Reading Eagle - July 21, 1980
McWilliams Gets Back at Phillies
By the Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) – It was sweet revenge for Atlanta left-hander Larry McWilliams, who pitched a seven-hitter as the Braves beat Philadelphia 3-2 Sunday night for their third victory over the Phillies in two days.
“I owed the Phillies one,” McWilliams said. “They kind of shoved me around the last time they were here.”
McWilliams said there’s no place like home, even when home is that pitchers’ nightmare called Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. “It may be a hitters’ ballpark, but it’s our ballpark,” he said.
Bob Horner hit a fifth-inning sacrifice fly to drive in Atlanta’s winning run and hand Phillies rookie Bob Walk his first loss of the season after winning his first six decisions.
McWilliams, 7-6 overall, gave up seven hits, struck out two and walked one in his fourth victory in five starts, his second straight route-going performance. Walk yielded eight hits over six innings, striking out seven.
Walk said he didn’t think he was warmed up properly for the game. “You’ve got to lose sooner or later,” he said. “You can’t win them all.”
Both Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox and Philadelphia’s Dallas Green were impressed with McWilliams’ performance.
“He kept them off-stride all night,” Cox said. “He can beat anybody when he has his stuff and he had it tonight.”
Green called McWilliams a “good pitcher” and added, “He’s not our favorite pitcher to go up against. They beat us with good pitching.”
The Braves took a doubleheader from Philadelphia Saturday night with Doyle Alexander going the route in the first game and Tommy Boggs winning the second with relief help from Rick Camp.
Sunday’s loss was the Phils’ sixth in nine games, but Green said he didn’t see a major slump. “A double-header win will change the momentum every time, for the team that wins it and the team that loses it,” he said. “We’ve come back after losses before. We’ll come back after this one.”
The Braves struck for two runs in the first inning. Jerry Royster walked and went to third two outs later as Gary Matthews’ pop fly fell in short left field for a single. Royster scored when the throw from Lonnie Smith went to second base. Matthews then stole second and scored on a single by Jeff Burroughs.
The Phillies got a run back in the second on consecutive two-out singles by Manny Trillo, Larry Bowa and Bob Boone. Atlanta made it 3-1 in the fifth when Dale Murphy and Chris Chambliss singled. Murphy moved to third on a fly by Matthews and scored on Horner’s fly ball to center field. Philadelphia got its final run in the eighth on Manny Trillo’s RBI double.