By Wilbur Miller
For the second time in three games, the Pirates suffered a blowout loss to the Cubs, this time 11-3. The loss came at the expense of John Candelaria, who had his worst start since getting knocked out in the second inning on June 12.
Candelaria went five innings, allowing runs in every inning except the first, for a total of seven. He gave up ten hits in all, including two longballs to Steve Dillard, who now has three on the year.
The Pirates had little luck against Cubs’ starter Dennis Lamp. Through eight innings, they had just five hits and no walks. The hits were all singles except a one-out triple by Phil Garner in the eighth, and that went for naught.
The Pirates got two scoreless innings from Dave Roberts, but Grant Jackson had a rough bottom of the eighth. He gave up an RBI triple to Ivan DeJesus and a two-run home run to Mike Vail. A fourth run scored on an error to make the score 11-0.
In the ninth, the Pirates managed to avoid the shutout. Dave Parker tripled with one out, then scored on a ground out. John Milner followed with a single and Bill Madlock hit his 11th home run. Lamp then got the last out.
Candelaria’s record dropped to 10-8. The Expos lost their third straight to the Phillies, so the Bucs remain in first by a game and a half. The Cubs are three and a half out.
The Pirates head to Philadelphia for four games, starting with a doubleheader tomorrow. The twinbill will feature a rematch between Bert Blyleven (9-4, 3.71 ERA) and Steve Carlton (11-9, 3.87) in the first game, with Bruce Kison (6-6, 3.69) facing Randy Lerch (6-10, 4.31) in game two. The other two games will pit Jim Rooker (2-6, 4.39) and Jim Bibby (8-2, 2.57) against Dickie Noles (3-3, 4.01) and Larry Christenson (3-7, 4.66).
