National League Roundup : Reds, Far From Dead, Win at Pittsburgh, 5-4

Shortly after the All-Star break, Manager Pete Rose sounded a warning to the Houston Astros that his Cincinnati Reds were definitely contenders in the National League West.

At the time the Reds trailed the Astros by only four games and slugging Dave Parker was spearheading the attack.

Suddenly, Parker went into a horrible slump. The Reds sank into the cellar and trailed the Astros by 10 1/2 games in early August.

Without much help from Parker, the Reds slowly straightened out and fought their way out of the cellar. Finally, Parker’s dormant bat has come alive, and the Reds are hoping it isn’t too late.

Parker, who skidded from .300 to .263, drove in four runs, including the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the ninth, to lead the Reds to a 5-4 victory at Pittsburgh Tuesday night that cut the Astro lead to seven games.

Parker’s two-run home run in the fifth was his 25th homer of the season but only his second in a month. He also doubled in a run in the first.

The Pirates fought back to tie with two runs in the eighth. But in the ninth, Kal Daniels singled, stole second and continued to third when catcher Tony Pena’s throw went into center field. After a walk to Buddy Bell, the Pirates brought in left-hander Pat Clements to pitch to Parker. Parker flied to right, and Daniels scored easily.

It is always a thrill for Parker to return to Pittsburgh and do well. In the closing years of an 11-year career with the Pirates, the right fielder was a target of abuse from the fans. He is also being sued by the Pirates in an attempt to avoid paying him deferred money from his contract with them

“All those things, the fans, the cheap shot they’re taking at me over the deferred payment, get me fired up,” Parker said.

“I like to remind them that I was a quality player here and that I’m a quality player for another team now.”

The Reds are making their move at the expense of the Eastern Division. They are 36-26 against the division, the best of any Western Division team.

The Reds have won 8 of their last 9, and 12 of their last 15.

“All we can do is keep on winning and hope the Astros lose a few,” Rose said. “We still have five more games with them. Who knows what might happen if we’re close.”

Ted Power, in his second start for the Reds, lasted 6 innings. John Franco, although he gave up two runs in two innings, was the winner.

Chicago 5, Houston 3--The Astros finally gave Danny Darwin his first start in this game at Houston, but it wasn’t a rousing debut.

Darwin, acquired by the Astros from Milwaukee Aug. 15, gave up six hits, including a home run by Terry Francona, and four runs in six innings.

Craig Reynolds hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 4-3, but the kind of dramatic comeback that characterized 20 of the Astros’ victories this season was not forthcoming.

Frank DiPino, a former Astro, held Houston hitless for two innings, and fireballing Lee Smith pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 25th save.

Ron Cey hit a pinch home run in the seventh for the Cubs’ final run.

New York 11, San Diego 6--Ray Knight and Tim Teufel each had four hits and drove in three runs at San Diego as the Mets continued their success on the West Coast.

The Mets have won eight of nine on the West Coast, with the loss coming at San Francisco.

Sid Fernandez became the club’s first 15-game winner. He gave up six runs and 12 hits in seven innings, but with Knight and Teufel leading the attack, he didn’t need to be sharp.

Dave Dravecky (9-11) started for the Padres but departed with a stiff left forearm in the second inning. He left shortly after Rafael Santana hit a two-run home run.

St. Louis 7, Atlanta 1--Rookie southpaw Greg Mathews held the Braves to two hits in eight innings at St. Louis but missed his shutout because of a rain delay of 85 minutes in the bottom of the eighth.

Pat Perry came in to pitch the ninth and gave up the run.

Mathews became the first rookie to win 10 games in a season for the Cardinals since John Fulgham did it in 1979.

Vince Coleman and John Morris each had three hits for the Cardinals. Coleman had his string of 28 consecutive steals stopped in the first inning but later stole his major league-leading 87th base.

San Francisco 1, Montreal 0--Pinch hitter Harry Spilman’s bases-loaded single in the 12th inning scored Scott Garrelts to give the Giants a victory over the Expos at San Francisco.

Will Clark led off with a single against loser Bert Roberge, 0-3. On the next pitch, Garrelts faked a bunt and swung away, grounding a single past third baseman Tim Wallach. After Chili Davis was walked intentionally to load the bases, Bob Brenly bounced back to Roberge, who threw home for the first out.

Spilman, hitting for Jose Uribe, pulled a 2-1 pitch to right to win the game.