National League Roundup : Astros Wake Up With Rally That Beats Cubs, 6-4

The Houston Astros were in the doldrums. They had been clobbered twice in a row by the Pittsburgh Pirates, they hadn’t come from behind to win in a week and they had won only four of their previous 10 games.

Sure enough, they spotted the Chicago Cubs a 2-0 lead Monday at Chicago, and in the style Astro fans have become accustomed to this season, stormed back to beat the Cubs, 6-4.

Denny Walling doubled in two runs and Jose Cruz homered in a four-run sixth inning, but it remained for reliever Dave Smith to finish off the Cubs.

Smith was summoned with two on and nobody out in the ninth and quickly walked the bases loaded. Smith retired Gary Matthews on strikes and Keith Moreland on a pop fly. A passed ball by catcher Alan Ashby allowed a run to score and put the potential tying run in scoring position, but Smith closed out the game by getting Leon Durham to pop out.

It was a career-high 28th save for the right-hander, one of the legion of pitchers taught the split-fingered fastball by Roger Craig.

Smith is also one of several pupils that Craig, manager of the San Francisco Giants, has accused of cutting the baseball. In answer to Craig’s charge, Smith said that maybe Craig taught him too well.

Said Walling: “The first five months, we scored in the late innings and we haven’t done much of that lately,” he said. “This was a good, solid effort. We needed something like this to shake us up. And Dave, as he’s done so often, came through with the big pitches.”

The Cubs became the second team in the majors to be eliminated from pennant contention. The Pirates were eliminated last week.

The Astros, who stayed seven games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds in the Western Division, received good news off the field, too. Glenn Davis, their power-hitting first baseman, will rejoin them for today’s game. X-rays taken of his ailing back showed he has no serious problem.

Cincinnati 6, Pittsburgh 5--Ted Power, a flop this season as a reliever, may have found his niche as a starter for the Reds.

In this game at Cincinnati, Power (5-6) made his third consecutive start after 46 relief appearances. The former Dodger gave up just one hit in six innings to gain the victory. Last Tuesday, Power, who had made 229 relief appearances for the Reds, gave up just one earned run and five hits in 6 innings.

The only hit off Power was Benny Distefano’s sixth-inning home run. It came after Power had retired 17 batters in a row.

“My big problem earlier in the season was that I rushing my pitches,” Power said. “Now, I’m taking my time and getting better results.”

Cincinnati’s Nick Esasky hit a two-run home run in the sixth.

New York 5, San Francisco 2--The gallant bid of the Giants to win the West is dying in the East. Mookie Wilson hit a run-scoring single in the eighth inning at New York to break a 2-2 tie and drop the Giants nine games behind Houston.

It was the fourth loss in a row and 11th in 15 games for the Giants. To make matters worse, the Giants learned that third baseman Chris Brown, the third-leading hitter in the league with a .321 average, will be lost for the season. Brown appeared as a pinch-runner Monday, and will undergo an arthrogram to determine the extent of the injury to his left shoulder.

Although he didn’t get the victory, Sid Fernandez pitched a strong seven innings, striking out a career-high 14 batters. Fernandez, who has lost five pounds since Manager Davey Johnson reprimanded him for being overweight, was removed after throwing 122 pitches.

Philadelphia 5, San Diego 4--Von Hayes hit a home run in the fifth inning at Philadelphia to tie the game and then won it with a bloop double in the eighth.

With two out in the eighth, Padre reliever Craig Lefferts walked Gary Redus. An error by second baseman Bip Roberts put Redus on second, and when Hayes’ fly ball fell just in front of left fielder Carmelo Martinez, Redus raced home. It was Lefferts’ league-leading 70th appearance.

Kent Tekulve (9-3) pitched 1 scoreless innings to win it.

St. Louis 5, Atlanta 2--Jim Acker (3-4) took a three-hitter and a 2-1 lead into the ninth inning at Atlanta.

But the Cardinals pounded out four consecutive hits with one out to win it. Andy Van Slyke singled, Terry Pendleton doubled, John Morris singled and Ozzie Smith tripled to finish Acker.

Ray Soff (1-0) pitched one inning to earn his first major league victory. Todd Worrell retired three batters in a row, two on strikes, to earn his 30th save.

Both Atlanta runs were home runs off Greg Mathews. Bob Horner hit his 20th in the fourth and Glenn Hubbard hit his fourth in the fifth.