National League Roundup : Gullickson Is Getting the Job Done

When the Cincinnati Reds obtained right-hander Bill Gullickson from the Montreal Expos last December they felt they had put together the staff they needed to compete with the Dodgers in the West.

In Mario Soto, John Denny, Gullickson and the 1985 rookie sensation Tom Browning , the Reds were sure they had a powerful starting foursome that could help the team beat out the Dodgers.

A number of things went wrong with the Reds’ theory. Almost any foursome could compete with the Dodgers, it was the Houston Astros they had to fear.

Also, Browning has been mediocre, Soto and Denny have been injured and only in the last month has Gullickson lived up to his billing. Those are reasons enough to explain why the Reds trail the amazing Astros by eight games.

It may be too late to catch the Astros, but in the big, strong 27-year-old Gullickson, the Reds have the hottest pitcher in the league.

Gullickson (11-8) held the Cubs to six hits and struck out eight in seven innings at Chicago Sunday to pitch the Reds to a 7-1 victory that put them at the .500 mark for the first time since they were 4-4 early in the season.

The game was tied, 1-1, after seven innings but the Reds broke it open when the Cubs brought in American League castoff Ron Davis to pitch the eighth. Davis faced five batters, four of whom hit safely, to run his record to 0-2 since coming over from Minnesota. Barry Larkin doubled in the go-ahead run. Eric Davis, who started the trouble for Davis, with a single, also had another hit off Steve Trout in the six-run inning.

In the last month, Gullickson has made seven starts. Although his record over that span is 4-2, he has not given up more than one earned run in any outing. In the seven games, he has pitched 56 innings and yielded only six earned runs for an earned-run average of 0.96.

In his last four starts, the 6-3 Gullickson has pitched with just three days rest.

“Actually, I’ve felt pretty good my last 15 or 16 starts,” Gullickson said. “This club hasn’t had a whole lot of good luck and I’ve been a victim, too.”

Houston 5, St. Louis 1--The Astros put their magic man, Jim Deshaies on the mound at St. Louis, salvaged the finale of a three-game series and remained seven in front in the West.

Deshaies (9-3) was wild, walking six batters in five innings, but was a winner because Cardinal pitcher Tim Conroy made two throwing errors that helped the Astros to a three-run second inning.

After Deshaies departed, Aurelio Lopez took over and went four scoreless innings to gain his fifth save.

Jim Pankovits, playing second base in place of the injured Bill Doran, had four hits and drove in a run for the Astros.

Although he has barely made it through five innings in three of his last four starts, Deshaies has been the winner in three of them and the Astros have won all four.

“I was struggling with my mechanics,” Deshaies said, “and I was nibbling at the plate. If Jim (Pankovits) hadn’t made the big play in the fifth, I would have been gone.”

Pankovits made a brilliant play on Alan Knicely’s sharp grounder to close out the fifth with two Cardinals on base.

About the only consolation for the Cardinals was that the crowd of 33,687 put them over the 2 million mark for the fifth year in a row. They have 19 home games left.

The Cardinals also lost third baseman Terry Pendleton. He got hit on the thumb by Pankovits’ third hit, a line single, and is out indefinitely.

San Francisco 10, New York 1--Candy Maldonado went on another hitting spree at San Francisco to enable Mike Krukow (13-7) breeze to victory on a four-hitter.

The former Dodger outfielder drove in five runs with a homer, double and single as the Giants won for only the second time in the last eight games.

Maldonado’s three-run home run in the first was all Krukow really needed to beat the Mets for the third time this season. Danny Heep singled in Keith Hernandez in the fourth to ruin Krukow’s bid for a shutout.

Krukow, in pitching his ninth complete game, struck out five and walked only one.

Philadelphia 6, San Diego 5--Once again, Rich (Goose) Gossage, one of the top relievers, failed to do his job at San Diego.

Gossage (5-6) came in to protect a 5-4 lead in the ninth, but gave up a hit, a walk and a two-run single to Milt Thompson on an 0-2 pitch that gave the Phillies the victory.

The Phillies fought back from a 5-0 deficit, getting two of the runs on Juan Samuel’s homer in the fourth.

Pittsburgh 4, Atlanta 3--Joe Orsulak went 4 for 4 and Bob Walk pitched a solid seven innings at Pittsburgh as the Pirates won their fourth in a row.

Two errors by Atlanta right fielder Omar Moreno, a former Pirate, helped the Pirates to two of their runs.