Texas A&M
The Battalion Sports
Wednesday, May 4, 1983/The Battalion/Page 13
ajor leagues
Better ‘timing’ boosts
Rangers past Toronto
United Press International
[TORONTO — Texas mana-
r Doug Rader and Rangers’
ird baseman Larry Parrish
^eed: the only thing separat-
JBg victory from defeat was
Itiming.
I “We got beat Monday night
•cause we weren’t smart
enough to hit one out with run-
tnerson base,” Rader said, refer-
I ring to Monday’s defeat despite
â– â– jjthiTc Texas solo home runs.
BUfonight we wised up.”
Rader was referring specific
ally to Larry Parrish and Jim
Sundberg, each of whom belted
two-run home runs Tuesday
night to power the Rangers to a
:reli|7-2 victory over the Toronto
ys: Blue Jays.
P “It’s all a matter of when you
hit them,” Parrish concurred.
“If this series had been played in
â–¼wexas, the homer I hit last night
R)uld have gone for a double.
The one I hit tonight would
have been a sacrifice fly.”
B Parrish, who drove in three
â– ns, and has hit four homers
â– d driven in 10 runs in his last
Be games, extended his hitting
f streak to seven games.
B “I think my early success this
year has a lot to do with my start
ing to feel at home as an outfiel
der,’’ he said.
E Texas opened a 1-0 lead
when Parrish stroked a first in
ning RBI double, and extended
its lead to 3-0 in the fourth on
|lindberg’s two-run homer off
^erjim Gott, 0-2. The Rangers
bde it 5-0 in the sixth when
Buddy Bell tripled and Parrish
belted his fifth homer.
Texas added a run in the
eighth when Dave Hostetler
walked and scored as Wright’s
single skipped under the glove
of Barry Bonnell for a two-base
error.
Toronto scored two runs in
the eighth on Jesse Barfield’s
sixth homer and the Rangers got
their final run in the ninth when
Pete O’Brien clubbed a solo
homer.
Texas, which entered the
game with a league leading 2.70
team ERA, received a solid
pitching performance from win
ning starter Jon Matlack, 2-1,
who pitched six 1-3 scoreless in
nings.
“Last year the guys went
through a lot of nonsense,” said
Matlack, commenting on the
poor performance turned in by
the 1982 pitching staff. “It was
an awfully embarrassing situa
tion and I don’t want to go
through that again.”
Toronto manager Bobby Cox
wasn’t the least bit surprised by
the strength of the Texas pitch
ing staff.
In other AL games, Balti
more dumped California, 4-2,
Boston clipped Oakland, 3-1,
Kansas City clubbed New York,
5-2, Cleveland topped Minneso
ta, 3-1, Chicago nipped Mil
waukee, 7-6, and Detroit nipped
Seattle, 2-1, in 11 innings.
In the National League, it was
Atlanta 5, Montreal 2; Houston
7, New York 4; Philadelphia 13,
Cincinnati 7; San Diego 4, St.
Louis 3; Los Angeles 5, Pitt
sburgh 4; and San Francisco 5,
Chicago 4.
Rain halted this game for the Texas A&M
baseball team in 1982, and the Aggies
All wet
will pull the tarp on the ’83 season
in this weekend’s season-ending series
against UT. Friday’s game begins at
7:30 in Olsen Field.
Ryan awaiting final word on hamstring
United Press International
HOUSTON — Team physi
cians said it would be several
days before they could deter
mine if Houstop Astros pitcher
Nolan Ryan would be moved to
the 21-day disabled list because
of a pulled hamstring, a spokes
man said.
Ryan, who has been injured
more than he has been healthy
this season, Tuesday said the in
jury he suffered during a Mon
day night game against the Mets
in New York was “bad.”
“I’m in less pain than I was
last (Monday) night when I pul
led it,” Ryan said, “but I don’t
have any mobility.”
A team spokesman said it
would be several days before
swelling decreased enough in
Ryan’s left thigh for doctors to
thoroughly examine and diag
nose the injury. The team is ex
pected to place him on a 21-day
disabled list.
Ryan will be examined some
time this week by team physician
Dr. Bill Bryan.
Before traveling home Tues
day, Ryan said he felt like the
injury was a bad one that would
require the team to take him off
the active roster for at least 21
days. He was on crutches.
The injury was sudden, and it
left Ryan crawling.
“I’ve never had a muscle pop
like that,” he said. “It was as if
somebody had shot me.”
“The muscle didn’t get tight
like normal pulls. I felt nothing
wrong until it popped,” he said.
“The way a pitcher uses his leg,
and that being my landing leg,
and me being a power pithcher,
this is a bad injury. It’s not some
thing that you can take care of by
missing a start and coming
back.”
Ryan has suffered a number
of injuries this season. He
started the season on the 21-day
disabled list from an infection.
He recuperated from that to
set the major league all-time
strikeout record Friday in Mon
treal, and before falling off the
mound Monday night he had
struck out 12 Mets.