Game 1 Tuesday, October 6, 1992 (8:42pm EDT) at
Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium in
Atlanta, Georgia {{Linescore| The first game of the NLCS pitted Atlanta's
John Smoltz against Pittsburgh ace
Doug Drabek. Smoltz was the winning pitcher in Game 7 of the previous NLCS, where the Braves shut out the Pirates, 4–0. Drabek had won once and lost once in the 1991 NLCS. The Braves scored all five of their runs in the first seven innings. In the second,
Mark Lemke's single scored
Sid Bream to put Atlanta on the board. They added two more in the fourth inning as Bream doubled to score
David Justice and then scored on an error when
Orlando Merced threw the ball away while attempting to field a bunt.
Jeff Blauser's home run in the fifth made it 4–0, and
Terry Pendleton drove in
Otis Nixon in the seventh to complete the Braves' scoring. The Pirates'
José Lind was responsible for his team's only run as he homered in the eighth inning off of Smoltz. Lind's run, however, was the first the Pirates had scored against the Braves in 30 innings, going back to Lind's RBI single in Game 5 of the 1991 NLCS. Smoltz went eight innings for the win, while Drabek suffered the loss and was pulled in the fifth inning.
Game 2 Wednesday, October 7, 1992 (3:08pm EDT) at
Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium in
Atlanta, Georgia {{Linescore| Atlanta's
Steve Avery, who defeated Pittsburgh twice in the 1991 NLCS without surrendering a run, started Game 2 in Atlanta while
Danny Jackson, who was a late season acquisition from the
Chicago Cubs, started for Pittsburgh. The Braves scored early and often in Game 2. Jackson gave up a single to
Brian Hunter, then walked
Ron Gant.
Damon Berryhill followed with a single to drive in Hunter, and
Mark Lemke added one of his own to score Gant. Avery then flied out to center field to score Berryhill from third, and after Otis Nixon popped out
Jeff Blauser followed with a triple, scoring Berryhill and chasing Jackson from the game. In the fifth, Gant faced
Bob Walk with the bases loaded and two out. On the third pitch of the at-bat Gant hit a deep fly ball to left field that cleared the fence for a grand slam home run, his first career grand slam. With Avery still pitching a shutout into the seventh, the Pirates struck. With
Barry Bonds on base and one out,
Lloyd McClendon doubled to score him.
Don Slaught followed with a walk and
Jose Lind hit a triple after that, scoring both runners ahead of him and making it an 8–3 game. With
Cecil Espy batting, Avery then threw a wild pitch enabling Lind to score and cut the lead in half. After Espy singled,
Marvin Freeman came in to relieve the tiring Avery and retired
Orlando Merced to get the second out.
Jay Bell followed with a single, but
Mike Stanton forced
Andy Van Slyke to ground out to end the inning. The Braves put the game out of reach in the bottom of the seventh. With Gant on base and two outs, Stanton doubled him home.
Denny Neagle then intentionally walked Nixon and unintentionally walked Blauser, then gave up a double to
Terry Pendleton to score Stanton and Nixon.
David Justice then singled, scoring Blauser and Pendleton and ending Neagle's afternoon. The Braves did not score again, and after Slaught scored on a passed ball in the eighth nothing further was done and the Braves took a 2–0 lead in the series with a 13–5 victory. Avery kept his winning streak in postseason play intact, having yet to lose in five postseason starts. Jackson took the loss after giving up the first four Atlanta runs.
Game 3 Friday, October 9, 1992 (8:39pm EDT) at
Three Rivers Stadium in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania {{Linescore| As play moved to
Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Atlanta turned to 20-game winner
Tom Glavine to try to give them a 3–0 series lead. Pittsburgh countered with rookie
Tim Wakefield, a
knuckleballer who had made 13 starts during the season. The first run of the game came in the top of the fourth as
Sid Bream homered to give the Braves an early 1–0 lead. In the bottom of the next inning,
Don Slaught hit a home run of his own to tie the score. The Pirates added a run in the sixth to take the lead as
Andy Van Slyke scored on a Jeff King double. Ron Gant hit a home run in the top of the seventh to tie the game, but the Pirates scored what proved to be the winning run in the bottom of the seventh as Van Slyke doubled to score
Gary Redus. Wakefield pitched a complete game and earned a victory. Glavine took the loss after pitching seven innings.
