Flashback Friday: Maddux beats Foxes (1985)

Greg Maddux was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday afternoon. He was a first-ballot selection after winning 355 games and striking out 3371 batters in a career that saw him play for the Chicago Cubs, the Atlanta Braves, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the San Diego Padres.

Maddux spent the 1985 season with the Peoria Chiefs. He faced the Appleton Foxes at Peoria on

June 20, 1985. Here is the wire report of the game between the Foxes and Peoria Chiefs that appeared in the June 21, 1985 edition of The Post-Crescent.

PEORIA - The Peoria Chiefs took advantage of 10 walks and 5 Appleton errors to post a 9-4 victory over the Foxes Thursday at Meinen Field.

Appleton, 46-20, maintained its 11-1/2 game lead in the Midwest League's Northern Division because Madison also lost, 12-6, at Cedar Rapids.

The Foxes scored all their runs in the seventh inning. Jim Winters led off with a base hit, and later scored on Wes Kent's 1-out single. After an infield hit by John Cainiello, Pete Venturini slapped an RBI-single to left field.

Mike Taylor followed with a double, his fourth in 2 days, to drive in Venturini and Cainiello. Tim Rice relieved winner Greg Maddux, 8-4, and did not surrender a hit in the final 2 innings.

The Chiefs capitalized on 2 Cainiello errors to score 3 unearned runs in the sixth inning. It was capped by a 2-run double by Bryan House, who had also tripled and scored in the first inning on a wild pitch by loser Ken Reed, 5-2.

In his first official [professional] at bat, Manny Lezcano, brother of Pittsburgh Pirate and former Milwaukee Brewer Sixto, cracked a home run in the eighth inning. House led the Chiefs with 3 hits.

Taylor and Winters had 2 hits apiece to lead the Foxes.

Last night's attendance was 5,178. It was the first time in Chief history that attendance has surpassed 5,000 for consecutive games. Wednesday night, 5,303 fans attended the Foxes-Chiefs game.

Appleton plays at Peoria again tonight.

NOTES:

The line for Maddux in that game was: 6.IP, 10H, 4R, 4ER, 1BB, 2K. He picked up the win to move his record to 8-4.

Rafael Palmeiro was the left fielder for the Chiefs that night. He hit third in the order and went 1-for-3 with a run scored.

Maddux was 19 years old at the time. He finished the year at 13-9 with a 3.19 ERA over 186 innings in 27 starts. Maddux walked 52 and struck out 125 in 1985 with the Chiefs.