National League Roundup : Ryan Flops, but Thon Stars as Astros Win, 8-7

Nolan Ryan will have to wait at least another game before he reaches 4,000 strikeouts, but despite his failure, there was something to cheer about Saturday night at Houston.

On a night when Ryan gave up a grand slam to Tim Wallach and was chased in the fifth inning, struggling Dickie Thon hit his first home run in more than a year and sparked the Astros to an 8-7 victory over the Montreal Expos.

Ryan, who needed 10 strikeouts to reach his latest goal, struck out three before Wallach’s homer finished him for the night. He departed trailing, 6-4, but the Astros fought back to tie in the bottom of the fifth. Then Thon, who had hit his home run in the fourth, doubled in the tying run and scored the winning run in the sixth.

It marked the first time that Thon has made a solid contribution since his serious beaning by the Mets’ Mike Torrez in the fifth game of the 1984 season. Thon, a 20-homer hitter in 1983, had fuzzy vision the rest of last year. Although he had a good spring training this year, he has not shown his 1983 form during the regular season.

He has been platooning at shortstop with Craig Reynolds, and he was hitless in his last 11 at-bats before he homered off Joe Hesketh. He had 105 at-bats this season and was batting only .183 before his big night.

Although he is glad to have a good game, Thon knows his comeback is far from complete.

“I still have a long way to go,” he said. “I’m still not hitting the way I want to. I’m just glad to have a good night.”

Manager Bob Lillis also was low-key. “I don’t think this is any turning point for Dickie,” he said. “We’ve seen some improvement in batting practice for a couple of weeks. He’s been more aggressive. The key for Dickie is adjusting and continuing to improve.”

Ryan’s flop gave rookie Jeff Calhoun a chance to win his first game. He pitched two shutout innings and became the winner when Thon doubled in the go-ahead run in the sixth.

For his career, Ryan now has 3,993 strikeouts and is 85 ahead of Philadelphia’s Steve Carlton, currently on the disabled list with a rotator cuff problem.

Pittsburgh 8, San Diego 7--The Pirates have the worst record in the league, but they have put the Padres in a spin and have San Diego Manager Dick Williams so upset he won’t talk to the media.

Marvell Wynne beat out a hit to deep short with two out in the ninth inning at Pittsburgh to score Sammy Khalifa from third, giving the lowly Pirates their second bizarre victory in a row.

In a rain-delayed marathon Friday night, the Padres scored two runs in the top of the 12th, only to lose when the Pirates scored three in the bottom of the inning.

In this one, the Pirates led, 7-4, going into the ninth, but a walk to Tony Gwynn, doubles by Steve Garvey and Kurt Bevacqua, and a single by Bruce Bochy tied it.

Craig Lefferts retired the first two Pirates in the bottom of the ninth, but singles by Khalifa and Sixto Lezcano were followed by Wynne’s grounder, on which he barely beat Garry Templeton’s throw to first.

Garvey’s double was his third hit of the game. Friday night, he had four.

Steve Kemp homered for the Pirates in the fourth. It was his first home run since last July 21.

Cincinnati 4, Philadelphia 2--The Reds had lost four games in a row, and their famous player-manager had not had a hit in the last three games. Both were due.

In this game at Philadelphia, Pete Rose went 1 for 3, scored two runs and drove in the winning run to put an end to both slumps. The first baseman also turned in the defensive play of the night. With two on and two out in the fourth, he robbed Rick Schu of a hit by grabbing his hot smash.

Ron Robinson went six innings in his first start and improved his record to 4-0. Ted Power earned his 16th save. In the eighth, with runners on second and third, he got Mike Schmidt and Glenn Wilson without a run scoring.

The game was delayed for more than an hour by rain in the top of the ninth.

The hit for Rose was his 4,155th. He needs 37 more to break Ty Cobb’s record.

San Francisco 6, Chicago 4--Rookie Chris Brown homered off Lee Smith in the ninth inning at Chicago to break a 4-4 tie, and the Giants added another run in the inning on a double by Dan Gladden.

Jody Davis homered for the Cubs, and Ryne Sandberg extended his hitting streak to 18 games with a single in the first.

The game drew a crowd of 35,902, putting the Cubs at 1,025,563 for the season, the earliest in history that they have surpassed the million mark at home.