole third and scored on Ken Caminiti’s sacrifice fly. Joe Cronin’s homer made it 4-2, and reliever Bret Saberhagen finished the inning.
Frank Robinson’s third-inning homer made it 6-2. The South scored in the fourth on Tony Gwynn’s single, but the North regained the four-run edge in the seventh on Caminiti’s homer off Bob Lemon.
“I tried to tell ’em to stash the bubbly, don’t get too cocky — remember the ’86 Red Sox at Shea,” Jenkins said. “But, no. It started ominously when Jackie Robinson led off with a homer. You figured things might be different.”
Game 6 will be at the Coliseum (pre-Mount Davis with the Oakland hills in full view) with Lefty Gomez starting for the North and Jim Palmer for the South.
John Shea is The San Francisco Chronicle’s I-5 Series beat writer. Email: jshea@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnSheaHey
https://www.sfchronicle.com/giants/article/I-5-Series-Game-5-Mark-McGwire-s-caps-big-day-15304329.php
2020-05-31 21:06:56Z
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