Galveston Daily News - May 17, 1980

Philadelphia blanks fading Houston 3-0

HOUSTON (UPI) – Dick Ruthven hurled a five-hitter and Bake McBride and Mike Schmidt combined to drive in three runs Friday night, leading the Philadelphia Phillies to a 3-0 victory over the Houston Astros.

Ruthven, 4-2, scattered his hits over five innings and walked only one batter to win his third consecutive game after a slow start.

The Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when Del Unser tripled past a diving Cesar Cedeno in center field and scored on Schmidt's sacrifice fly.

Philadelphia padded the lead in the eighth on McBride's bases-loaded single to right which brought home Larry Bowa and Manny Trillo. All three Philadelphia runs came off starter J.R. Richard, 4-2, who was lifted for a pinch hitter after eight innings.

It was the second consecutive shutout thrown against Houston, which has now gone 22 innings without a run. The Astros' only threat of the game came in the third inning when shortstop Craig Reynolds led off with a triple into the right field corner. Reynolds was nailed at the plate, however, on an inning-ending double play as Greg Gross caught Denny Walling's fly to left and made a hurried throw to catcher Bob Boone for the out.