National League Roundup : Rose Gets Price Off to a Good Start

At 44, Pete Rose is enjoying a remarkable season. As a manager, he is making the right moves, and the Cincinnati Reds are a contender in the West. As a player, he continues to perform as if he were still in his prime.

Manager Rose, finding that his best pitcher, Mario Soto, had a tender elbow, came up with a gem of a replacement Wednesday night at Montreal. Rose brought Joe Price out of the bullpen for his first start of the season. The left-hander held the Expos to three hits in eight innings, and the Reds won, 2-1.

Price struck out eight and retired the last 17 batters he faced. The manager brought in Ted Powers to pitch the ninth, and the reliever set down the side in order.

Player Rose was 2 for 4 to raise his average to .274, and he needs only 69 more hits to pass Ty Cobb and become the all-time hit leader. In his 23rd major league season, Rose is fifth in the league in on-base percentage with a .400 mark.

“I will keep hitting as long as I keep my swing smooth,” Rose said. “But I’d rather talk about Price. He is quite a pitcher. I didn’t see any point in having him go the distance. He had done his job.”

Eddie Milner and Dave Parker hit two-out, run-scoring singles in the fifth inning to hand Bryn Smith his first loss after five victories.

An infield hit by Dan Driessen and a two-out double by U. L. Washington gave the Expos a run in the second. Andre Dawson doubled in the third, and that was the last Montreal hit.

“I’ve always conditioned myself to be a starter,” Price said. “I’ve never been satisfied to be just a reliever.”

St. Louis 14, San Diego 4--Jack Clark homered and doubled, driving in four runs and pacing a 14-hit attack.

The Cardinals opened the game at San Diego with four consecutive hits off LaMarr Hoyt (0-2) and gave Joaquin Andujar (6-1) a 6-0 lead in the first inning. Andujar singled in the final run of the inning but was out trying for a double.

Andujar didn’t pitch especially well, giving up all four runs before leaving with two out in the seventh.

Atlanta 3, Philadelphia 2--Going into the ninth inning at Atlanta, the Braves were about to be shut out for the fifth time in the last seven games. They had scored only two runs in the previous 61 innings.

Larry Andersen, pitching in relief of Steve Carlton, was protecting a 2-0 lead. But pinch-hitter Ken Oberkfell singled for the fifth Braves’ hit, and Gerald Perry followed with his first home run of the season.

In the 10th, Terry Harper hit the first pitch by Kent Tekulve for the home run that won it and gave the Braves five runs and two victories in the last seven games.

Carlton, still seeking his first victory of the year, held the Braves to three hits in six innings. He worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth by getting Dale Murphy to hit into a double play. Carlton had three strikeouts but trails Houston’s Nolan Ryan by 29.

Pittsburgh 3, San Francisco 2--Scott Garrelts pitched so well last week he was named the league’s player of the week. But in this game at San Francisco, Garrelts walked Jason Thompson on a 3-and-2 pitch with the bases loaded in the ninth to force in the winning run.

“I had never faced him before, but I knew he could hit the ball hard,” Garrelts said. “On the full count, I tried to throw the perfect pitch. That was stupid.”

It was only the second win in the last eight games for the Pirates. Thompson figured in the other win, too, hitting a home run against the Dodgers Saturday.

Last week, Garrelts allowed just one hit and struck out 10 in 6 innings.

New York 5, Houston 3--Danny Heep is proving to be a capable replacement for injured Darryl Strawberry, and the Mets are rolling along with the best record in the majors, 21-9.

Heep, who was the Mets’ right fielder until Strawberry moved in on May 6, 1983, hit his first home run of the season in this game at Houston to help the Mets win for the eighth time in the last nine games. Last Sunday, Heep had two hits to help win a game.

Dwight Gooden, in what for him was a mediocre performance, gave up three runs and eight hits in 6 innings but improved his record to 6-1 with the help of Jesse Orosco. The reliever retired the last eight Astros, five on strikes, to register his fifth save.

Joe Niekro (2-4) was the loser, giving up six hits and four runs in five innings. The defeat ended the Astros’ four-game winning streak.