Terrance Gore tries, fails to save Cubs season with fake hit by pitch

Jason Owens
Terrance Gore did his best acting job to earn first base and save the Cubs’ season before video replay showed definitively that he was not hit by a pitch. (AP)
Terrance Gore did his best acting job to earn first base and save the Cubs’ season before video replay showed definitively that he was not hit by a pitch. (AP)

Tuesday’s National League Wild Card game between the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies was a doozy.

More than five hours after it started, the Rockies prevailed, 2-1 in 13 innings to advance to an NL Division Series matchup with the Milwaukee Brewers while ending the Cubs season in front of a dejected Wrigley Field crowd.

Terrance Gore not at home in the batter’s box

The Cubs didn’t fail to advance for a lack of trying. They scratched and clawed the entire game, including Terrance Gore’s last-ditch effort to act his way onto first base in the bottom of the 13th with the Cubs trailing, 2-1.

Gore, a little-used hitter on the team strictly for his speed, was in the game after pinch running for Anthony Rizzo on first base in the eighth inning. The move paid off when Gore stole second and eventually scored the game-tying run.

But he is a liability in the batter’s box, a player who tallied a grand total of five plate appearances this season while nabbing six stolen bases.

Gore saw an opportunity

When Rockies reliever Scott Oberg threw an inside fastball that missed catcher Tony Wolters’ glove and clipped home plate umpire Chris Guccione, Gore saw his chance to get on base. He flinched as if the pitch hit him, and he was granted first base, a destination he was unlikely to achieve with his bat.

Replay proves Rockies right

But Bud Black wasn’t buying it. The Rockies manager called for a replay, which showed definitively that the ball did not hit Gore. When ordered back to the batter’s box, Gore did not protest.

Gore swung at ball four on the next pitch on a 3-2 count for the first out of the inning. The Cubs would not score again.

Gore can’t be blamed for trying. It was a close call, and a pitch that would have hit him had he not dodged out of the way. But in the end, replay got things right.

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