Game 4 Saturday, October 10, 1992 (8:39pm EDT) at
Three Rivers Stadium in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania {{Linescore| Game 4 saw a rematch of the Game 1 starters, as
Doug Drabek faced
John Smoltz for the second time. As they had in Game 1, Atlanta scored early against Drabek. With two runners on and two out in the second, Smoltz drove in the first run by singling to center and scoring
Ron Gant.
Otis Nixon followed by singling himself, scoring
Mark Lemke. Pittsburgh responded in their half by scoring twice, as a single by
Alex Cole with one out scored
Mike LaValliere. On the same play,
Jose Lind scored as
Jeff Blauser made a throwing error at shortstop.
Orlando Merced drove in a run in the third by doubling home Jeff King. In the top of the fifth, the Braves scored again as
David Justice singled with two runners on, scoring Nixon.
Randy Tomlin came in to face pinch-hitter
Brian Hunter, and he promptly grounded to third. King, however, decided to throw home to try to get Blauser at the plate and made an error allowing a second run to score. Atlanta scored twice more the next inning as Nixon drove in Smoltz with a two out double and scored himself when Blauser singled off of
Danny Cox.
Andy Van Slyke drove in Cole with a double in the seventh but the Pirates got no closer and
Jeff Reardon shut them down in the ninth inning to earn his first save of the postseason. Smoltz, in addition to scoring a run and driving in a run, stole a base and got his second win of the series. Drabek took his second loss, having failed to get out of the fifth inning for a second time in as many starts. The Braves now had a 3–1 series lead and needed only one more win to advance to their second consecutive World Series.
Game 5 Sunday, October 11, 1992 (8:44pm EDT) at
Three Rivers Stadium in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania {{Linescore| Looking to clinch the series, the Braves trotted out Steve Avery for the second time in the series. The Pirates decided not to go back to Danny Jackson after his performance in Game 2 and instead called on
Bob Walk, who also saw action in Game 2 and gave up the grand slam to Ron Gant that broke the game open, to make his first start of the series This time, the Pirates solved Avery after failing to do so in any of his three previous starts against them in the LCS.
Gary Redus led off the home first with a double, scoring on a single by
Jay Bell. Avery then induced a groundout off the bat of
Andy Van Slyke, which turned out to be the only out he recorded.
Barry Bonds, Jeff King, and
Lloyd McClendon all doubled following the first out, and three more runs scored before Avery was pulled. McClendon scored Bonds on a sacrifice fly in the third, Redus doubled in
Don Slaught in the sixth, and Slaught drove in King in the seventh with a single to make it 7–0. The Braves' only run came in the eighth, as
Lonnie Smith led off the inning with a triple and scored on a groundout. Smith's triple was one of only three hits Walk allowed in a complete game, the second for the Pirates in the series. As it took the Pirates until 2013 to reach the playoffs again, Game 5 of the NLCS was the last postseason game ever played in
Three Rivers Stadium.
Game 6 Tuesday, October 13, 1992 (8:44pm EDT) at
Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium in
Atlanta, Georgia {{Linescore| Game 6 saw the series return to Atlanta, with
Tom Glavine taking on
Tim Wakefield in a Game 3 rematch. Once again, as in Game 5, the Pirates scored early and often. After retiring the Pirates in order in the first, Glavine collapsed in the second.
Barry Bonds led off with a home run, and after singles by Jeff King and
Lloyd McClendon,
Don Slaught drove them both in with a double. An error by
Jeff Blauser allowed Slaught to score, and after Wakefield reached on a sacrifice bunt attempt
Gary Redus hit his fourth double of the series to drive in
Jose Lind.
