Wilmington Evening Journal - September 30, 1980

Maddox punches Cubs with clutch single

By Hal Bodley, Sports Editor

PHILADELPIA – Dallas Green said he wanted to get more offense, more punch, in the Phillies' line-up.

So what does he do? He benches slumping Bob Boone, Greg Luzinski and Garry Maddox?

So what happens? Garry Maddox put his sulking aside and delivered one of the Phillies' most important hits of the season last night in a. dramatic 15-inning, 6-5 victory over Chicago at Veterans Stadium.

Moments after Maddox delivered his clutch, two-out single up the middle, Manny Trillo ripped a bases-loaded single to end the Phils' most important comeback of the season.

The last-place Cubs took advantage of shoddy relief pitching and equally shoddy defense to end a 3-3 struggle in the top of the 15th when they scored twice.

"That wasn't a very good feeling after they scored those runs," said Manager Dallas Green, his voice hoarse. "Montreal's (5-2 victory over St. Louis) score is already up on the board and we have those two runs staring us in the face. Yeah, I had a sick feeling in my stomach."

But the Cubs aren't in last place in National League East by mistake. Relievers Doug Capilla and Dennis Lamp coughed up the lead and instead of Philadelphia being 1½ games behind first-place Montreal, it remained a half game out.

"This is the kind of game that can give you momentum; it can get you going," said Pete Rose, who drove in three of the Phils' five runs with a double and an infield out. "People in town today acted like we were finished after losing those two games to Montreal over the weekend. If I'm not mistaken, the paper says we're even in the loss column and only a half-game back. I really look for us to play well against the Expos next weekend up there. It should be a whale of a series.

"In a sense, I'm sorry we had to win it this way because the relief pitching by Tug McGraw and Sparky Lyle was so outstanding that it is almost forgotten now. But the important thing is we won. We could not afford to lose this game."

Those remaining in the crowd of 21,127, however, didn't give the Phils much hope when they came to bat in the 15th.

Capilla, however, got in immediate trouble when he walked Lonnie Smith and Rose. With Bake McBride batting, the runners advanced on a wild pitch before Bake grounded out to score Smith. That brought up Mike Schmidt, with Rose on third. Lamp, the scheduled Chicago starter tomorrow night, arrived and got Schmidt to pop up to second.

Maddox, who failed to execute a bunt in Saturday's 4-3 loss and who lost a routine liner Sunday in the sun, was the batter. Garry had entered the game in the 12th after Del Unser, who had doubled with one out in the 11th, was lifted for pinch-runner Bob Dernier.

Maddox fouled Lamp's first pitch off, then singled to bring Rose home. Keith Moreland, who was behind the plate in place of Boone, singled to left and Larry Bowa, giving the Phils a tough at-bat, walked to load the bases.

Trillo, who had singled twice earlier and hit the ball hard each time up, singled and the Phils were winners.

"Maddox was not benched because he lost the ball in the sun on Sunday," said Green. "He had been sporadic at the plate and I thought since I was going with Moreland and Lonnie Smith, I might as well give Unser a chance in center."

Maddox, however, did not agree with Green. He thought he was put down because of the misplay and went so far as to blame a story in yesterday's Inquirer for causing his benching. Before the game he went one-on-one with the Inquirer reporter in an equipment room, expressing his unhappiness about the story.

After the game, Maddox refused to comment on the incident – or the hit.

Trillo said his earlier at-bats I against Cub starter Rick Reuschel helped him in the late stages of the game.

"When we were in Chicago last week I didn't swing the bat well ' against Reuschel," said the former Cub, "Tonight, I moved about an inch closer to the plate and it helped ' me. Lamp throws a lot of sinkers and sliders, but I was looking for a fastball and that's what he gave me. I jumped on it. I thought I hit the ball well all night. This is one of the most important hits of my career. The most important was my first one in the big leagues, but this one is right up there."

EXTRA POINTS - Dickie Noles' wild throw to second base on a routine doubleplay ball off Mick Kelleher's bat put the Cubs in a position to score their two runs in the 15th… One came home on a sacrifice fly, the other on Carlos Lezcano's double... Last night was the second time the Phils scored three runs in the 15th to beat the Cubs... The other was on Aug. 11... The Phils are 18-10 this month, with 11 victories of the one-run variety... McGraw made a brilliant diving catch of Ivan DeJesus' bunt and turned it into a doubleplay in the eighth after pinch-hitter Mike Vail had doubled... The Phils used 21 players, the Cubs 21.