Wilmington Morning News - September 15, 1980

Bystrom Vet debut a hit 8-4

By Kevin Noonan, Staff Correspondent

PHILADELPHIA – Marty Bystrom's Veterans Stadium debut was a rousing success.

Sparky Lyle wasn't as fortunate.

Bystrom, backed by Bake McBride's three-run homer, pitched seven innings of shutout baseball to gain the decision in the Phils' 8-4 triumph over the St. Louis Cardinals yesterday. Lyle, acquired from the Texas Rangers on Saturday, pitched two innings in relief and gave up all four Cardinal runs.

"He (Bystrom) showed what we've been talking about," said Manager Dallas Green, after his team kept pace with Montreal in the National eague East, one game behind the Expos. "He can pitch. He gets people out and that's the name of the game."

Rookie Bystrom, who has pitched 17 scoreless innings and has yet to give up a run in the major leagues, gave up five hits and allowed only one Cardinal to advance as far as third base. Lyle gave up three hits in just one inning – the eighth – but still deserved a better fate. The Phillies committed two errors fielding, and at least one of omission.

With the Phils coasting along with a 7-0 lead and most of the starters already resting on the bench, Green decided to give the rusty Lyle some work. He just didn't realize how much work it would be.

After the crowd of 30,137 gave Lyle a warm welcome, Lonnie Smith gave his new teammate a somewhat ruder greeting by badly misjudging Tom Herr's high fly ball to left. Smith froze in his tracks momentarily, and even his great speed couldn't outrun the ball, which bounced several feet in front of the warning track. The official scorer awarded Herr a double and gave Smith an error when Herr took third.

Ramon Aviles, who started at second base for resting Manny Trillo, mishandled Tony Scott's bouncing ball for another error, with Herr scoring on the play. Lyle then walked the dangerous Keith Hernandez, before Leon Durham ripped a 2-1 slider into the corner in left to score another, run. The fans then gave Lyle a more familiar Philadelphia welcome with a chorus of boos.

Scott scored on Terry Landrum's groundout and Terry Kennedy's sacrifice fly brought in Durham to cut the lead to 7-4 before Lyle struck out pinch-hitter Ted Simmons to end the inning.

Lyle retired the Cards in order in the ninth, on two soft fly balls and a routine grounder.

"I had good stuff, but I didn't have it going as good as I did in New York (in his first start, a 5-0 victory)," said Bystrom. "I was able to spot my fastball, and I got the breaking ball over the plate. You know St. Louis is going to be swinging at the ball, so I wanted to keep it down. I did all right. Pitching with the big lead made it easier to relax out there and just worry about throwing strikes."

The big lead came compliments of a big inning. The Phils batted around the order in the third, sending 11 men to the plate while scoring six runs.

With one out in the third, Pete Rose singled up the middle off of starter and loser Silvio Martinez (5-10). Mike Schmidt followed with a ground single to left to put runners on first and third for McBride, who sent a 1-0 pitch high over the wall in right-center for his eighth homer of the year.

With two out, Garry Maddox lashed Martinez' first pitch down the third-base line for a double. Larry Bowa beat out an infield single to send Maddox to third, then stole second. With first base open, Martinez intentionally walked Aviles to get to Bystrom. That strategy looked shaky when Martinez missed the strike zone twice to fall behind 0-2. Interim manager Red Schoendienst of the Cards elected to bring in reliever George Frazier, but Bystrom worked him for a full count before walking to force in the Phils' fifth run. Smith, batting for the second time in the inning, looped a checked-swing single into right to drive in the final two runs and make the score 7-0 before Rose hit a liner back to Frazier to end the inning.

"I'll tell you, it's nice to be with a contender again," said Lyle, who played on three pennant-winners with the Yankees. "They've made me feel like they have plans for me. I need work, plain ana simple. The key for me is to keep the slider down, but I can't do that throwing in the bullpen.

"I believe I'm really going to enjoy pitching for this team.''