Allentown Morning Call - August 9, 1980

Pirates hand Phils 7th straight road loss, 6-5

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Pinch hitter Lee Lacy snapped an eighth-inning tie with a sacrifice fly off Philadelphia reliever Tug McGraw last night to give the Pittsburgh Pirates a 6-5 victory over the Phillies. 

It was the fourth consecutive triumph for the Pirates and the seventh road loss in a row for the Phillies. The win enabled Pittsburgh to climb within one game of first-place Montreal in the National League East while the Phillies fell four games behind the Expos. 

With the scored tied 5-5. Mike Easier led off the eighth with a double off McGraw, 0-4, and Bill Madlock was walked intentionally. After Ed Ott sacrificed, Phil Garner was given an intentional pass to load the bases. Lacy batted for winning pitcher Kent Tekulve. 8-5, and flied to center to score pinch-runner Matt Alexander with the winning run. 

Enrique Romo worked the final inning and earned his eighth save.

Dave Parker led off the Pirates' fourth with a single off Philadelphia starter Dick Ruthven and Willie Stargell followed with a homer, his 11th, that gave the Pirates a 2-0 load. Easier then doubled and scored on a double by Madlock. 

The Phillies countered with two runs in the sixth. Bob Boone doubled and took third on an errant throw by left fielder Easier. Boone scored when third baseman Madlock fielded a grounder by Lonnie Smith and threw wildly past home plate for another error. Smith took second on the play and scored on Pete Rose's double. 

The Pirates scored twice in the sixth off relievers Kevin Saucier and Dickie Noles on RBI singles by Ott and starting pitcher Rick Rhoden. 

The Phillies cut the margin to 5-4 in the seventh on consecutive home runs by Garry Maddox and Manny Trillo off Rhoden. 

Tekulve relieved Rhoden to open the eighth and allowed the tying run as Smith walked, took third on a single by Rose and came home on Bake Mc Bride's double-play grounder.