1992 National League Championship Series Game 7

The 1992 National League Championship Series Game 7, played on October 14, 1992 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, was the last game of the 1992 National League Championship Series between the Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates. Atlanta's dramatic three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth won the game and the National League pennant for the Braves. As of 2011, this game marked the last time that the Pirates had a winning season (as well as their last appearance in the playoffs).
The season
The Braves were attempting to return to the World Series one year after their dramatic seven-game loss to the Minnesota Twins. Atlanta featured largely the same lineup that had won the 1991 pennant, but they still fell into a tie for last place, seven games behind the Giants, by the end of May. However, Atlanta went 19-6 in June and 16-9 in July and pulled away from the rest of the NL West by winning 15 of their first 18 games in August.
The Pirates were in the NLCS for the third year in a row after losing to the eventual World Series champion Cincinnati Reds in 1990 and the Braves in 1991. It was also the third of four straight NLCS appearances by either the Pirates or their in-state rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Pirates lost slugging right fielder Bobby Bonilla to free agency after the 1991 season, replacing him with speedster Alex Cole. Ace pitcher John Smiley was traded to the Minnesota Twins. Despite the departure of Smiley and Bonilla, Pittsburgh charged out to a seven-game lead by late June, suffered through an 11-15 July that allowed the Montreal Expos to tie them for the lead by the end of the month, then won eleven straight in early August before pulling away from the Expos in September to earn its third straight NL East title, becoming the first team to win 3 straight NL East titles since the Phillies from 1976 to 1978. Future home run champion Barry Bonds won his second MVP Award and led the Pirates with 34 home runs and 103 RBI.
Pressure beyond the moment made it imperative for the Pirates to break through and win the pennant in 1992. Financial demands had already resulted in losing Smiley and Bonilla, and the departure of pending free agents Bonds (left fielder) and Doug Drabek (starting pitcher) loomed. 1992 appeared to be the last chance for Pittsburgh to win with its current core of players.
The series
John Smoltz dominated the Pirates in Game 1 and Atlanta won 5-1. The Braves knocked Danny Jackson out of Game 2 in the second inning and went on to win 13-5. Rookie Tim Wakefield, who'd made his big league debut on July 31 and made thirteen starts for the Pirates, threw a complete game to win Game 3 for the Pirates by a 3-2 score. In Game 4, the Braves chased Pirate ace Doug Drabek from the game in the fifth and won 6-4.
Atlanta now led three games to one. No team had lost a series that they led three games to once since the St. Louis Cardinals blew the 1985 World Series against the Kansas City Royals, and it had only happened once in League Championship Series play when those same Royals came from behind to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays, who were led by Bobby Cox at the time. However, disastrous Game 5 start ( of an inning pitched, 4 ER) led to a 7-1 Pittsburgh victory in Game 5, and the Pirates won Game 6 behind another complete game effort from Wakefield, which featured a Bonds home run in an 8 run Pittsburgh second inning against Tom Glavine. (Bonds had doubled in game 5, breaking his post season no extra base hit slump dating back to the 1990 NLCS).
The game
Pittsburgh ace Doug Drabek faced off against John Smoltz. Cole led off the top of the first with a walk and scored on a sacrifice fly. In the second inning, 320-pound home plate umpire John McSherry, feeling ill, called time and left the stadium. Randy Marsh moved from first base to home plate. Three and a half years later, seven pitches into Cincinnati's 1996 Opening Day matchup against Montreal, McSherry collapsed and died of a heart attack on the field.
In the bottom of the third Atlanta catcher Damon Berryhill led off with a double but was stranded. In the fifth José Lind of the Pirates doubled with one out but was stranded. Pittsburgh struck for its second run in the sixth inning, when Jay Bell led off with a double and Andy Van Slyke singled to bring him home. In the bottom of that same inning the Braves wasted a golden opportunity. Mark Lemke led off with a single, then Jeff Treadway, pinch-hitting for Smoltz, followed with another single. bunt single loaded the bases with nobody out. However, line drive went straight to Pirate third baseman Jeff King, who caught it and doubled Lemke off of third base. Terry Pendleton lined out to left to end the threat, and the score remained Pittsburgh 2, Atlanta 0.
Both teams wasted further scoring chances in the seventh. For the Pirates in the top of the inning, leadoff single was followed by an intentional walk and an unintentional walk, bringing Van Slyke to the plate with the bases loaded and two out. Steve Avery entered the game in relief and retired Van Slyke on a fly ball to center. In the bottom of the seventh Sid Bream doubled with one out for Atlanta and Ron Gant walked, but Berryhill and Lonnie Smith each flied out and the inning was over. Neither team scored in the eighth and the Pirates stranded Lloyd McClendon at second in the top of the ninth. Atlanta came to bat in the bottom of the ninth three outs from defeat, and the Pirates were three outs away from their first National League championship since winning the 1979 World Series.
Bottom of the ninth
Pendleton, who hit .311 in 1992, led off with a double in the right field corner. It landed fair by two feet. booted the ball. Justice was safe at first on the error and Pendleton advanced to third. Drabek then walked Sid Bream to load the bases. Pirate manager Jim Leyland then took Drabek out of the game after 129 pitches, and sent in reliever Stan Belinda.
The next batter, Gant, flied out to Bonds in deep left. Pendleton tagged and came home to make the score 2-1, but Justice, the tying run, remained at second. Catcher Damon Berryhill was next. On a 3-1 pitch that appeared to be a strike, Belinda walked Berryhill and the bases were again loaded. Braves manager Bobby Cox sent up pinch-hitter Brian Hunter for light-hitting second baseman Rafael Belliard. Hunter popped up for the second out. With pitcher Jeff Reardon due up, Cox sent in another pinch-hitter, Francisco Cabrera.
Cabrera had hit a clutch home run in August 1991 to tie a game against the Cincinnati Reds, leading to the Braves eventual victory. However, in 1992 Cabrera, who played first base and catcher, was not called up from the minors until August 31 He went to the plate wondering if he'd have to play second base in extra innings, Belliard having been just taken out of the game. Pendleton told Cabrera to "Hit the ball over the shortstop".
Belinda threw a slider for ball one. The next pitch was a fastball for ball two. Belinda then threw a fastball over the plate that Cabrera hit very hard but foul into the left field seats.
Belinda threw another fastball, high, again over the plate. Cabrera hit the ball over the shortstop, as Pendleton instructed, and in front of Bonds in left
The Braves lost the 1992 World Series to the Toronto Blue Jays in six games. 1992 was the second of five pennants for the Braves from 1991 to 1999, but only one of those pennants was followed by a World Series victory, in . Francisco Cabrera went 0-1 in the 1992 Series. He played only one more season in the big leagues, accruing 91 plate appearances for the 1993 Braves. He later managed the St. Louis Cardinals' Dominican League affiliate.
The Pirates never recovered from their loss to the Braves. Bonds and Drabek left via free agency, signing with the Giants and Astros, respectively. Bonds went on to set the all-time MLB home run record with 762. The 1993 Pirates went 75-87. It was the first of 19 consecutive losing seasons (through 2011), an all-time record for major North American professional sports. as did John Smoltz immediately after the game. ESPN called the Pirates' defeat the eighth most painful in baseball history.

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