National League Roundup : Esasky, Parker Power Reds to Their 5th in a Row, 15-5

Nick Esasky hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning, and Dave Parker hit a grand slam in the ninth Thursday night at Atlanta as the Cincinnati Reds routed the Braves, 15-5, to move within 5 1/2 games of the slumping Dodgers in the West.

Pete Rose also reached another milestone with his 100th hit of the season, a sixth-inning single thatgave him at least 100 hits for a record 23rd straight year. Rose, who last week broke Ty Cobb’s career mark for most hits, had been tied with Cobb and Carl Yastrzemski with 22 straight 100-hit seasons.

In the seventh, Esasky hit Atlanta reliever Gene Garber’s first pitch over the wall for his 19th homer of the season. It scored Rose, who had led off the inning with a single, and Parker, who had sent Rose to third with a double that chased Atlanta starter Pascual Perez (1-11).

Tom Browning (18-9) protected his status as the winningest rookie in the major leagues and extended the Reds’ winning streak to five games. Browning scattered nine hits, struck out four and walked one in eight innings as he sent the Braves to their fourth straight loss.

The Reds got another run in the eighth when Ron Oester opened with a single, went to second on a sacrifice by Browning and scored on Rose’s third hit, a single to right.

Cincinnati put the game out of reach by scoring nine runs in the ninth inning, including Parker’s grand slam, his 28th home run of the season. Atlanta reliever Bruce Sutter gave up five straight hits--Parker’s homer, a triple by pinch-hitter Eric Davis and three singles. The Braves also committed three errors in the inning.

Philadelphia 6, St. Louis 3--Ozzie Virgil and Luis Aguayo each drove in two runs at Philadelphia as the Phillies snapped the seven-game winning streak of the East Division-leading Cardinals.

The Phillies’ Dave Rucker (3-1), starting his first game since 1983, when he was with Detroit, pitched five innings, allowing three runs, five hits and four walks while striking out two. Reliever Rocky Childress pitched one scoreless inning, and Don Carman pitched the final three for his sixth save of the season.

Matt Keough, making his first major league start since 1983, when he was with the New York Yankees, was the loser.

Rookie Vince Coleman of the Cardinals became the third player in league history to steal 100 or more bases in a season (Maury Wills, in 1962, and Lou Brock, in 1974, were the others) when he stole second in the fifth inning.

New York 5, Chicago 1--Sid Fernandez allowed one hit, a solo homer by Gary Matthews, in eight innings at New York as the Mets moved within one game of St. Louis.

Gary Carter and Darryl Strawberry hit consecutive homers to start the second inning for the Mets, and George Foster hit a two-run homer in the third.

Matthews hit his homer in the top of the third.

Fernandez (7-9) struck out 11 and walked 4 before being relieved by Roger McDowell to start the ninth. McDowell gave up two hits as the pair finished with a combined three-hitter.

San Diego 11, San Francisco 3--Left-hander Dave Dravecky, a frequent loser this season because of a lack of hitting support, got plenty of support in this game at San Francisco as the Padres jumped on loser Atlee Hammaker (4-12) for an 8-0 lead after two innings, helping Dravecky (11-11) snap a three-game losing streak.

The victory put the Padres, last year’s league champions, back at .500 with a 73-73 record.

Pittsburgh 8, Montreal 6--R.J. Reynolds hit a homer in the top of the 10th inning to give the Pirates the victory at Montreal.