Brian Bogusevic's ninth inning grand slam steers Houston Astros past Chicago Cubs 6-5 – MLB Update
The pinch hitter Brian Bogusevic hit a grand slam on Tuesday, August 16 to help the straining Houston Astros win an eagerly sought 6-5 against the Chicago Cubs at Minute Maid Park.
Bogusevic was an unlikely contender to do the impossible for the Astros.
"It's good for us," Bogusevic said. "We've been struggling a little bit. One of the good parts about being young is you're not going to give up. We're going to fight all nine innings and it doesn't matter if we're down one run or 10 runs, we're going to
keep going."
The hit came at a very unusual time and in the ninth inning just when the Chicago Cubs were literally complacent. Their confidence, however, received a heavy blow when Bogusevic took Carlos Marmol to task.
Marmol’s underperformance irked the team manager who was visibly quite disappointed. "When you're not sharp sometimes you get beat," Chicago manager Mike Quade said referring to Marmol. "His slider wasn't as good as it usually is, and his fastball command
left him."
The Chicago Cubs, like their previous games, started Tuesday’s encounter with the big hit of Aramis Ramirez that gave them a 1-0 lead. Marlon Byrd followed with his RBI single that doubled Chicago’s lead against Brett Myers of the Houston Astros.
But Jimmy Paredes scored a single in the first inning against Ryan Dempster to bring the Cubs’ lead down to 2-1. Both the pitchers, afterwards, were too tough for the hitters to play. The 2-1 lead for the Cubs meant to be defended by Dempster who managed
it with less difficulty.
Entering into the fifth, Dempster threw a scoreless inning followed by that of Brett Myers. It was Tyler Colin who homered to right to take the Cubs lead to 4-1, making it difficult for the Astros to contain the Cubs’ offence.
Dempster, in the meanwhile, was effective enough with his variety of fastballs. Myers was replaced by the reliever Wilton Lopez. Aramis Ramirez, however, had another homer to after Humberto Quintero had just scored a single.
With the end of seventh inning, the Cubs were completely in charge of the game. Kerry Wood pitched a wonderfully solid eighth inning to keep the lead intact by the end of the inning as the Houston Astros reeled.
But with the start of the ninth, just when everything was going the Cubs’ way, everything took a big turn against the winning side. Brian Bogusevic struck the breathtaking hit of the night, a grand slam against Carlos Marmol to win a magical 6-5 victory
for the Houston Astros.
With the series standing at 1-1 now, it is worthwhile to see how the Cubs stage a comeback.
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