NLCS Game 5: Pirates 3, Braves 2...Bucs win NL Pennant

GAME 5 - Forbes Field
John Smoltz vs Bob Veale
Pirates 3, Braves 2

Up 3 games to 1 the Bucs sent Bob Veale to the hill to close the game out.  Veale's escape artist performance would have made the great Houdini proud.  After Otis Nixon led the game off with a clean single to center Jeff Blauser wound up on first courtesy of a rare dropped ball in right by the great Clemente.  David Justice legged out a infield single to load the bases with nobody out.  Ron Gant walked on 4 pitches to make it 1-0 and the makings of a big inning were right there for the taking.  Instead Veale went deep into his book of magic striking out McGriff and Pendleton and forcing Berryhill to ground back to the box.  The Braves got 1 run, but they did not take full advantage of the bases loaded situation that they had.  A one out single by Stargell in the bottom of the inning scored Matty Alou to tie the game a 1 all.  The game remained tied until the top of the 5th when Veale walked Blauser with 1 out and Gant with 2 out, then was victimized by a Texas Leaguer to right by McGriff to score Blauser and make it 2-1.  Pendleton was up next and he hit a bullet to right.  Gant, feeling his oats, decided to take a shot at scoring.  Most times it's a great decision to draw the throw and tempt the arm of the outfielder, that is unless the outfielder's name is Roberto Clemente.  "Bob" came up throwing and threw a dart to the plate for Pagliaroni to easily tag Gant for the final out of the inning.  Atlanta clung to a tenuous 1 run lead heading into the bottom of the 7th.  Smoltzie fanned pinch hitter Jerry Lynch to start the inning and looked to have an easy second out when catcher Damon Berryhill dropped a pop up in front of the plate and the speedy Alou ran down the line and reached 1st easily.  After Gene Alley singled to put runners on 1st and 2nd, Clemente struck out for the second out of the inning.  Stargell, who was 2 for 2 with a walk to this point was unintentionally walked by Smoltz to face the righty Donn Clendenon, who lined a single to left to score Alou and Alley and give the Bucs a 3-2 lead.

Atlanta managed just a harmless walk in the top of the 8th vs reliever Don Schwall.  Pittsburgh threatened to score in the bottom of the inning but reliever Kent Mercker was able to get 3 out in a row and strand a Buc runner at third with what might have been a coffin nail run.  That new life paid off dividends immediately as pinch hitter Deion Sanders walked on 5 pitches off of closer Pete Mikkelson.  With the speedy Sanders on 1st the Bucs started paying him more attention than pinch hitter Sid Bream.  Sanders got himself a nice running lead and headed for second as Bream lined one to first that the nimble Clendennon layed out for and caught in the webbing of his glove.  Sanders was nearly on second when Clendenon caught the ball and was a dead duck at first as Clendenon rose to his feet to double up the 2 sport star.  With 2 out Otis Nixon worked the count to 3-2 and eventually walked.  Atlanta was not going to go down without a fight.  Mikkelson, who was obviously laboring, still had the ball in his hand since no one was warming in Pittsburgh's pen.  Jeff Blauser stepped to the plate and he too worked the count to 3-2.  On the pay off pitch Mikkelson painted the black with a hard sinker that Blauser swung over for strike 3 to end the series

Special thanks to Ron Burnette who had a fabulous season with the Braves and battled right down to the wire for the NL Pennant.  Even though this series went just 5 games, all of the games were tight and could have gone either way.  Ron's a fantastic competitor and one of the great recent additions to the KOD family.
Pittsburgh wins series 4-1