Expos 7, Padres 6 (10). Bill Gullickson started for the Expos, Mark Thurmond (who pitched about a third as many innings in his career as Gullickson) for the Padres.
Thurmond got off to a rocky start in the top of the first, allowing a single to Terry Francona and then walking Andre Dawson and Gary Carter to load the bases with two outs. Tim Wallach hit into a force to squander the opportunity, however, and after a pair of perfect half innings, San Diego got on the board with a Terry Kennedy homer in the bottom of the second.
Montreal had another opportunity in the third, and this time, they converted. Doug Flynn led off with a walk, and one out later, Tim Raines singled him to second. Dawson tied the game with a run-scoring single, and Carter followed with a 3-run homer to take the lead. Gullickson threw a perfect third, and the Expos struck again in the fourth on a two-out Francona single and a Raines homer. Dawson then reached on a Graig Nettles error and Carter doubled him to third, chasing Thurmond from the game; Floyd Chiffer got Wallach to fly out, ending the inning.
Gullickson allowed a single to Alan Wiggins in the fourth, but erased the runner on a double play from Nettles. In the fifth, Carmelo Martinez reached on a Wallach error, but never made it past first. However, Chiffer also worked a pair of scoreless innings, allowing only a Gullickson single between the two frames.
Chiffer was lifted for pinch hitter Tim Flannery in the sixth, and the Padre offense went to work. Flannery tripled, and Tony Gwynn grounded into a Flynn error to score him. Wiggins singled, Nettles struck out, and Steve Garvey and Kennedy both singled, driving in three runs between them. Andy McGaffigan replaced Gullickson and ended the inning without further scoring, but the lead had been reduced to a lone run.
Facing Craig Lefferts in the top of the seventh, Wallach singled, as did Angel Salazar. Pinch hitter Chris Speier flied out to leave both men on, and with Gary Lucas on the mound, Wiggins hit a two-out homer to tie the game in the bottom of the inning.
Montreal mounted a serious threat in the eighth, starting with a leadoff double by Flynn. Francona bunted the runner to third, and Raines walked and stole second behind him. Dawson grounded into an out at home, then stole second; Carter was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Wallach struck out, granting Lefferts a remarkable escape from a dire situation. Lucas worked around a Kevin McReynolds hit in the bottom of the eighth, Dave Dravecky allowed a Jim Wohlford single to open the ninth but kept him at second when the inning ended, and Jeff Reardon threw a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth to necessitate the playing of additional baseball.
Francona led off the top of the tenth with a single, and was pulled for pinch runner Miguel Dilone. Raines proceeded to double, scoring Dilone from first and taking third on the throw home. Dawson flied out, Carter reached on a Luis Salazar error but Raines stayed at third, and Wallach was hit by a pitch to load the bases; Dravecky then retired Wohlford and Angel Salazar to end the inning. The limitation of the deficit to a single run proved meaningless when Reardon once again set the Padres down in order to finish the game.
Tim Raines was very, very good in this game, going 3 for 5 with a walk, a double, a homer and a steal, and driving in the decisive run in the tenth inning. The combination earns him a highly impressive +.513 WPA - basically, his presence decided the game in Montreal's favor. There are a number of players for whom this would be a career effort, and far more for whom it would be in the top 2 or 3 games in their MLB tenures.
For Raines, it barely edges into the top 10. That's despite the fact that he spent most of his best years as a leadoff hitter, which is a role that's not prone to setting up large single-game WPA scores.
Which is to say: Tim Raines was really good.
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