How about one more for the road?
One more Cub victory, that is.
The Cubs came traipsing home with a 2-5 record after Thursday`s pulsating 7-6 victory in 13 innings over the Montreal Expos at Olympic Stadium.
Shawon Dunston won it with his leadoff homer off Expos` ace reliever Jeff Reardon in the 13th. The Cubs had squandered a 6-1 lead after four innings before winning in front of 8,248.
''We needed this victory like oxygen,'' said Cub manager Jim Frey.
Lee Smith (1-2), who had been rocked in three previous outings, pitched three scoreless innings of relief. He walked one and allowed one hit.
''I had good pop on the ball. This definitely did something for my confidence,'' said Smith, who took over after George Frazier hurled two scoreless innings.
Dunston`s first homer of the year cleared the left-field fence.
The Cubs scored a run in the first, but stranded two runners. Starter Floyd Youmans, 21, who has a history of control problems, walked leadoff man Bobby Dernier on five pitches. Dernier stole second before Ryne Sandberg and Keith Moreland drew one-out walks to load the bases. Leon Durham`s sacrifice fly scored Dernier. But Jody Davis struck out to end the inning.
The big guys weren`t looking for walks in the third. Sandberg hit an inside-the-park homer off the right-field wall, and Durham blasted a two-run homer over the right-field wall to give the Cubs a 4-0 lead. Sandberg`s homer --his first of the season--sailed over the glove of leaping right-fielder Andre Dawson. The ball caromed into the right-field corner, and Sandberg scored easily.
Durham`s homer was his second of the season.
The Expos loaded the bases with nobody out in the third off Cubs` starter Steve Trout, but came away with only one run. Pitcher Dan Schatzeder, batting for Youmans in his second pinch-hitting appearance of the series, opened the inning with a single to center. Tim Raines lined a base hit to center and Vance Law walked. Dawson grounded into a double play, scoring Schatzeder, a Willowbrook High School graduate. Hubie Brooks then was retired on a topper in front of the plate.
The Cubs added two runs in the fourth to take a 6-1 lead.
Dernier drew a two-out walk from Schatzeder, who remained in the game after pinch-hitting. Gary Matthews reached on an error by third baseman Tim Wallach. Sandberg`s single scored Dernier and Keith Moreland`s base hit brought Matthews home with the second unearned run.
Dawson and Brooks atoned for their earlier offensive lapses with back-to- back homers in the fifth. Schatzeder opened with a triple just inside the first-base bag and scored on Raines` sacrifice fly. Dawson and Brooks deposited homers in the exact spot in right-center field to pull the Expos within 6-4.