Rose Is Hot on Cold Day in Cincinnati : Reds’ Player-Manager Has Two Hits in 4-1 Win

Pete Rose wasted little time in picking up Ty Cobb’s trail.

The Cincinnati Reds’ player-manager drove in three runs with a double and a single in a 4-1 Opening-Day victory over the Montreal Expos Monday despite two delays because of snow flurries.

Rose, who turns 44 Sunday, warmed a standing-room-only crowd of 52,971 that braved 39-degree weather to watch him chip away at Cobb’s all-time hit record of 4,191.

Rose, who has 4,099 hits, sees things on a grander scale.

“I’m not thinking of getting 95 hits,” he said before the game. “I hope I get 195 hits.”

Rose drove in the game’s first two runs with a fifth-inning double. He added a run-scoring single in the seventh to close his day with 2 for 3 with a walk.

“It was a great feeling,” Rose said. “I’m from Cincinnati, so I know how big a tradition Opening Day is in Cincinnati.”

A sudden intense snowstorm covered the artificial surface and forced a 21-minute delay in the top of the fifth. The storm sent the crowd, including Reds owner Marge Schott and Commissioner Peter Ueberroth, for cover. Another brief snowfall delayed the game 40 minutes in the bottom of the fifth.

Despite the chill, Cincinnati ace Mario Soto shook off spring arm problems and went seven strong innings, permitting four hits and a run, striking out five and walking two.

“I’ve never seen this kind of snow before,” said Soto, a native of the Dominican Republic. “But, this was one of my best days and it surprised me--because of the weather, because I’ve never pitched very well against Montreal and because I had arm trouble in spring training.

“I think I enjoy snow delays more than rain delays. Rain is bad; snow I kind of like.”

Soto, starting his fourth consecutive opener, and Montreal’s Steve Rogers, making his ninth Opening-Day start in 10 years, traded shutout innings until the fifth.

Soto singled with two out off Rogers and took third on Eric Davis’ double. Rose lined a 2-and-1 pitch for an opposite-field double, and Dave Parker followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0.

“That’s the kind of thing you like to see as manager of your team,” Rose said. “We got all the hits with two outs. You don’t see many rallies like that.”

Soto lost his shutout in the seventh when Hubie Brooks hit a triple to left and scored on Tim Wallach’s ground out. Carl Willis mopped up for Cincinnati.

Detroit 5, Cleveland 4--Rookie Chris Pittaro had three singles, including the game-tying hit in the eighth inning, as the world champion Tigers turned back the Indians before 51,180 fans at Detroit.

The Tigers trailed, 4-3, in the eighth when Larry Herndon singled off Tom Waddell. Ernie Camacho came on for the Indians and walked Chet Lemon. Pittaro singled to score Herndon and send Lemon to third. Lemon scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Lou Whitaker.

Jack Morris and Willie Hernandez combined on a six-hitter for the Tigers. Morris was erratic, walking six while striking out six. He gave up four runs on six hits in eight innings. Hernandez, 1984 Cy Young winner and Most Valuable Player in the American League, worked a hitless ninth inning.

The Indians trailed, 3-1, when Julio Franco started a three-run sixth with an infield single. Franco went to third on a single by Joe Carter and scored on Pat Tabler’s double into the left-field corner.

Carter scored on a sacrifice fly by Brook Jacoby to tie it, 3-3. Tabler went to third on a wild pitch and scored the go-ahead run on a single by George Vukovich.

The Tigers, who started 9-0 and 35-5 in 1984, broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth on Lance Parrish’s two-run single off Bert Blyleven.

Boston 9, New York 2--Jim Rice, Tony Armas and Dwight Evans hit home runs, and the Red Sox made Manager John McNamara’s debut a success against the Yankees at Boston.

Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd allowed the Yankees two runs and five hits over seven innings, striking out five and walking four. Bob Stanley finished up for Boston.

Phil Niekro walked in two runs in the third inning and took the loss. The 46-year-old right-hander, the oldest Opening-Day starter in history, pitched four innings and walked five while striking out three. He left with the Yankees trailing, 5-2.

New York took a 2-0 lead in the second on Butch Wynegar’s RBI double and a run-scoring single by Bobby Meacham before the Sox broke loose.

An inch of snow fell Sunday night, but the Fenway Park grounds crew had the field in good shape for the opener, which was played before a crowd of 34,282. The temperature was 48 degrees.

Kansas City 2, Toronto 1--Willie Wilson doubled home two runs in the seventh inning, and Bud Black combined with Dan Quisenberry on a four-hitter as the Royals edged the Blue Jays before a crowd of 41,086 at Kansas City.

Black allowed all of the hits, struck out three and walked one over 7 innings for his second consecutive Opening-Day victory. Quisenberry got the last four outs.

Toronto ace Dave Stieb carried a three-hitter and a 1-0 lead into the seventh inning but allowed a double to Darryl Motley and hit Onix Concepcion with a pitch before Wilson hit his double.

The Blue Jays scored on a sacrifice fly by Buck Martinez in the second.

Baltimore 4, Texas 2--Eddie Murray hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning to give the Orioles a victory over the Rangers before a crowd of 34,282 at Baltimore.

The game, played in 50-degree weather, was halted for five minutes in the first inning by a snow squall.

The Orioles got only two hits, but Murray’s homer, off relief pitcher Dave Rozema, came after Cal Ripken had walked, and it made a winner of reliever Don Aase.

Mike Young’s double in the seventh off Rozema was the Orioles’ only other hit.

Charlie Hough held the Orioles hitless for six innings, but he walked four batters, and catcher Don Slaught had two passed balls as Baltimore scored twice in the sixth.

Curtis Wilkerson’s two-out, run-scoring double gave Texas a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning. After the Orioles went ahead in the sixth, the Rangers tied it on Pete O’Brien’s run-scoring single off Aase.