National League Roundup : Phillies Put Off Mets With a Sweep

The New York Mets took a detour in Philadelphia on their way to clinching the National League East championship.

Kevin Gross pitched a six-hitter and tripled home two runs as the second-place Phillies beat the Mets, 6-0, Sunday to complete a three-game sweep that prevented the Mets from clinching the title.

The Mets’ magic number remains at two. Any combination of two New York victories or Philadelphia losses will give the Mets their third division championship and first since 1973. The Phillies trail the Mets by 19 games.

“I guess it’s going to be in St. Louis,” Met Manager Davey Johnson said. “I don’t care where we clinch. The Phillies were up for this series. They just beat us. I’m happy they didn’t play that way all season.”

The Mets, who have lost five of their last six games, open a two-game series in St. Louis tonight.

Until this weekend, the Mets had suffered only one three-game sweep all year, and none on the road.

But the Phillies beat the Mets, 6-3, Friday night and, 6-5, Saturday, besting Dwight Gooden in the opener and top reliever Roger McDowell in the second game. The three-game series drew 128,830.

Gross (10-11), struck out nine and walked four while recording his second shutout and seventh complete game of the season.

Von Hayes had a big series for the Phillies. He went 8 for 12, scored 6 times and drove in 3 more runs in the 3 games. In Sunday’s game, Hayes went 2 for 4, tying Pete Rose’s club record with his 42nd double and scored two more runs to take over the National League lead with 93.

Hayes has been hot since the All-Star break, batting .365 to raise his season average to .315 and he has a career-high 85 RBIs already.

Mike Schmidt drove in two runs to raise his National League-leading total to 112. Schmidt has a total of 1,385 RBIs in his 14-year career and he moved into 33rd place on the all-time list, two ahead of Hall of Famer Joe (Ducky) Medwick.

St. Louis 10, Montreal 2--Mike Laga hit a two-run homer in a five-run first inning and Willie McGee went 4 for 5 with a solo home run and RBI double at St. Louis as the Cardinals beat the Expos.

McGee and Vince Coleman each scored three runs. Coleman stole his major league-leading 95th and 96th bases.

Pittsburgh 9, Chicago 2--Sid Bream’s two-run single highlighted a six-run fifth inning that helped the Pirates to a rout in Pittsburgh.

With the score tied, 1-1, the Pirates sent 12 batters to the plate, loading the bases with Barry Bonds’ double and two walks against Drew Hall (0-1).

Hall, making his major league debut, walked Johnny Ray for the go-ahead run and reliever Dave Gumpert hit Jim Morrison with his first pitch to make it 3-1. Bream’s single scored two runs and Junior Ortiz and winning pitcher Rick Reuschel (9-16) hit RBI singles.

San Diego 3, Houston 2--Pinch-hitter Carmelo Martinez hit a two-run homer with one out in thebottom of the ninth inning at San Diego as the Padres edged the Astros.

With Cincinnati defeating the Dodgers, the Astros’ magic number for clinching the National League West crown remained at 13.

Martinez’s homer spoiled a good performance by Astro pitcher Mike Scott (16-10), who struck out a career-high 14 and raised his major league-leading total to 273.