Tom Glavine vs. Chris Holt
On paper this looked like a mismatch. Glavine was one the best hurlers of the 90s while Holt – well he wasn’t. And the Braves got the early jump as a struggling Ron Gant hit a 429’ 3-run homer in the 1st and it looked like the Braves were off and running. But again these Astros would not give up. They responded with 3 runs of their own in the 2nd as Jeff Bagwell, Tony Eusebio and that man Billy Spiers had consecutive singles and Manager Ryan was executing his ‘small ball’ to perfection. The Braves broke the tie in the sixth thanks to 2 errors by the usually dependable Bagwell. Otis Nixon got the RBI as the Braves finally got a hit with RISP. They struggled mightily with this during the entire series.
But these Astros are a confident bunch. They came back to tie the game in the 7 th on a single by Derek Bell, a sacrifice bunt by Barker and RBI single by Ricky Gutierrez. It would stay that way until the bottom of the 10th. Kent Mercker, who was pitching his 3rd inning of relieve, retired the first two batters. Then he hit Carl Everett. While I’m sure every pitcher threw at Everett one time or another during his career, why Mercker choose that spot to do it – we may never know. Everett then promptly stole second. Bagwell was intentionally walked to get to Eusebio. But after a great duel, Tony Eusebio grounded 3-2 curveball into left for the game winning hit. A wild celebration took place on the field. It was now the Astros who boarded their plane back to Atlanta full of confidence and fully believing they can win this series.
Series tied 2-2
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