PHILS CLINCH NL EAST, PREPARE TO FACE REDS IN NLCS
5-Run Second Overcomes Underwood's Shaky Start
MONTREAL, Sept. 25 (AP) - The Philadelphia Phillies leveraged a five-run top of
the second inning to beat the Montreal Expos 6-4 at Jarry Park, clinching the
National League East Division crown in the process. More than a week still
remains in the regular season and the league playoff between the Phillies and
the Cincinnati Reds won't begin until October 9, so both clubs have to cool
their heels for two weeks before engaging in another meaningful game. The
Reds officially clinched the NL West on September 19 when the second place
Dodgers lost to the Braves in Atlanta.
Early on, it appeared that the Phillies might have to wait at least one more
day--or hope that the second place Pirates would lose to the Cardinals--to
clinch the division. The Expos nicked Philadelphia starter Tom Underwood
for three runs in the first inning to take the lead. Bombo Rivera led off
the frame with a triple to the right-center field gap and scored on Tim Foli's
ground out to short. Andre Dawson then doubled into the left field corner
and Ellis Valentine's ensuing infield hit put runners on the corners with one
out. Earl Williams' base hit to right scored Dawson with the inning's
second run and advanced Valentine to third; Larry Parrish's sacrifice fly to
center capped the scoring.
But the Phillies came right back to take the lead with a five-run top of the
second against Montreal left-hander Woodie Fryman. Ollie Brown drew a
one-out free pass and Bob Boone's base hit advanced Brown to second. Larry
Bowa walked to fill the bases but Fryman struck out Underwood. Dave Cash
then grounded a single to left, scoring Brown and Boone to cut the Expos lead to
3-2 and Jerry Martin's infield single reloaded the bases. Fryman then more
or less imploded. First, he hit Mike Schmidt with a pitch, forcing in the
tying run and then issued consecutive bases loaded walks to Greg Luzinski and
Richie Allen to give the Phillies a 5-3 lead.
The Expos pulled to within a run in the bottom of the second when Pete Mackanin
singled, moved to second on Fryman's sacrifice, and scored on Rivera's second
triple of the game. Underwood stranded Rivera on third, however, retiring
Foli on an infield pop up and Dawson on a fly to left to preserve the 5-4
advantage.
Both pitchers settled in at that point and matched scoreless frames through the
sixth. In the top of the seventh, Fryman retired Luzinski and Allen easily
but yielded a base hit to Brown and then plunked Boone with a pitch. Bowa
dropped a single into left, scoring Brown to give the Phillies a 6-4 lead.
Underwood issued a lead-off walk to Mackanin in the bottom of the seventh and
was lifted in favor of Ron Reed, who immediately induced a double play ball from
pinch hitter Wayne Garrett and got pinch hitter Del Unser on a comebacker to end
the inning. Reed cruised through the eighth as well and appeared poised to
close out the game when he retired Williams and Parrish to open the ninth.
But pinch hitter Jerry White punched a single to right and Mackanin reached
safely for the third time with a base hit to center field, bringing the
potential winning run to the plate in the form of pinch hitter Warren Cromartie.
Phillies manager Danny Ozark summoned Tug McGraw from the bullpen and and it
took him three pitches to fan Cromartie to end the contest.
9/25/1976, Phi76-Mon76, Parc Jarry 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1976 Phillies 0 5 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6 6 2 9 2 1976 Expos 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 9 1 5 0 Phillies AB R H BI AVG Expos AB R H BI AVG Cash 2b 5 1 1 2 .308 Rivera lf 3 1 2 1 .265 Martin cf 4 1 1 1 .314 Unser ph 1 0 0 0 .266 Schmidt 3b 4 0 0 0 .267 Foli ss 4 0 0 1 .271 Luzinski lf 4 0 1 1 .308 Dawson cf 4 1 1 0 .228 Allen 1b 3 0 0 1 .277 Valentine,E rf 4 1 1 0 .290 Hutton ph 1 0 0 0 .250 Williams,E 1b 4 0 1 1 .211 Brown,O rf 4 2 1 0 .219 Parrish 3b 3 0 1 1 .222 Boone c 3 1 1 0 .255 Foote c 3 0 0 0 .251 Bowa ss 2 1 1 1 .226 White,J ph 1 0 1 0 .278 Underwood p 4 0 0 0 .035 Mackanin 2b 3 1 2 0 .213 Reed p 0 0 0 0 .167 Fryman p 1 0 0 0 .143 McGraw p 0 0 0 0 .000 Garrett,W ph 1 0 0 0 .203 34 6 6 6 Kerrigan p 0 0 0 0 .500 Cromartie ph 1 0 0 0 .284 33 4 9 4 Phillies INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Underwood W 12-6 6.0 7 4 4 1 2 73 51 2.41 Reed H 3 2.2 2 0 0 0 0 27 19 2.26 McGraw S 13 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 3 3 2.45 9.0 9 4 4 1 3 103 73 Expos INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Fryman L 9-17 7.0 6 6 6 6 5 138 76 4.17 Kerrigan 2.0 0 0 0 0 0 18 15 5.40 9.0 6 6 6 6 5 156 91 Phi: Hutton batted for Allen in the 9th Hutton moved to 1b in the 9th Mon: Garrett,W batted for Fryman in the 7th Unser batted for Rivera in the 7th Unser moved to lf in the 8th White,J batted for Foote in the 9th Cromartie batted for Kerrigan in the 9th E-Cash, Brown,O, Mackanin. 2B-Dawson(2). 3B-Rivera 2(6). RBI-Cash 2(47), Martin(8), Luzinski(98), Allen(58), Bowa(54), Rivera(22), Foli(40), Williams,E(46), Parrish(52). K-Schmidt, Luzinski, Allen, Underwood 2, Valentine,E, Fryman, Cromartie. BB-Martin, Luzinski, Allen, Brown,O, Bowa 2, Mackanin. SH-Fryman. SF-Parrish. HBP-Schmidt, Boone. HB-Fryman 2. GWRBI: Luzinski Temperature: 58, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: right to left at 1 MPH. Attendance: 6,908 Game Time: 2:35