National League Roundup : Tunnell Beats Padres, Ends Losing Streak

Lee Tunnell shut out the Padres on five hits through six innings Sunday at San Diego and finally ended an 11-game losing streak as Pittsburgh beat the Padres, 5-2.

Tunnell’s first victory in more than a year prevented the Padres from regaining first place in the West. Carmelo Martinez hit a two-run home run off John Candelaria in the ninth, but it was too little, too late. Thursday, Martinez homered in the eighth off Candelaria to beat the Pirates.

“I knew I could still pitch,” said Tunnell, who had last won on June 2, 1984. “It was just a matter of things going my way, I guess. But this doesn’t mean I’m completely out of the woods yet.

“(Manager) Chuck (Tanner) was telling me that I should just forget the past and start over. That’s easier said than done.”

Tunnell (1-6) got the runs he needed in the second inning. Rookie shortstop Sammy Khalifa doubled in two runs and scored the third on a single by Junior Ortiz.

Jason Thompson and Bill Madlock each singled in a run in the ninth to help the lowly Pirates end a five-game losing streak.

“Lee did something he wasn’t doing earlier in the year,” Tanner said. “He got the ball over the plate and wasn’t falling behind the hitters. Today, he was getting his breaking ball over the plate. When he does that he can win.”

There were some anxious moments in the ninth before Tunnell’s losing streak officially ended. There was one out when Martinez hit his 13th home run. But the Pirates brought in Cecilio Guante, and he retired Kevin McReynolds and Garry Templeton to end the agony.

“We had a chance if we hold them in the ninth,” Manager Dick Williams of the Padres said. “The guy who drove in the first run (Thompson) was 0 for 8 off (Mark) Thurmond. Thurmond hung a breaking ball. It’s a little tough to get the tying run up when you’re down, 5-0.”

In 1983, with rookies Tunnell and Jose DeLeon, the Pirates thought they had the nucleus of a fine pitching staff. Between them, Tunnell and DeLeon were 18-9 as rookies.

They and the Pirates have fallen on hard times. In the last two seasons the two have a combined record of 11-40. So much for that nucleus.

The Padres won three out of four from the Pirates, but the Dodgers won three out of four from St. Louis, leader in the East.

New York 15, Atlanta 10--The Mets have been outhitting only one team in the National League all season, the San Francisco Giants. But, if the last two games are an indication, their hitting problems are over.

With George Foster going 3 for 3 and driving in five runs, the Mets hammered the Braves for the second game in a row at New York. They have scored 31 runs and pounded out 34 hits in the last two games.

As a team they were hitting only .236 after 88 games. In the last two games, though, they batted at a .415 clip and raised their club average to .242.

The Mets are 15-3 in July and are only one-half game out of first place. A big reason is the hitting surge of Foster.

Foster hit a three-run home run to highlight a five-run fifth inning that put the Mets in command. In the last 19 games he is hitting .368 (26-for-71). In the last 10 he has hit three home runs and driven in 15 runs.

Terry Leach, making his first start in four years, held the Braves to six hits in six innings to gain his first win of the season. One of the hits was Dale Murphy’s 24th home run.

Houston 5, Montreal 4--It figured that when the Astros ended their skid Jose Cruz would have something to do with it. No, Cruz didn’t come up with a key hit at Montreal to help the Astros end a six-game losing streak, he did it with his glove.

Cruz leaped high and reached over the wall in left to haul in Hubie Brooks’ potential game-winning home run, then fired to first to double off U.L. Washington and end the game.

“When Brooks hit the ball, I thought it was going to be out of here,” said Astros Manager Bob Lillis. “Our only hope was if Jose was 10 feet tall. He made a heck of a jump and catch.”

The Astros had scored only one run in 43 innings before this game, but Glenn Davis homered and singled to drive in two runs and they took a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth when Cruz became the star of the day.

Cincinnati 7, Philadelphia 6--Dave Parker continues to be Mr. Clutch for the Reds. In this game at Cincinnati, Parker hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning. His 17th home run put Parker one home run ahead of his total for last season and was the 11th time he came through with the game-winning run batted in.

Player-manager Pete Rose drew a two-out walk in the seventh before Parker drilled reliever Don Carman’s fastball into the right field seats.

Earlier, Rose singled and now needs only 34 hits to pass Ty Cobb in his drive to set the record for the most hits.

San Francisco 2, Chicago 1--Bill Laskey (3-11), after ending his eight-game losing streak at San Francisco, has reason to believe that his luck, which has been mostly bad, is ready to turn.

He held the Cubs scoreless for seven innings and Greg Minton bailed him out of trouble in the eighth.

“That might show my luck is turning,” Laskey said. “Most of the time I haven’t had any runs to work with. Today, I threw more changeups.”

Jeff Leonard hits his 10th homer for the Giants.