St. Louis Leads by 3 1/2 : Cardinals, Reds Complete Sweeps

Ever since he changed his pitching motion seven weeks ago, St. Louis’ John Tudor has been nearly perfect on the mound.

It was the same story Wednesday at San Francisco in a 4-0 victory over the Giants as Tudor won his 10th game in the last 11 starts. But this time his bat helped him win.

“I’ve been a hot pitcher on a hot ballclub,” said Tudor, who struck out nine while scattering six hits as the Cards stretched their National League East lead to 3 1/2 games. “I’ve got a lot of confidence now. Everybody on the team is back to playing good baseball.”

While the Cardinals were winning three straight from the Giants, they got help in extending their lead from the Cincinnati Reds who completed a three-game sweep of the Mets in New York.

Tudor (11-8) helped himself out at the plate in the fifth inning when the Cards scored four unearned runs with the help of Willie McGee’s three-run homer.

The rally began when Giants right-handed starter Jim Gott left for X-rays of his right forearm after he was hit by Ivan DeJesus’ line drive single with one out and no score in the fifth.

Reliever Mark Davis came in to replace Gott. Tudor dropped a sacrifice bunt that Giants’ catcher Alex Trevino failed to pick up, allowing Tudor to reach first on the error.

“I knew it was a good bunt but I didn’t even see the play because I was just running down the line,” said Tudor.

Giants Manager Jim Davenport just shook his head when he talked about the play.

“It seems like we make the one error, the one mistake, that hurts us all the time,” he said. “You can’t give a good ballclub four outs and beat them.”

After Vince Coleman popped out for what would have been the third out in the inning, McGee batted right-handed and drove a 1-2 pitch deep into the right-field stands for his fourth homer of the year. Jack Clark later followed with an RBI single in the inning to cap the scoring.

Tudor went on to record his fifth shutout of the season, tying him with Fernando Valenzuela of the Dodgers for the NL lead.

In sweeping San Francisco three straight in their final meetings this year, the Cards brought their record against the last-place Giants to 10-2 for the season.

Gott, who gave up only three hits in 4 innings, took the loss and dropped to 4-8.

Statistics, as far as Eddie Milner is concerned, can be deceiving.

The 30-year-old center fielder delivered a two-out, game-winning single in the ninth inning that gave the Cincinnati Reds a 3-2 victory and a sweep of the three-game series with the Mets in New York.

Milner, batting only .167 against the Mets, also had a double in four at-bats, drew a walk, stole a base and scored twice.

John Franco (9-1) earned his ninth straight victory in relief. Over the last 29 innings in 20 appearances, he has allowed one earned run for an ERA of 0.30.

Ted Power registered his 18th save by pitching a scoreless final inning.

“I was hitting in a lot of bad luck at the beginning of the year,” explained Milner. “That’s why statistics are deceiving.”

“How you’re swinging is what really counts. If you keep swinging, the ball is bound to fall in,” Milner added. “It’s great to come through in a clutch situation.”

The Brooklyn-born Franco, admitting that he is having lot of fun right now, said: “I was really pumped up and I wanted to get a chance to pitch. A lot of my family and friends were here.

“I guess I was in the right place at the right time when we scored that run,” he explained. “My job is to set up the other team for Ted. So far, we have been a pretty good combination.”

Roger McDowell (5-4) was the loser in relief.

Dave Concepcion opened the Cincinnati ninth with a walk, but was caught stealing. One out later, Dann Bilardello reached first on shortstop Rafael Santana’s error and pinch-hitter Wayne Krenchicki walked. Milner followed with his game-winning single, his second hit of the game.

Pete Rose went 2-for-4, both singles, to boost his major league hit total to 4,161, leaving him 30 shy of Ty Cobb’s all-time hit record.

The Reds took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Milner’s walk, stolen base and Rose’s two-out RBI single. Milner and Max Venable hit consecutive doubles in the third to give the Reds a 2-0 lead.

Howard Johnson and Santana also had consecutive doubles in the Mets’ fifth to cut the deficit to 2-1 and then Keith Hernandez tied the score with his eighth home run of the season to open the sixth inning.