National League Roundup : Forgotten Astro Deshaies Gets a Chance, Stops Braves, 6-0

For a pitcher who posted a 12-5 record and a 3.25 earned-run average as a rookie last season, Jim Deshaies doesn’t get much respect from the Houston Astros.

Despite his fine season, Deshaies didn’t throw a pitch in the NL Championship Series against the New York Mets. Manager Hal Lanier said that when he decided to go with a three-man rotation, there wasn’t a place for the 6-4 left-hander.

Again this spring, Deshaies, 26, has been a forgotten man. Except for one disastrous relief appearance in which he retired only one of the five batters he faced, he was virtually sitting out this season until Nolan Ryan pulled a hamstring.

Deshaies was just about all Lanier had left for a starting assignment Wednesday night against the Atlanta Braves at Houston.

Probably to the surprise of his manager, Deshaies was brilliant. He gave up only 4 hits and struck out a career-high 11 in 7 innings of a 6-0 victory over the Braves.

Deshaies was given all the help he needed in the first inning when Bill Doran got an inside-the-park home run as the first Astro batter. Both center fielder Al Hall and right fielder Dale Murphy dived for the ball. When neither was able to come up with it, Doran easily completed the circuit.

Glenn Davis hit his second home run to open the fourth inning, and the Astros were well on their way to their eighth win at home without a loss.

“Tonight was a confidence builder because when you have so much time off, you start to wonder if you will be able to to throw strikes or your velocity will be there,” Deshaies said.

Lanier denied Deshaies had something to prove. “He pitched well last year,” Lanier said, “and tonight he had command of his pitches. That’s your goal when you haven’t pitched.

“I didn’t want him to throw a lot of pitches tonight. He threw 94 pitches.”

New York 8, Pittsburgh 7--By beating up on the Pirates in two out of three games at Pittsburgh, the Mets regained first place in the East.

But because they don’t have their bullpen ace, injured Roger McDowell, the victories over the Pirates weren’t easy.

With Mookie Wilson and Kevin McReynolds hitting home runs, the Mets built a 7-1 lead for Ron Darling (2-0) in five innings.

Then the Pirates played a little long ball of their own, and when former Dodger Sid Bream hit his fourth homer of the season in the eighth and Barry Bonds hit a two-run smash in the ninth, the Mets were only a run ahead.

Jesse Orosco finally got the last two outs with the potential tying run on second base.

“You think you’ve got a laugher and then, bam, bam, boom,” Manager Davey Johnson said.

Montreal 7, Philadelphia 3--Neal Heaton is looking for a way to avoid the first inning. Or maybe he will have to spend more time warming up.

In his three starts for the Expos, Heaton has given up six runs in the first inning and only five in all the others.

The left-hander, obtained from Minnesota in the deal that sent bullpen ace Jeff Reardon to the Twins, survived another shaky beginning at Montreal to improve his record to 2-1.

“I’m not too good at the beginning because I get too pumped up for the start,” Heaton said.

Heaton was lucky to escape with just one run, and when the Expos came up with six in the sixth, it was a breeze.

It was 1-1 when Tim Wallach led off the big inning with his first home run of the season. Later, Mitch Webster broke the game open with a bases-loaded triple.

Chicago 5, St. Louis 4--Last year, it would have been an ideal setup for Todd Worrell. The Cardinals were leading, 3-1, with two out and the bases loaded in the seventh.

But Worrell, the best reliever in the league a year ago, is having his troubles. In his previous outing, he walked five batters in less than an inning.

It was worse this time. Andre Dawson, batting only .157 as a Cub, hit a grand slam, and the Cardinals lost again.

San Diego 6, Cincinnati 3--Kevin Mitchell drove in a career-high four runs with a double and a home run at San Diego, and the Padres won their second game in a row.

It was only the third time the Padres have scored more than three runs in a game. Ed Whitson improved his record to 2-2, giving up 5 hits in 6 innings. Two of the hits were home runs by Sal Butera and Kal Daniels.

The Padres are 4-12, and three of the wins have been over the Reds.

The last time the Reds lost two in a row was last September.