Wilmington Morning News - July 15, 1980
Smith folly, Parker bat spell 13-11 Phillie defeat
By Hal Bodley, Sports Editor
PHILADELPHIA – It was a night when Lonnie Smith giveth and a night when Lonnie Smith taketh away.
It was a night when the Pittsburgh Pirates won a game of batting practice 13-11 over the Phillies before a turnout of 44,245 dazed spectators at Veterans Stadium.
It was a night when Dave Parker blasted two awesome two-run homers to propel the Pittsburgh mashers.
And it was a night when the Phillies, by losing, fell a full game behind idle first-place Montreal in the National League East.
It was Parker's ninth-inning shot off reliever Ron Reed that won the marathon for the Pirates, but had it not been for a base-running blunder by rookie Smith in the bottom of the inning, the game might have continued past midnight.
With one down in ninth, Greg Gross coaxed a walk off reliever Grant Jackson. Then Smith, who already had slashed out four hits in five at-bats, lined a single to center, but for some reason tried to stretch it into a double and was an easy out at second.
Moments later, Pete Rose who would have been the game's hero had it not been for Parker's second homer, grounded out and the 3-hour, 33-minute struggle was over.
For the evening, the two teams collectively hammered out 36 hits, used 35 players and were charged with four errors. The Pirates left 12 on and the Phillies nine.
But the bottom line was a tough-to-take loss for the Phillies.
"These are the kind you don't shake off right away," said Manager Dallas Green. "It is tough to come back after something like this. These games are fun to win and tough to lose."
Green, obviously disturbed by the jarring setback, said he had no idea what Smith was thinking about when he dashed for second.
"It's the type of thing you don't talk about right now," said Green. "In his heart he knows he made a mistake; I'll talk to him tomorrow."
Parker, who leads visiting players with 16 homers at the Vet, blasted a high change-up off Reed, now 6-3.
"You have to be thinking home run after playing three hours," said Parker, who has never homered off Reed before. "You'd like to drive one out or get it in the gap and give Tim Foli a chance to score. I hit both (homers) good. I've hit 'em further, but not as far."
"He hit two of the biggest home runs he's ever hit as far as winning a game is concerned," said Pittsburgh Manager Chuck Tanner, "we haven t had a streak all year and I hope this is the start of one. The most we have won is five in a row. I'll tell you one thing, it's tough to lose a game when you score 11 times. I'd rather be in this clubhouse than in that other one right now. These are tough to get over."
Shortstop Foli, who was involved in a center-field collision, opened the ninth off Reed, who had also given up a run in the eighth, with a single. Parker then jumped on a 2-1 pitch and the Pirates were up 13-11 and had their 21st hit of the night.
"I just hoped we get three outs in the ninth," said Parker. "It seemed every time we got two runs, they'd get two. Smith helped us a little getting thrown out in the ninth."
It looked like it was going to be a long night for the Phils and starter Randy Lerch in the first inning when the Pirates took advantage of two errors and two hits to take a 2-0 lead.
But that was only the beginning.
The Pirates added another run in the third and when Parker blasted a two-run homer with nobody out in the third, Green – and the vocal fans – had seen enough of Lerch.
Lerrin LaGrow, the struggling middle reliever, was summoned and promptly gave up two more runs, allowing the Pirates to take a 7-4 advantage.
Manny Trillo's two-run homer of starter Rick Rhoden closed the gap to within a run in the bottom of the third, but and the Phils pulled even in the fourth against Eddie Soloman in the fourth when Smith singled, raced to third on the pitcher's two-base throwing error and scored on Rose's infield out.
That made it 7-7.
In the fifth, the Pirates moved in front 8-7 and added another run in the sixth, both off reliever Dan Larson.
The Phils, however, tied again in a wild sixth inning at the expense of reliever Enrique Romo.
Smith opened with his third single of the night, Rose doubled to right and the bases became loaded when Bake McBride was hit by a pitch.
Smith scored when Mike Schmidt forced McBride at second and Rose scored on Garry Maddox' sacrifice fly to shallow center field, a ball that was caught by shortstop Foli as he collided with center fielder Lee Lacy and left fielder Mike Easier. All three fell to the turf, by not before Foli threw the ball to the infield.
The Pirates, however, took a 10-9 lead in the seventh when Steve Nicosia walked, was sacrificed to second and scored on Foli's single to right-center off Dickie Noles.
The stadium vibrated in the seventh when Rose's, two-out, bases-loaded single off reliever Kent Tekulve vaulted the Phils on top 11-10, but the celebration was short-lived.
The Pirates wasted no time in knotting it at 11 in the eighth when pinch-hitter Ed Ott singled home Phil Garner from second off reliever Ron Reed.
EXTRA POINTS - Rose was named National League player of the week for last week. During the period, he hit .571, 8-for-14, with five doubles and seven runs batted in... Schmidt's wife, Donna, gave birth to a baby boy, Jonathan Michael, yesterday. The Schmidts already have a girl... Boone caught his 953rd game for the Phillies last night, tying him Jack Clements for second place on the team's all-time list for games caught... Red Dooin holds the record, 1,124... The Pirates' Omar Moreno had to leave the game after the top of the fifth inning when he jammed the little finger on his left hand attempting to steal second base... The Phils left immediately after the game for Houston where they open a three-game series with the Astros tonight, with Dick Ruthven going against Nolan Ryan... Bob Walk faces Ken Forsch tomorrow and Steve Carlton seeks victory No. 15 against Joe Niekro Thursday... Greg Luzinski did not make the trip... He will remain here to take treatment at the Vet for his ailing right knee.