NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Cardinals Beat Pirates Again

Before the season, even the most ardent followers of the St. Louis Cardinals couldn’t believe the team would be a serious contender in the National League East.

They had only one top pitcher, Joe Magrane, and only one hitter with power, Pedro Guerrero. Magrane would be sidelined for the season because of an elbow injury and Guerrero suffered a broken leg July 8 and is through for the year.

Yet with bullpen ace Lee Smith and a no-name starting staff, defense and speed, the Cardinals have climbed into the pennant race.

Not known for their home runs, the Cardinals hit two Saturday on a hot afternoon in St. Louis to hand the Pittsburgh Pirates their eighth consecutive defeat, 6-5. Milt Thompson homered leading off the eighth inning to tie the score and Todd Zeille led off the 10th with his eighth of the season, tops on the club, to pull the Cardinals within 4 1/2 games of the Pirates.

Although Manager Jim Leyland of the Pirates said that he wasn’t ready to push the panic button, his team is having some terrible luck.

The two home runs in one game is a Cardinal rarity. They have only 41 this season, last in the majors.

“We won’t win many this way,” Manager Joe Torre said.

The Pirates seem to be falling apart without Andy Van Slyke in center. Van Slyke has a back injury and has sat out all eight defeats.

Gary Redus made a rare appearance in center Saturday and messed up two plays that contributed to two Cardinal runs.

The Cardinals might have won in nine innings if not for a tremendous play by Pirate shortstop Jay Bell. With Thompson on second and Felix Jose on third and one out in the sixth, the infield was playing in for a play at the plate.

Jose Oquendo hit a ball that took a high bounce over second baseman Jose Lind’s head. One run scored. But Thompson was thrown out because Bell alertly backed up the play and made a perfect throw home.

Smith (6-2), who has 28 saves, worked two scoreless innings.

San Francisco 7, Cincinnati 3--”We’ll start a new streak tomorrow,” a confident Giant Manager Roger Craig said after their 11-game winning streak ended Friday night.

When Will Clark hit a three-run home run in the first inning at Cincinnati and John Burkett (8-5) pitched five shutout innings, the new streak was under way.

Kevin Mitchell, Matt Williams and Kevin Bass also homered in the romp over the Reds, who have lost 17 of their last 23 games.

Red Manager Lou Piniella was ejected in the eighth inning after what appeared to be a home run by Bill Doran of the Reds was ruled foul.

A Farmers Day crowd of 46,969 showered the field with debris, delaying the game for 10 minutes.

San Diego 3, Atlanta 2--The stage was set for a Braves’ rally in the ninth inning at Atlanta.

Four consecutive hits cut the Padres’ lead to a run and left the bases loaded with none out. But Larry Andersen came on and the Padres escaped.

Terry Pendleton, who had three errors at third base, grounded into a force play at home, Ron Gant popped out and Tommy Gregg struck out.

The Padres’ Tony Gwynn had three hits, including his third home run, and leads Pendleton in the batting race, .339 to .332.

Chicago 9, New York 2--The Mets, losing their fourth in a row and ninth in 11 games, slipped into third place in the East, still five games behind the Pirates.

Chico Walker homered and drove in three runs and Ryne Sandberg also homered for the Cubs.

Frank Viola (11-8) lasted only four innings, losing for the fifth time in a row to the Cubs.

Philadelphia 7, Montreal 1--Tommy Greene, who no-hit the Expos in May at Montreal, pitched seven shutout innings to win this one.

Dale Murphy hit a three-run home run in the third inning.