Reading Eagle - July 30, 1980

Phils Bake Houston

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – With a bullpen trio sharing 24 saves and a 1.90 earned run average, the Houston Astros aren’t used to being caught from behind.

But Philadelphia’s bullpen held Houston to two runs in 6-1/3 innings of relief as Bake McBride went 5-for-5 with three RBI, rookie Lonnie Smith stole three bases and Mike Schmidt cracked his 27^th home run to give the Phillies a 9-6 comeback victory Tuesday.

“I thought we had enough, but we didn’t,” said Houston’s Art Howe, who drove in three Astro runs with his fifth home run of the year, a single and a sacrifice fly.

“A play here and there and we’d still be out there playing,” added Howe.

Houston reliever Bert Roberge, making only his fourth appearance because of the Astros’ bullpen abundency, was sailing along with a 6-3 lead when Smith, McBride and Schmidt combined to tie it in the seventh.

Frank LaCorte, one of the Astros’ three dominating relievers with nine saves and a 1.59 earned run average, got Houston out of the inning without further damage, but then gave up three runs in the eighth for his third loss against seven wins.

“He (LaCorte) hasn’t had that happen real often,” said Houston manager Bill Virdon.

“We haven’t lost too many that way, especially late in the game,” said Virdon. “Ordinarily, our bullpen does a pretty good job.”

Kevin Saucier, 5-3, got the win in relief, keeping the Astros from scoring in the eighth after Alan Ashby reached third with only one out. Tug McGraw pitched a hitless ninth to earn his eighth save.

“We came back; we’ve got to be proud,” said Phillies’ manager Dallas Green, who was ejected in the sixth when first base umpire Andy Olsen refused to ask for help on Jeff Leonard’s lead-off triple, which the Phillies contended should have been a ground-rule double.

“We could have cracked several times and we didn’t,” said Green, adding “everybody contributed on this one.”

“Today I just decided if I got on base I’d try to steal,” said Smith, who also scored three runs and drove in the game winner in the eighth.

McBride, who now has 61 RBI, trying his best season production ever, added a two-run single for insurance.

After Howe’s solo home run in the second, the Astros picked up three more in the third, chasing Phillie starter Randy Lerch, with run-scoring singles by Enos Cabell, Cesar Cedeno and Howe.

Smith, subbing for injured Greg Luzinski, started the Phillies’ comeback in the third, singling to center and stealing second. Houston left fielder Jose Cruz then tied a National League record for errors in one inning on consecutive singles by Pete Rose and McBride. After each hit Crus threw over the catcher’s head, allowing two runs to score. Catcher Keith Moreland then singled to center to score McBride.

The fleet 24-year-old Smith now has seven straight thefts and 17 for the season.

“I knew I could get a good jump. I played with (Houston catcher Luis) Pujols in the Dominican League and knew he got rid of the ball slowly,” Smith said.

“Since Luzinksi is out and I’ve got an opportunity to play more, I got to do something to stay in the lineup,” said Smith. Luzinski has some loose cartilage removed from his right knee Monday and is not expected back for three weeks.