National League Roundup : Phils, Making Big Pitch in East, Blank Padres

A five-game winning streak hasn’t put much of a dent in the big lead the New York Mets have built in the East, but nevertheless, the Philadelphia Phillies are getting excited about their pitching.

Charles Hudson threw seven strong innings Saturday at Philadelphia, and when John Russell hit a home run in the seventh, Hudson became a 1-0 winner over San Diego.

It was the Phillies’ second consecutive shutout of the Padres, who came into town a hot-hitting team, and it was Philadelphia’s third shutout in the last four games. In the five-game streak, the Phillies have yielded only six runs.

“I’m not surprised that we’re getting good pitching,” Phillie Manager John Felske said. “They’re starting to pitch the way they’re capable. It was just a matter of patience.”

The string started last Tuesday when Steve Carlton, for so many years the ace of the staff, held the San Francisco Giants to two runs and six hits. It was Carlton’s third impressive performance in a row after some bad ones. Shane Rawley blanked the Giants the next night. After squeaking out a 5-4 win to sweep the Giants, the Phillies were ready for the Padres.

“It’s hard to believe,” Padre Manager Steve Boros said. “We scored 23 runs in three games in Montreal and come in here and can’t put anything on the board.

“You can’t blame (Dave) Dravecky. He made one mistake, and it cost him.”

Russell had not played in a week, but Felske thought it was a good time to rest catcher Darren Daulton.

“I knew right away it was gone,” Russell said, of his third home run. “Dravecky’s a tough pitcher. The ball was down and in, and that’s where I like it.”

After Hudson (3-3) held the Padres to five hits in seven innings, Steve Bedrosian retired the last six batters, two of them on strikes, for his sixth save.

St. Louis 11, Cincinnati 2--Even on a day when the Cardinals had 15 hits, including two home runs, Tommy Herr could not get out of his season-long slump.

In this game at Cincinnati, only Herr, Ozzie Smith and pitcher Bob Forsch, of the starters, failed to get a hit. All the others had at least two hits--Mike Heath and Andy Van Slyke getting three, including a home run apiece.

Herr went 0 for 4. A year ago, the Cardinal second baseman was hitting a league-leading .372 and was tied with teammate Jack Clark for the RBI lead with 39. At the moment, he is batting .166 with 11 RBIs.

The 11 runs made it easy for Forsch (4-3), who pitched a four-hitter. It gave the Cardinals 161 runs in 44 games. In the first 44 games last season, they scored 234 runs.

That probably accounts for the difference in a year. Last season at this time, the Cardinals were 23-21 and starting their drive to the pennant. Now, they are 17-27 and possibly already out of the race.

Atlanta 8, Chicago 4--The wind was blowing out at Wrigley Field, and it was the Braves who took advantage of it.

Bob Horner broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth inning with a two-run home run, one of four hit by the Braves. Dale Murphy hit a two-run smash in the seventh, and Rafael Ramirez and Ozzie Virgil connected on solo blasts.

Gary Matthews hit the only home run for the Cubs. It came with none on in the fourth.

Houston 4, Montreal 3--Glenn Davis hit a two-out home run in the eighth inning at Houston to break a 3-3 tie and enable the Astros to maintain a 2 1/2-game lead in the West.

It may have been a costly win. Nolan Ryan, who has probably thrown more pitches than any pitcher in history, left with a recurrence of a right elbow sprain after the first inning.

San Francisco 7, New York 3--Jeff Leonard and Rob Thompson each had three hits, and the Giants pounded Bob Ojeda for all their runs in 3 innings at New York.

Scott Garrelts (5-5) gave up eight hits in pitching his second complete game to end the Giants’ four-game losing streak.