Reading Eagle - July 2, 1980

Espinosa Back; McGraw Goes

 

MONTREAL (AP) – Starter Nino Espinosa, ailing since the opening of spring training, was activated but reliever Tug McGraw was placed on the 21-day disabled list by the Philadelphia Phillies, it was disclosed today.

Phillies Beat Montreal

 

Randy Not Left in the Lurch

 

MONTREAL (AP) – Apart from winning a game, the Philadelphia Phillies may have prevented pitcher Randy Lerch from doing something drastic.

 

“I don’t know what I would have done if I had lost this one,” said Lerch, who dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker to Montreal last Thursday but scattered 10 hits over 10 innings Tuesday night as Philadelphia posted a 5-4 11th-inning triumph over the Expos.

 

Lerch’s third victory in 13 decisions this season came as no small feat. He became the first left-hander to defeat the Expos since Larry McWilliams of the Atlanta Braves on April 27, snapping a string of 14 straight victories.

 

“I heard Randy say in the dugout, ‘I’m going to get this win, I guarantee you,’” said Pete Rose. “I guess I was the last hope since he had guaranteed it.”

 

Rose helped the promise become a reality by singling home the go-ahead run in the 11th off reliever Woodie Fryman, 1-3, and the Phillies added another one on an error by third baseman Larry Parrish.

 

Reliever Lerrin Lagrow was rocked by Warren Cromartie’s home run leading off the bottom of the 11th before bearing down to preserve Lerch’s victory.

 

“I thought Bob Boone had the key hit in the 11th,” said Phialdelphia Manager Dallas Green of Boone’s pinch-hit single that moved Greg Gross to third base, from which he scored on Rose’s single. Boone raced to third on the ball hit by Rose and scored when Parrish couldn’t handle a throw from catcher Gary Carter.

 

“I messed it up,” said Parrish. “When I saw Gary was going to throw, I looked toward second base, completely forgetting there was a play at third.”

 

Expos Manager Dick Williams, meanwhile, was grateful that his club still had a shot at winning the game in extra innings.

 

“I thought we were lucky to still be tied after five innings,” he said. “Then we had out chances and couldn’t do anything with them.”

 

Willaims was counting his blessings because the Phillies battered starter Scott Sanderson with 12 hits before he left with two out in the fifth inning.

 

Sanderson had fired a brilliant two-hit shutout to defeat Lerch last week but he proved no mystery to Philadelphia batters in the rematch.

 

“He was trying to throw mostly fastballs and they were hitting the first pitch,” said Williams.

 

Despite allowing seven hits in the first four innings, Sanderson carried a 2-0 lead into the fifth on the strength of Andre Dawson’s 10th homer of the year in the first inning and Rodney Scott’s sacrifice fly in the third.

 

But Mike Schmidt and Garry Maddox had run-scoring hits among the five singles against Sanderson in the fifth to tied the game 2-2.

 

Keith Moreland’s solo homer in the eighth shot the Phillies into a 3-2 lead before Cromartie delivered a sacrifice fly to follow Dawson’s single and a double by Carter.