National League Roundup : Tudor Gets 20th Win and 10th Shutout for Cardinals

John Tudor won his 20th game with his league-leading 10th shutout to pace the Cardinals to a 5-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at St. Louis Thursday night and reduce their magic number for clinching the National League East to six.

The Cardinals, who have won 7 in a row and 14 of their last 15 games, held their four-game lead over the New York Mets. Both New York and St. Louis have nine games remaining, including three against each other next week in St. Louis.

Tudor (20-8) checked the Phillies on four hits--three by Glenn Wilson--while striking out seven and walking none.

The left-hander has won his last 10 decisions and 19 of his last 20. He leads the league in shutouts.

Tudor became the majors’ fourth 20-game winner this season and dropped his earned-run average to 2.04, second in the league behind the Mets’ Dwight Gooden (23-4). The Cardinals’ Joaquin Andujar and the New York Yankees’ Ron Guidry are the other 20-game winners.

The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the second when Darrell Porter doubled, went to third on Andy Van Slyke’s single and scored on Terry Pendleton’s double play.

Two walks and a two-out triple padded the St. Louis lead to 3-0 in the fourth. Porter and Van Slyke walked ahead of Pendleton’s triple off loser Kevin Gross (14-12).

A two-out single by Willie McGee scored Ozzie Smith in the fifth.

St. Louis added another run on a double steal in the sixth. Van Slyke reached base on a fielder’s choice and stole second. He went to third on a single by Pendleton and then scored on the double steal.

The only Philadelphia threat came in the fifth when Wilson led off with a double and advanced to third on a ground-out. But Tudor struck out Garry Maddox and got John Russell to ground out to preserve the shutout.

New York 3, Chicago 0--Dwight Gooden pitched an eight-hitter on the way to his club-record eighth shutout of the season and added an RBI single at Chicago.

Gooden walked two and struck out seven. He is 5-0 against the Cubs this season. His earned-run average fell to 1.51, the best in the NL, and Gooden has not given up an earned run in 48 innings.

Taking account of Chicago’s eight hits, Met Manager Dave Johnson said: “I know he was in trouble a lot, but I’ve seen him get out of trouble so many times, I’ve got to wonder when he really is in trouble.

“He’s past the point where you even think about a relief (pitcher) for him.”

The Mets gave Gooden all the support he needed in their first at-bat. Mookie Wilson led off with a double off Chicago starter and loser Johnny Abrego (1-1). Wilson moved to third base on Wally Backman’s single, then came home on Keith Hernandez’s run-scoring single.

The Mets added a pair of runs in the fourth, chasing Abrego. With one out, Danny Heep and Howard Johnson delivered consecutive singles. Rafael Santana followed with a double over third base, scoring Heep, and Gooden knocked in the final New York run, slicing a single into right to score Johnson.

Chicago squandered scoring opportunities in the first, second, third and sixth innings, stranding two baserunners in each inning.

Cincinnati 6, Atlanta 1--Andy McGaffigan pitched seven strong innings and doubled home a run with his first hit of the season to lead the Reds over the Braves at Cincinnati.

The Reds moved within 5 1/2 games of the idle Dodgers in the National League West.

McGaffigan (3-3) allowed just four singles before yielding in the eighth to John Franco, who gave up an RBI infield single to Dale Murphy. Ted Power got the last four outs for his 25th save.

Steve Bedrosian (7-14) took the loss, allowing six hits in 6 1/2 innings.

Ron Oester drew a two-out walk from Bedrosian in the second and scored from first on McGaffigan’s double to right-center field. That was only McGaffigan’s third major league hit and broke an 0-for-24 slump this season, during which he had struck out 17 times.

The Reds added two runs in the fifth. Eddie Milner walked and stole his third base of the game. Dave Parker drew an intentional walk, and Wayne Krenchicki hit a soft two-out single to score Milner. Dave Concepcion walked to load the bases, and Bedrosian hit Bo Diaz to force in another run.

Concepcion singled home another run in the seventh, and Parker added a two-run single in the eighth. Milner scored on Parker’s hit after walking and stealing second base for his fourth steal of the game and 35th of the season.