National League Roundup : Clark’s Grand Slam Helps Cardinals to 8-2 Win

With so many home runs being hit, almost everyone is convinced the baseball being used this season is livelier than the one used in 1986.

The St. Louis Cardinals certainly believe it is true.

After leading the National League in runs scored and batting average in 1985 while winning the pennant, the Cardinal hitters went into a collective season-long slump in 1986.

They had the lowest batting average (.236), scored the fewest runs (601) and hit only 58 home runs. The next lowest team in home runs, Montreal, hit 52 more than the Cardinals.

In a nearly complete turnaround, the Cardinals have improved their batting average about 50 points, lead the league in runs scored and have the best record in the league (26-14). It is not complete, though, because they aren’t leading in home runs.

But, with a healthy Jack Clark setting the pace, the Cardinals are keeping up with the pack in homers.

Clark hit a disputed grand slam off Cy Young Award winner Mike Scott in the second inning Sunday at Houston to lead the sizzling Cardinals to an 8-2 victory over the Astros. It was Clark’s 12th homer, the club’s 28th and it enabled rookie left-hander Joe Magrane to breeze to his fourth victory in a row.

It was the fifth win in a row for the Cardinals, who scored 31 runs in the five games, and the fifth loss in a row for the Astros.

After 40 games last season, the Cardinals were 16-24 and fighting to stay out of the cellar in the East. They were about to lose Clark for the season and, when they did, they had no chance to repeat.

Usually a slow starter, the 31-year-old first baseman is off to a fast start. The grand slam gave him 43 runs batted in and he’s hitting .345.

“I think we’re good,” Clark said. “People are going to have to start looking at it that way.”

The Cardinals caught Scott on a day when he had no control. After walking only 16 batters in his first 74 innings, he walked 6 Cardinals in 1 innings. The sixth, Terry Pendleton, in the second inning, forced in a run.

Clark’s drive down the left-field line was ruled fair by umpire Charlie Williams, although Houston Manager Hal Lanier argued vehemently that it was foul. Clark tended to agree with Lanier.

“I thought maybe it went foul, but I couldn’t tell,” Clark said. “I was doing what everyone else was, looking to the ump. Then I ran fast around the bases before he changed his mind.”

That was only the second hit off Scott. The other one, in the two-run first inning, was by Pendleton and extended his hitting streak to 18 games.

With a 7-0 cushion, Magrane breezed to his second complete game.

Chicago 3, Atlanta 2--The Cardinals can’t shake the Cubs in the East because they, too, have a hot hitter. He is Andre Dawson.

Dawson, who hit a two-run, two-out home run in the bottom of the ninth Saturday to tie a game the Cubs won in the 16th, came through with the big hit again Sunday.

With two out in the 12th and Bob Dernier on third, the Braves elected to pitch to Dawson. He responded with a sharp single to left for his seventh game-winning hit.

The victory left the Cubs just one game behind the Cardinals.

Pittsburgh 7, Cincinnati 2--It was a day of firsts for Brian Fisher at Cincinnati. It was the third start for the Pirates’ 6-4 right-hander who flopped miserably as a relief pitcher.

He pitched his first complete game and had his first major league hit--a three-run home run--as Pittsburgh stretched its winning streak to five games.

“It’s kind of ironic,” Fisher said. “It was my first homer, my first hit, my first RBI and my first complete game. What a day.”

Bobby Bonilla hit two home runs for the surprising Pirates.

San Francisco 6, Philadelphia 3--Robbie Thompson isn’t accustomed to hitting home runs, so he wasn’t sure his drive in the eighth inning at Philadelphia would leave the park.

But it did, and it came with two men on base to break a 3-3 tie and enable the Giants to go home leading the West by three games.

The Giants led, 3-0, going into the seventh, but Darren Daulton, making his first appearance since last June 22 when he suffered a knee injury, hit a three-run home run to tie it.

Mike LaCoss (5-1) became the winner on Thompson’s third homer of the season.

Montreal 2, San Diego 1--Floyd Youmans combined with Tim Burke for a four-hitter at San Diego and singled in the sixth to start the winning rally.

In a scoreless game, Youmans singled, was sacrificed to second and scored on Mitch Webster’s single. Later in the inning, Eric Show (1-6) walked Andres Gallaraga with the bases full to force in the second run.