Jay Bell then homered to score Redus and Wakefield. Glavine was pulled after this, having faced eight batters in the second without an out. With the Pirates' lead at 8–1 in the fifth, Lind doubled to score Slaught and McClendon, scored himself on a single by Redus, who scored on a single by
Andy Van Slyke. McClendon's home run in the sixth ended the Pittsburgh scoring.
David Justice hit two home runs in the late innings but they were meaningless as the Pirates tied the series. The stadium was largely empty by the end of the game as most fans left once the Pirates put the game out of reach—a bad omen for the Braves as seven of the previous ten teams that managed to come back from a 3–1 deficit to force a Game 7 had gone on to complete the comeback. Wakefield again went the distance for his second win—a somewhat questionable decision by Leyland, since had he removed him earlier once he had a comfortable lead, Wakefield could have been available for relief duty in Game 7 to supplant Pittsburgh's notoriously unreliable bullpen. Glavine's eight run, one-inning outing garnered him his second loss. ===
Game 7=== Wednesday, October 14, 1992 (8:30pm EDT) at
Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium in
Atlanta, Georgia {{Linescore| The deciding game of the NLCS featured the third matchup of the series between
John Smoltz and
Doug Drabek, after Games 1 and 4. Smoltz was an MVP candidate for the series, having started and won both of his games. Drabek had struggled in his two starts, failing to make it past the fifth inning in either matchup. However, the Pirates were carrying momentum from their previous two wins, having knocked out Steve Avery in the first inning and Tom Glavine in the second on their way to outscoring the Braves, 20–5, and looked to become the first team to win the NLCS after trailing, 3–1. The game that followed was regarded as one of the greatest ever, as years later
MLB Network ranked it the fourth best game of all time. The Pirates scored first as
Alex Cole led off with a walk, advanced to third on a double by
Andy Van Slyke, and scored on a sacrifice fly by
Orlando Merced. The Pirates would add a run in the sixth as
Jay Bell scored on a single by Van Slyke, and the lead held up as Drabek pitched his best game of the series in holding the Braves scoreless. The closest the Braves got to breaking through was in the sixth inning, when Drabek allowed three consecutive singles to
Mark Lemke,
Jeff Treadway, and
Otis Nixon to load the bases.
Jeff Blauser, however, lined into an unassisted double play and
Terry Pendleton lined out to
Barry Bonds in left to end the threat. An incident involving the umpires early in the game set a different tone that would come into play later on. In the second inning, home plate umpire
John McSherry became ill and complained of nausea and dizziness. After being checked out by the stadium medical staff, McSherry was removed from the game as a precaution and first base umpire
Randy Marsh was summoned over from his position to take over behind the plate. The move gave both Smoltz and Drabek a different target to hit for strikes as Marsh had a consistent strike zone that was much tighter than McSherry's. This was also the first public sign of what would later prove to be fatal cardiac issues for the veteran umpire; it was one of five times he would leave games with similar symptoms, and in 1996, on Opening Day in
Cincinnati, McSherry went into cardiac arrest and died on the field at
Riverfront Stadium while behind the plate. Although Drabek was able to hold the Braves in check, giving up only five hits in the first eight innings, the Pirates failed to take advantage of multiple opportunities in the late innings to add an insurance run.
Mike LaValliere led off the seventh inning with a single off of Mike Stanton, and after
José Lind lined out he advanced to second on a bunt by Drabek.
