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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
PITTSBURGH -- Plenty of flashbulbs popped as fans tried to
catch the last home run at Three Rivers Stadium, but the game was
hardly a Kodak moment for the home team.
|  | | Sunday was the last time Three Rivers Stadium will be set up for baseball. |
Shane Andrews hit a two-run double off Scott Sauerbeck as the
Chicago Cubs rallied in the eighth inning Sunday and beat the
Pittsburgh Pirates 10-9.
With one of the most famous scores in Pirates' history -- Bill
Mazeroski's homer won Game 7 of 1960 World Series 10-9 over the
Yankees at Forbes Field -- the Pirates finished 1,324-1,080 at Three
Rivers Stadium, the site of Roberto Clemente's 3,000th hit and home
of two World Series champions in 1971 and '79.
The Pirates will move less than a quarter mile east across a
parking lot next year to PNC Park. Pittsburgh Steelers and University of
Pittsburgh football games remain for Three Rivers, which will be
demolished next year.
"Believe me, knowing that PNC Park will be on grass, I feel
better already," said Kevin Young, the Pirates first baseman who
has battled knee injuries this season.
Three Rivers, which opened in 1970, was a cookie-cutter like
Riverfront in Cincinnati and Veterans in Philadelphia. Initially
praised for doing double-duty for football and baseball, it lost
favor because it had poor sight lines, lacked swanky luxury boxes
and had tens of thousands of empty seats for many baseball games.
Fans brought faded signs from the 1970s, including ones honoring
1979 heroes Willie Stargell and Dave Parker and another saying
"Think Pennant" from someone who apparently has not checked the
National League standings lately. The Pirates (69-93) finished
fifth in the NL East, the Cubs (65-97) sixth.
"When you lose 97 games, you better be busy in the offseason,"
manager Don Baylor said. "It is not going to be easy to do it in
one year, but I don't like this losing."
Sister Sledge, whose hit "We Are Family" was adopted by the
1979 team and helped inspire three consecutive victories against the
Baltimore Orioles in the World Series after being down 3-1, brought
back a chorus of the hit after singing "The Star-Spangled Banner"
on Sunday.
The game was likely the last with the Pirates for manager Gene
Lamont, whose contract has not been renewed and who is expected to
announce his own firing Monday morning, an hour before owner Kevin
McClatchy's news conference on his fate. Lamont got a 90-second
standing ovation from the crowd and hugs from Brian Giles and John
Vander Wal as lineups were announced.
The Pirates fell short of McClatchy's spring prediction of 90
victories.
"You don't get more professional that Gene Lamont. He's a class
act. We're all going to miss him," Jason Kendall said. "I wish we
could have gotten a win for him."
John Wehner, who came to Three Rivers for baseball games as a
boy, hit a two-run home run to give the Pirates an 8-5 lead in the
fifth before 55,351 fans, a Three Rivers record for baseball,
surpassing the 54,399 who attended a 5-2 defeat to Houston on April
4.
"I never had a curtain call before, at any level," Wehner said
of his ovation. "I was running on air around the bases. Believe
me, it's ironic with the way my career has gone, so up and down,
that I had the last home run and the last out at Three Rivers."
Adrian Brown, who won the starting center field job after Chad
Hermansen failed in his first full season, also homered for the
Pirates. But Brown lined out to Grace in the eighth, killing a
rally as Mike Benjamin was doubled off first.
With Pittsburgh ahead 8-7 in the eighth, Sauerback (5-4) walked
Sammy Sosa leading off and Mark Grace singled. Andrews doubled for
a 9-8 lead and Augie Ojeda hit a run-scoring double.
Kyle Farnsworth (2-9) pitched two hitless innings for the victory.
Jeff Huson, 4-for-7 in the Pirates series since an 0-for-29
slump, had two singles and scored two runs. The Cubs started the
season with a 5-2 victory over the Mets in Japan but lost 14 of their
last 20 and 18 of their last 25 games.
"We won the first one in Tokyo and the last one. What killed us
were the things in the middle," Baylor said.
Cubs starter Jon Lieber gave up eight runs -- seven earned -- and
nine hits in five innings. Pirates starter Kris Benson gave up five
runs -- four earned -- and seven hits in five innings.
"I wish I could have put on a lot better show," said Lieber,
who made his first big-league start at Three Rivers and asked
Baylor to start Sunday.
Vander Wal singled in Kendall to pull the Pirates to a run down in the ninth, but Wehner grounded out against Jamie Arnold, who got
his first save.
Game notes
Pirates reliever Josias Manzanillo threw the 1999 club's
record 67th wild pitch in the sixth inning. The 1988 Pirates had 66
wild pitches. ... Cubs fans mark Sept. 24 as an anniversary that
involves Three Rivers -- Rick Sutcliffe's two-hitter on that day in
1984 gave Chicago its first playoff appearance in 39 years. ... The
three-game Cubs series drew 138,937 fans, also a Three Rivers
record for baseball. ... Sosa's double in the fifth inning was his
89th extra base hit of the season, tying a career high, set last
year. He had 50 homers, following years of 66 and 63, and became
only the third player with three seasons of 50 or more. Babe Ruth
and Mark McGwire are the others. ... The Cubs were 87-157 at Three
Rivers since it opened.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Chicago Cubs Clubhouse
Pittsburgh Clubhouse
RECAPS
Cleveland 11
Toronto 4
Detroit 12
Minnesota 11
Tampa Bay 3
Boston 2
Baltimore 7
NY Yankees 3
Kansas City 6
Chi. White Sox 2
Seattle 5
Anaheim 2
Oakland 3
Texas 0
Colorado 10
Atlanta 5
NY Mets 3
Montreal 2
St. Louis 6
Cincinnati 2
Florida 7
Philadelphia 5
Chicago Cubs 10
Pittsburgh 9
San Diego 4
Los Angeles 0
San Francisco 11
Arizona 4
Houston 6
Milwaukee 1
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