ON TUESDAY NIGHT, MONDAY DELIVERS
2 HR, 7 RBIs in Cubs Romp
ATLANTA, Aug. 31 (AP) - Rick Monday belted his league-leading 32nd and 33rd home
runs of the season, one a grand slam, and drove in seven as the Chicago Cubs
cruised past the Atlanta Braves 11-5 at Fulton County Stadium. On a rainy
night before the smallest crowd to witness a game in Atlanta this year, the Cubs
first baseman led his club with three hits and three runs scored.
After two scoreless frames the Cubs jumped on Braves starter Frank LaCorte for a
pair of runs. Monday singled with two outs and scored on Jose Cardenal's
double into the right field corner. Bill Madlock was walked intentionally
after LaCorte fell behind 3-0 and Jerry Morales followed by grounding a single
through the middle, scoring Monday to give Chicago a 2-0 lead.
The Cubs broke open the game in the fourth and chased LaCorte in the
process. Manny Trillo and George Mitterwald opened the inning with
consecutive base hits, putting runners on first and second and then shocked the
Atlanta starter by pulling off a double steal. With runners on second and
third and no outs Mick Kelleher lined to third but LaCorte dug his own grave by
walking the opposing pitcher. The base on balls to Rick Reuschel filled
the bases for Monday. After ball one, Monday guessed fastball and he
wasn't disappointed, driving the 1-0 offering into the stands far beyond the
right-center field fence for a grand slam and a 6-0 Chicago lead. That was
it for LaCorte, who was replaced on the mound by Buzz Capra.
The Braves cut the deficit to four runs in the bottom of the fourth when Ken
Henderson reached on a two-out infield single and trotted home on Jimmy Wynn's
15th home run of the season but the Cubs got them back in the fifth when
Reuschel and Monday drew consecutive bases loaded walks from Capra and, after he
was pulled, Mike Beard, to give Chicago an 8-2 lead.
The outcome was never really in doubt from that point on. Trillo's
sacrifice fly in the sixth upped the Cubs' advantage to seven runs and then
Monday capped their scoring in the seventh when, after Reuschel reached base for
the third time in the game with a single, the major league home run leader
drilled his second long ball of the contest--this one landing in the right field
bullpen.
Trailing 11-2, the Braves scored a couple of consolation runs in the seventh on
a Jerry Royster single, which ended Reuschel's night in favor of Joe Coleman,
and a Rod Gilbreath sacrifice fly. Vic Correll's solo home run in the
bottom of the ninth accounted for the final score.
Monday's seven runs batted in make him just the fourth player to drive in more
than six runs in a game thus far this season. Joe Morgan of the Reds (8,
twice), Richie Allen (7) of the Phillies and Dave May (7) of the Braves are the
others. Monday is the first major leaguer to drive in more than six runs
this year since Morgan drove home eight on June 7 at Pittsburgh.
8/31/1976, ChN76-Atl76, Fulton County Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1976 Cubs 0 0 2 4 2 1 2 0 0 11 13 1 8 0 1976 Braves 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 1 5 8 2 5 0 Cubs AB R H BI AVG Braves AB R H BI AVG Monday 1b 5 3 3 7 .301 Royster 3b 5 0 1 1 .281 Cardenal lf 5 1 2 1 .288 Gilbreath 2b 3 0 0 1 .234 Madlock 3b 4 1 1 0 .334 Office cf 4 0 0 0 .331 Morales,Je rf 4 0 1 1 .249 Leon p 0 0 0 0 .000 Wallis cf 5 1 2 0 .214 Montanez 1b 4 0 1 0 .319 Trillo 2b 4 1 1 1 .225 Henderson,K rf 4 1 2 0 .272 Mitterwald c 5 2 2 0 .173 Wynn lf 4 1 1 2 .195 Kelleher ss 5 0 0 0 .202 Chaney ss 4 0 0 0 .266 Reuschel,R p 2 2 1 1 .224 Correll c 4 2 2 1 .220 Coleman p 1 0 0 0 .182 LaCorte p 1 0 1 0 .130 Knowles p 0 0 0 0 .000 Capra p 0 0 0 0 .000 40 11 13 11 Beard p 0 0 0 0 .000 Paciorek ph 1 0 0 0 .306 Devine p 0 0 0 0 .000 May,D ph 1 1 0 0 .222 35 5 8 5 Cubs INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Reuschel,R W 13-17 6.1 7 4 4 1 1 93 63 4.09 Coleman 2.0 1 1 1 0 2 26 20 5.28 Knowles 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 4 3 2.92 9.0 8 5 5 1 3 123 86 Braves INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA LaCorte L 5-5 3.1 7 6 6 2 3 72 44 3.90 Capra 1.1 2 2 2 2 0 23 13 4.50 Beard 0.1 0 0 0 1 0 10 5 2.73 Devine 2.0 4 3 3 0 2 28 22 2.95 Leon 2.0 0 0 0 0 1 27 20 2.36 9.0 13 11 11 5 6 160 104 Atl: Paciorek batted for Beard in the 5th May,D batted for Devine in the 7th Wynn moved to cf in the 8th May,D moved to lf in the 8th E-Kelleher, Montanez, Correll. 2B-Cardenal(17). HR-Monday 2(34), Wynn(15), Correll(6). RBI-Monday 7(70), Cardenal(42), Morales,Je(62), Trillo(36), Reuschel,R(6), Royster(32), Gilbreath(25), Wynn 2(55), Correll(17). SB-Cardenal(22), Trillo(13), Mitterwald(1). K-Morales,Je 2, Wallis, Trillo, Kelleher, Reuschel,R, Wynn, Chaney, Paciorek. BB-Monday, Madlock, Morales,Je, Reuschel,R 2, May,D. SF-Trillo, Gilbreath. WP-Reuschel,R. GWRBI: Cardenal Temperature: 82, Field: wet, Sky: threatening, Wind: left to right at 18 MPH. Attendance: 4,561 Game Time: 2:48