While the San Francisco Giants may be running out of ptichers, they still have plenty of hitters.
Robby Thompson hit a two-run homer off Les Lancaster with one out in the seventh inning to give the Giants a 5-4 victory over Chicago on Saturday night and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 National League playoffs.
"I was floating around the bases," Thompson said There were wild pitches, balks, errors, and missed opportunities all over the place for most of the game. Even the umpires missed a few.
But then Thompson made everything all right for the Giants.
Paul Assenmacher started the seventh for the Cubs, leading 4-3, and Brett Butler singled with with out. Les Lancaster relieved and Thompson, who homered against him in Game 2, followed with a drive over the left-field fence. Thompson was 34-for-96 during the season with a runner on first.
"That was a hit-and-run when he hit the home run," Giants manager Roger Craig said. "He's a winner."
Butler and Thompson combined for four hits and four runs.
"Batting coach Dusty Baker always says to look for a pitch you can drive and that's what I did," Thompson said.
"Thompson has hurt us in the past," Chicago manager Don Zimmer said. "He's a tough out."
Don Robinson, who could not start Game 3 because of a bad knee, pitched 1 2-3 innings for the victory and Steve Bedrosian got the save.
Mike LaCoss, who started in place of Robinson, left the game with a knee injury.
Game 4 of the series is scheduled for Sunday (8:20 p.m. EDT) with Chicago's Greg Maddux pitching against Scott Garrelts. Maddux lost Game 1 to Garrelts in Chicago, allowing eight runs in four innings.
Before Thompson's heroics, Ryne Sandberg gave the Cubs a 4-3 lead with a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh.
Starter Rick Sutcliffe, a .191 lifetime hitter, led off with a double to right-center. Jerome Walton, attempting to bunt, lined out to a diving Will Clark at first. While lying on the grass, Clark threw to second but shortstop Jose Uribe failed to make the play and Sutcliffe moved to third.
Sutcliffe hurt his leg running to third and Maddux pinch ran before Sandberg lifted a sacrifice fly to center.
The Cubs took a 2-0 lead in the first on Andre Dawson's two-run single, but the Giants came right back with three runs in the bottom of the inning against Sutcliffe despite getting only one ball out of the infield.
Chicago tied it 3-3 in the fourth, but missed a chance to blow the game open.
Luis Salazar and Shawon Dunston opened the inning with singles, and Joe Girardi reached to load the bases when LaCoss bobbled his sacrifice for an error.
On the play, LaCoss sustained a sprained left knee and was relieved by Jeff Brantley. LaCoss was scheduled for an MRI exam on Sunday.
Sutcliffe hit into a 3-2-3 double play, but Dunston came home on a wild pitch.
The Cubs started a lineup with a .336 career average against LaCoss, and they proved it was no fluke.
With one out in the first inning, both Sandberg and Dwight Smith singled and moved up on a wild pitch.
Sandberg foul-tipped a pitch with an 0-2 count, and the replay showed catcher Kennedy caught the ball. But home plate umpire Terry Tata ruled Kennedy did not have total possession.