Lloyd McClendon then pinch-hit for Cole and was intentionally walked. Pete Smith then entered the game and issued a third walk to Bell, loading the bases for Van Slyke. However, the Braves got out of the jam when Game 5 loser Steve Avery, making a rare relief appearance, came in and induced a fly out to center field. After the Braves failed to score in the seventh, Avery faced the middle of the Pirates' order in the top of the eighth. Bonds led off with a single, but was thrown out on a force play at second with Merced reaching first. Jeff King followed with a double, but Justice threw out Merced trying to score for the second out. LaValliere lined out to end the inning. In the ninth, Braves closer
Jeff Reardon retired Lind on a fly out. With the pitcher due next,
Jim Leyland decided to keep Drabek in the game and he struck out for the second out. McClendon drew a walk, then advanced on a wild pitch. Pinch runner
Cecil Espy came in to replace McClendon, but he was stranded at second base as Bell grounded out. Pittsburgh was now three outs away from advancing to their first World Series since
1979. If the lead held, Braves manager
Bobby Cox would have become the first manager in the era of seven-game LCS play to have blown two 3–1 series leads and lost; Cox previously had seen this happen in
1985, when his
Toronto Blue Jays lost to the eventual World Series champion
Kansas City Royals after being one victory away from going to the
World Series.
Terry Pendleton led off the home ninth with a double off of Drabek.
David Justice followed by hitting a sharp grounder to
José Lind, who was eventually awarded a
Gold Glove at second base for the season. Lind, however, misplayed the ball, and Pendleton advanced to third on the error. Drabek then walked former teammate
Sid Bream on four pitches, which moved the tying run into scoring position and loaded the bases. With the winning run now on base and
Ron Gant scheduled next, Leyland made a pitching change and brought in his closer,
Stan Belinda, to make his second appearance of the series and attempt to preserve the victory for Drabek, who was responsible for all three baserunners. Gant hit a deep fly ball that was caught by Bonds, enabling Pendleton to score and put the Braves on the board.
Damon Berryhill was the next batter and worked a 3–1 count out of Belinda. The next pitch appeared to cross the plate in the strike zone, but Marsh called it ball four; it was later speculated that at least two if not three of the pitches called balls to Berryhill would have been called strikes with McSherry behind the plate. Berryhill’s walk once again loaded the bases and moved the winning run, represented by a relatively slow-footed baserunner in Bream, into scoring position. With the pitcher's spot due in two batters, Cox went to his bench for a pinch hitter and summoned
Brian Hunter to bat in place of second baseman
Rafael Belliard. Belinda got him to pop up on the second pitch of the at-bat, which was caught for the second out by Lind.
Francisco Cabrera, who had only appeared in seventeen games that season for the Braves, was sent up to try and keep Atlanta's season alive. Belinda fell behind Cabrera 2–0, then got a strike after Cabrera hit a sharp line drive foul to left. Before the next pitch, centerfielder Van Slyke signaled to leftfielder Bonds, who was a lefthanded fielder, to move in a few steps, so as not to allow the winning run to score if Cabrera hit it to left again. Bonds, refusing to move, responded by giving
the finger to his teammate. On the next pitch, Cabrera again hit a liner to left. The ball dropped in for a hit in front of Bonds, scoring Justice with the tying run. In the celebration at home plate after
Sid Bream's pennant-winning slide, Braves pitcher
Kent Mercker was hurt and unable to pitch in the
World Series. Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS marked the first time (and to date, still the only time) in MLB history that a team which was one out away from losing in a winner-take-all game of a playoff series instead won on the last pitch. as did John Smoltz immediately after the game. ESPN called the Pirates' defeat the eighth most painful in baseball history.
Don Ohlmeyer, the former head of NBC Sports and President of NBC West Coast, supposedly called the event "one of the most exciting baseball moments he had ever seen". Game 7 was the last postseason game for the Pirates until
2013, when the team faced and defeated the
Cincinnati Reds in the
National League Wild Card Game. The Pirates also went 20 years without a winning season after 1992. Game 7 was the last Pirates game for Bonds and Drabek who left via free agency, signing with the
Giants and
Astros, respectively. Until 2008, the Braves were the last team in Major League Baseball to win a seventh game after blowing a 3–1 series lead, and only the fourth of 11 total to do it up to that point. That year, the
Tampa Bay Rays won Game 7 of the
ALCS after blowing a 3–1 lead to the
Boston Red Sox. ==Composite box==