National League Roundup : Reds’ Parker Is Swinging Like Slugger of Old

In the late ‘70s Dave Parker was one of the real stars of baseball. His potential seemed almost unlimited. In 1978, after winning his second batting title in a row, hitting 30 home runs and driving in 117 runs, he was named the league’s Most Valuable player.

The next year, Parker, a left-handed hitting outfielder, led the Pittsburgh Pirates to victory in the World Series. Already, though, his star was in decline. Injuries, problems with fans and management were taking their toll.

Last season, he signed with Cincinnati as a free agent. There were signs he was slowly working his way back. He hit 16 home runs, drove in 94 runs and batted .285.

Parker, who will be 34 in two weeks, is once again among the game’s most feared hitters.

The veteran right fielder doubled home the tie-breaking run in the eighth inning Tuesday at Chicago, and the Reds went on to gain a 5-2 victory over the Cubs.

It was the fourth game-winning hit for Parker, his 30th RBI and his 13th double. Parker is hitting .345 and has a 13-game hitting streak.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him hit any better than he has this year,” player-manager Pete Rose said. “I know he’s hit better, but he hasn’t done it with the kind of power he has.”

Parker spent 10 seasons with the Pirates and is obviously pleased to be playing for the Reds. “A change of place can make a big difference sometimes,” he said.

“I’m in one of those grooves. When I’m in one, I feel like I’m going to hit safely every time I’m up there. I had 11 one-hit games before I really started swinging the bat well.

“When I came up with two on in the eighth, I was looking to hit the ball hard. I thought it had a chance to get out of here. But, when they start these games late, it really gets hard to see the ball. I guess I was fortunate to get any kind of hit at that stage of the game.”

After Parker’s hit broke the 2-2 tie, the Cubs gave Alan Knicely an intentional walk. When reliever George Frazier went to 3-0 on Tony Perez, who earlier hit a two-run home run, he was replaced by Warren Brusstar. Brusstar completed the walk to Perez to walk in another run and when Brusstar walked Nick Esasky, it was 5-2 Reds.

The teams had only 12 hits, but the pitchers issued 12 walks.

‘Walks can kill you,” said Rose, who was only a manager in this game. “I told our pitchers to let them hit the ball. We got the big hit when we needed it.”

Pittsburgh 3, Houston 2--Rick Reuschel, recalled Monday, had a sensational return to the majors in this game at Pittsburgh.

Reuschel, a 36-year-old right-hander, retired 15 of the first 16 batters he faced and gave up only three hits before John Candelaria replaced him with two out in the eighth. Candelaria picked up his sixth save but gave up a run in the ninth.

Reuschel, once one of the top pitchers in the league, won 125 games for the Chicago Cubs from 1972-81. He was bothered by shoulder and arm troubles after being traded to the New York Yankees in 1981. This was only his 10th win since then.

He won five of them for the Cubs last season, but signed with the Pirates this season after the Cubs released him. The Pirates sent him to Hawaii to start the season. Before being brought back he was 6-2 at Hawaii and had an earned-run average of 2.50.

The Pirates, who had the best ERA in the league last season (3.11) had the worst (4.47) this year. That’s why they brought up Reuschel and Jim Winn and sent Lee Tunell and Mike Bielecki to Hawaii.

While Reuschel is happy to be a Pirate, Candelaria is anxious to leave. “It’s time to move on,” he said. “Chuck (Tanner) has stopped previous trades, but he said this time he will let me have my wish.”

St. Louis 6, Atlanta 3--The Cardinals gave another demonstration of how important speed is to their attack, but Atlanta fans had something to cheer them up----Bob Horner smashed two home runs.

Cardinal speedster Vince Coleman, playing in his 28th major league game, hit his first home run, and, it didn’t leave the park. With the Cardinals leading, 2-1, Coleman hit a drive high off the right-field wall in the third inning. Claudell Washington tried to make a leaping catch, the ball bounced off the wall away from Washington, and Coleman easily circled the bases.

The Cardinals held only a 4-3 lead going into the seventh. With the bases loaded, Manager Whitey Herzog brought Tommy Herr, the league’s leading hitter, in as a pinch-hitter, and Herr singled in two runs to make victory safe.

Herr is hitting .377 and has driven in 29 runs. He is a main reason the Cardinals have scored 80 runs in the last 12 games.

Philadelphia 6, San Francisco 5--Glenn Wilson drove in two runs with a single and double at Philadelphia as three Giant errors helped the Phillies to three unearned runs.

A double error by third baseman Mike Schmidt helped the Giants jump off to a 3-0 lead in the first. With a man on, Schmidt fumbled Manny Trillo’s grounder, picked it up and threw the ball down the right-field line to allow two runs to score.

San Francisco shortstop Jose Uribe, who hit his first major league home run in the eighth, contributed an error to the Phillies’ three-run fifth that gave them the lead for good.

San Diego at New York (postponed)--The American League’s first rainout was Monday night. This was the first in the National League.