Just one day after Orlando Merced thrilled a full house at Wrigley Field with a pinch-hit, three-run walkoff homer (written up here last Friday), the Cubs did it again against the Brewers, this time with longtime
fan favorite Mark Grace doing the honors.
This game also featured Sammy Sosa’s 61st and 62nd home runs, at the end of this game he had tied Mark McGwire in that year’s home run race.
The Cubs spotted Milwaukee a 2-0 lead before exploding for six runs in the third. No home runs were hit in that inning; instead, it was RBI hits from Steve Trachsel (!), José Hernandez, Grace, Glenallen Hill and two from Gary Gaetti, who had a monstrous couple of months after the Cubs picked him up for nothing.
The Cubs extended their lead to 8-3 in the fifth on Sosa’s first homer of the game, but the Cubs pen could not hold the lead. Terry Mulholland, who was generally reliable that year, gave the Brewers a four-spot in the eighth and another run scored off Chris Haney in the ninth to give the Brewers a 10-8 lead going to the bottom of the ninth.
Sosa’s 62nd home run made it 10-9 with one out. Here’s that home run:
Henry Rodriguez followed with a double. Gaetti singled in Rodriguez to tie the game and send it to extras.
Rod Beck retired the Brewers in order in the 10th and in the bottom of the inning, the first two Cubs made routine outs.
That brought up Grace. Boom!
The look on Grace’s face as he rounds the bases is like, “What just happened?”
Grace went on to win a World Series with the Diamondbacks in 2001, and the following year he was sent in to pitch with the D-backs losing 18-0 to the Dodgers. The batter was future Cubs manager David Ross, playing in just his fourth MLB game:
Since his playing career ended, Grace has broadcast games for the Diamondbacks, for Fox Sports, and a few for Marquee Sports Network. He also served as D-backs hitting coach in 2015. It should also be noted that Grace served some jail time in Arizona after a DUI arrest in 2013.
