The 1989 National League Championship Series was played between the National League West champion San Francisco Giants and the National League East champion Chicago Cubs. The Giants won the series four games to one, en route to losing to the Oakland Athletics in four games in the 1989 World Series.
Summary
Chicago Cubs vs. San Francisco Giants
Game summaries
Game 1
Wednesday, October 4, 1989, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois
The Giants entered the series as slight favorites due to the MVP season of Kevin Mitchell, the solid play of Will Clark, and the best ERA in baseball by pitcher Scott Garrelts. The Cubs had won their second NL East title in six seasons behind the excellent rookie performances of Jerome Walton and Dwight Smith, who finished one-two in the 1989 NL Rookie of the Year balloting. The Cubs also had three pitchers with 16 or more victories, Rick Sutcliffe, Mike Bielecki, and Greg Maddux, coming off his third full season in the majors. The opener pitted Maddux against Garrelts.
By the time the Cubs came to bat, the Giants had a 3–0 lead. Brett Butler led off with a single and moved to third on Rick Wrona's passed ball. Clark drove in his first run of the series with a double. Clark moved to third on Mitchell's single and scored along with Mitchell on Matt Williams' double. Maddux had given up three runs and recorded only one out, but he retired Terry Kennedy and Pat Sheridan to end the first. The Cubs came right back in the bottom of the first. Ryne Sandberg doubled and Mark Grace drilled a two-out, two-run homer to cut the Giants lead to 3–2. Clark got a run back when he homered in the third, but Sandberg's solo homer cut the Giants lead back to one. With the score 4–3, the Giants came to bat against Maddux in the fourth.
Pat Sheridan and José Uribe singled, and Uribe's steal put runners at second and third. Garrelts struck out, and the Cubs walked Butler intentionally hoping for a double play. Robby Thompson popped to shortstop, and the infield fly rule resulted in an automatic out. This set the stage for Clark with the bases loaded and two out. Having already driven in two runs, Clark tied the NLCS record for RBIs for an entire series in less than four innings when he drilled a grand slam to right that finished Maddux and the Cubs. The 8–3 lead ended in an 11–3 Giants victory when Mitchell nailed a three-run homer to close the scoring in the eighth. The Giants had drawn first blood and taken back home-field advantage.
Legend has it that Clark read Greg Maddux's lips during the mound visit before the grand slam, and that helped Clark pound a high fastball over the wall for a grand slam that helped the Giants steal Game 1 in Wrigley. Although, Clark's teammate, Bob Brenly, expressed doubts about the truth of that story. Postgame, Cubs' manager Don Zimmer summed up Clark's brilliant outing by saying "He [Clark] had a helluva week tonight."
Game 2
Thursday, October 5, 1989, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois
Giving the Giants a dose of their own Game 1 medicine, the Cubs ended Game 2 early with a six-run first inning, five of the runs coming against Giants starter and loser Rick Reuschel. After Mike Bielecki picked Butler off first and retired the side, the Cubs went to work. Jerome Walton singled and scored on Ryne Sandberg's triple. After Dwight Smith lined out to first, Mark Grace doubled Sandberg home. Reuschel struck out Andre Dawson, but Luis Salazar singled to score Grace and moved to second on a single by Shawon Dunston. The Giants walked Joe Girardi to get to the pitcher's spot, and Bielecki responded with a single that scored Salazar and Dunston to make it 5–0. Walton again singled, scoring Girardi, and when Kelly Downs retired Sandberg on a pop-up, the Cubs went back into the field with a 6–0 lead.
The game was essentially over after the first inning. The Giants cut the lead to 6–2 in the fourth when Will Clark singled and Kevin Mitchell homered for the second time in the series. But the Cubs got those runs plus another back in the sixth when Grace doubled with the bases loaded, scoring all three runners and giving the Cubs a 9–2 lead. The Giants got three cosmetic runs when Williams homered in the eighth and Robby Thompson homered in the ninth. But the Cubs' early scoring made it one game apiece as the series headed to San Francisco for Game 3. Les Lancaster got the win for the Cubs.