Wilmington Morning News - July 1, 1980
Phils slam Expos with 7-run 4th
By Hal Bodley, Sports Editor
MONTREAL – Dallas Green has been complaining the last 10 days that the Phillies have not been able to bunch their hits.
Well, if you missed the fourth inning of last night's battle with Montreal in Olympic Stadium, you missed the Phils' whole offensive show.
To say they bunched their hits last night is an understatement.
Except for a harmless ninth-inning single by Ron Reed, the Phils did all their hitting and scoring in the fourth en route to what turned out to be a tense 7-5 victory over the Expos.
Dickie Noles, making his first start since a three-day suspension for a bat-throwing incident, gained his first victory in four decisions, but the young right-hander needed relief help from Kevin Saucier and Reed before it was official.
By winning, the Phils reduced the Expos' lead in the National League East to two games and balanced the season series between the two contenders at 5-5.
Keith Moreland's first grand slam home run of his career, a shot to left field in the fourth gave the Phils a 4-0 lead against starter Bill Gullick-son and before the inning ended they were up 7-0 thanks to Pete Rose's first homer of the year, a two-run blast.
The seven runs, scored on six hits, were the most by the Phils since June 13 when they tallied that many against San Diego's Randy Jones.
But last night's nationally televised game turned into a tense struggle when the Expos started chipping away at the Phils' lead in the fourth.
"Dickie Noles did what we wanted . him to do," said Green. "He was good enough to keep it tight, but he was starting to run out of gas in the sixth inning. That's why we made the change.”
Saucier got the final out in the sixth when the Expos scored three times, but Green turned the game over to Reed – win or lose – for the last three innings.
And in the eighth, Rowland Office's home run and Jerry White's single gave Montreal its fifth run.
"Ron knew we had nobody else available," said Green. "Considering what he went through last weekend, he did a fantastic job."
Reed, who lost the first game and was the pitcher when the Mets rallied to tie in the second before winning Saturday night, said he wanted to give the bullpen a lift.
"We're all hurtin' a little," said Reed, who gained his fourth save of the season. "I kinda felt like my arm was going to fall off over the weekend, but not pitching on Sunday helped me. This was an important game for us."
In the ninth, Reed got two quick outs, then watched Warren Cromartie reach base safely on Ramon Aviles' error at shortstop.
The big right-hander, however, got two strikes on the dangerous Larry Parrish before he flied out to center.
"I had to give him everything I had left," said Reed, "so I blew two fastballs past him."
Noles said he was happy the team won, but was not too pleased with his performance.
"When they give you a 7-0 lead, you have to pitch better than I did," he said.
"Maybe that's partly my fault," said Moreland. "I didn’t call a very good game after we got the big lead, decided to go mostly to fastballs, then when I asked for a breaking pitch Dickie didn't have one. As for the home run, I didn't even realize it was a grand slam until I got to home plate."
Noles pitched out of deep trouble in each of the first two innings.
Ron LeFlore, a thorn in the Phils' sides during the series last week at the Vet, opened the bottom of the first with a booming triple to right. Rodney Scott, however, followed with a chopper to third that John Vukovich gloved as LeFlore broke from the bag. LeFlore was eventually tagged out and Scott ended up on second on the fielder's choice. Noles then struck out Gary Carter and Cromartie.
In the second, Parrish, on the disabled list since June 2, laced a single to center and Office followed with a single to right.
Noles struck out Chris Speier, got Parrish sliding into third when Gullickson attempted to bunt and was out of further trouble when Rose gloved LeFlore's high hopper for the third out.
The Phils were hitless when Manny Trillo opened the fourth with a single to center. He sped to third on Bake McBride's double to right and the bases became loaded when Greg Luzinski walked. All runners had to hold Garry Maddox lofted a soft fly to right, but Moreland blasted Gullickson's first pitch to the seats in left field and it was 4-0.
Aviles singled and scored on Vukovich's first career triple and Rose then cracked his first homer of the year to give the Phils a 7-0 bulge.
Cromartie's triple and an infield out gave the Expos their first run in the bottom of the fourth.
Then, in the sixth, the Expos scored three times, chasing Noles.
It all started with one down when. Parrish hit a fly ball to right-center that Maddox should have caught. Garry caught up to the ball, but fell down as it dropped between him and McBride's replacement, Greg Gross. Parrish scored on Office's double and after Speier walked, both runners moved up on pinch-hitter Brad Mills' infield out. After Noles walked LeFlore, Green called on Kevin Saucier. The count went 3-2 to Scott before the second baseman ripped a single to left, scoring two runs and narrowing the gap to 7-4.
EXTRA POINTS - Luzinski will be fined, but there will be no suspension for his bat-throwing incident in Sunday night's game at Veterans Stadium... The same umpiring crew is here that worked the game at the Vet and Eric Gregg said yesterday he would not recommend a suspension... Larry Bowa and Mike Schmidt, both sidelined with hamstring pulls, wanted to play last night, but Green said he does not want to rush them back in the lineup... Coacy Bobby Wine is not on this trip... He will undergo surgery tomorrow to have bone spurs removed from his right elbow... Trillo has a six-game hitting streak... The Expos are 86-25 in steal attempts of second base... The series continues tonight at 7:35 with Randy Lerch (2-10) going against Scott Sanderson (7-4)... Steve Carlton (13-3) faces Steve Rogers (9-6) tomorrow night after which the Phils jet to St. Louis for a five-game series.