That was John Baker’s morning on Wednesday. The Cubs’ backup receiver worked a scoreless top of the 16th, then came home on Starlin Castro’s bases-loaded sac fly in the bottom half to beat the Rockies, 4-3.
This being the Cubs, of course, Twitter was ready with the quips, even in the middle of the night:
For the record, Baker has half as many wins for the Cubs as Samardzija has this season. He trails Jackson, Tuesday’s starter, 5-1.
Yep, Tuesday’s 6-hour, 27-minute marathon (a club record for time of game) has a name.
John Baker wins ‘The John Baker Game.’ (AP Photo/hosted by Imgur.com)
The funny thing is, the Cubs still had a reliever in the ‘pen in the 16th, closer Hector Rondon, but Rondon had pitched the previous two days and four of the past five, so Baker it was. He faced the minimum: Charlie Culberson (popup), Drew Stubbs (walk) and Cristhian Adames (double play grounder).
That would have been 2000 or 2001, when Baker played for Yarmouth-Dennis.
