Allentown Morning Call - September 18, 1980
Phillies beat Pirates in 11th, 5-4
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Garry Maddox stole two bases and scored on a pinch-hit single by Del Unser to snap an 11th inning tie and lift the Philadelphia Phillies to a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates last night.
The victory, coupled with Montreal's 5-2 loss to the New York Mets, brought the Phillies to within a game and a half of the first-place Expos in the National League East. The Pirates are five games behind the Expos.
The winning run was allowed by Pirates' reliever Kent Tekulve, who fell to 8-10 with his fifth loss in his last five decisions.
Tug McGraw, 2-4, got the victory and Sparky Lyle, who was obtained from the Texas Rangers last Saturday, pitched the bottom of the 11th to earn his first National League save.
Maddox led off the Philadelphia 11th with a single, stole second and third and scored on Unser's bloop single to left.
Steve Carlton held a 4-1 lead on a four-hitter through six innings, but the Pirates tied the score with a three-run rally in the seventh.
Bill Robinson led off with his 12th homer, and Phil Garner and Steve Nicosia followed with two-out singles.
Kurt Bevacqua then batted for pitcher Bert Blyleven and tied the game with a two-run double to left-center.
The Phillies took a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning on a bases-loaded walk to Mike Schmidt and Greg Luzinski s two-run double off the left-field wall.
Lee Lacy led off the Pirate fifth with his seventh homer, but Carlton drove in another Philadelphia run in the sixth with a sacrifice fly.
It was the final game in the Phillies-Pirates series this season with Pittsburgh winning 11 of the 18 games.
Phillies beat Pirates in 11th, 5-4
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Garry Maddox stole two big bases here last night and perhaps sealed the fate of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
"Im glad we won. I'm glad I helped contribute," said Maddox. who singled, then stole second and third and scored on a pinch-single by Del Unser to snap an llth-inning tie and give the Philadelphia Phillies a 5-4 victory over the Pirates.
The Phillies' win, coupled with Montreal Expos' 5-2 loss to the New York Mets. moved Philadelphia to within 1½ games of the first-place Expos in the National League East.
But the Pirates remained five games back, and they have no more games left this season with Montreal or Philadelphia.
"That was a nice baseball game to win." beamed Philadelphia Manager Dallas Green. "You can chalk that one up to Garry Maddox. We had him stealing second base, but he stole third on his own. And that was the big play that we needed."
The Philadelphia victory came despite a determined comeback by the Pirates, who battled back from a 4-1 deficit against Steve Carlton to tie the game with a three-run seventh inning.
“After we tied it up we felt the way we did last year." said Pirate catcher Steve Nicosia. "We hadn't come back in a long time. We really felt like momentum had switched to our side. But we just didn't do anything more after that."
The Phillies finished with just seven victories in 18 meetings this season with the Pirates, and Philadelphia was 2-7 at Three Rivers Stadium.
"You can't sell Pittsburgh short," said Green. "Pittsburgh is a good ball team and they have the capability of coming back. But it's tough when you're chasing two teams."
The winning run was allowed by Pirates reliever Kent Tekulve, who fell to 8-10 with his fifth loss in his last five decisions. Tug McGraw, 2-4, got the victory and Sparky Lyle pitched the bottom of the 11th to earn his first National League save.
"There never was anybody who said it was going to be easy." said Tekulve. "This is about as far back as we can get."
"We'll be root in' for whoever is playing Montreal." said McGraw.
"You can't help but do that." McGraw added. "Bui we have six games with the Expos and that's going to do a lot in deciding who wins. That might be it right there."
Bill Robinson led off the Pirates' seventh with his 12th homer, and Phil Garner and Steve Nicosia followed with two-out singles.
Kurt Bevacqua then batted for pitcher Bert Blyleven and tied the game with a two-run double to left-center.
The Phillies took a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning on a bases-loaded walk to Mike Schmidt and Greg Luzinski's two-run double off the left-field wall.
Lee Lacy led off the Pirate fifth with his seventh homer, but Carlton drove in another Philadelphia run in the sixth with a sacrifice fly.