National League Roundup : Pirates’ Fisher Gets First Shutout

Brian Fisher of the Pittsburgh Pirates needed a change, and his pitching coach helped him make it. For three straight days, Ray Miller helped him concentrate on a change-up that he could use along with his tried-and-true fastball and slider.

After throwing hard for four innings at Chicago Friday, Fisher started mixing in the change, and the result was a six-hitter that lifted the Pirates to a 4-0 victory over the Cubs. It was the first shutout of Fisher’s major league career.

That, too, was the kind of change he needed. Fisher had gone in with a three-game losing streak and an earned-run average of 7.33 in his last 5 games.

In ending the Cubs’ three-game winning streak, Fisher walked 2 and struck out 6.

He is now 3-4 and may be getting the hang of this starting business. Fisher started the season in the bullpen and made 10 relief appearances before joining the starting rotation May 9.

“He mainly only had to throw a fastball in New York (with the Yankees) and an occasional slider as the setup man, but after losing three straight, it became necessary to make him throw a change,” said Cubs Manager Gene Michael, a former Yankee coach and manager.

The Pirates took a 3-0 lead when Sid Bream hit his ninth homer of the season in the third inning to score Bobby Bonilla, who had doubled.

R.J. Reynolds led off the Pirate fourth with a single, stole second, and took third on a ground-out. Reynolds gave Pittsburgh a 4-0 lead when he beat shortstop Mike Brumley’s throw to home on Rafael Belliard’s grounder to second.

Montreal 8, St. Louis 7--Casey Candaele drove in Andres Galarraga with a single in the 11th inning at St. Louis to start a two-run rally as the Expos ended a four-game losing streak.

New York 8, Philadelphia 1--Howard Johnson hit a two-run homer, and Kevin McReynolds, Mookie Wilson and Rafael Santana hit solo homers at New York to give John Mitchell more help than he needed to gain his first victory, a five-hitter against the Phillies.

All four New York homers came in the first four innings against Don Carman (4-6) as the Mets tied a team record with nine home runs in two consecutive games. They hit five against Montreal Thursday night.

Mitchell, 21, took a three-hit shutout into the ninth inning but lost it on Glenn Wilson’s RBI single.

“The shutout would have been a lot nicer,” said Mitchell (1-1). “But the real thing I wanted to do was finish. The runs made it easy.”

The loss was Philadelphia’s fourth straight and second in a row under new Manager Lee Elia, who replaced the fired John Felske on Thursday.

Atlanta 16, Cincinnati 5--Ozzie Virgil drove in four runs, and Gerald Perry, Ken Oberkfell and Andres Thomas each drove in three as the Braves beat the Reds at Atlanta.

The loser was Pat Pacillo (1-3) who gave up seven runs and seven hits in 3 innings.

The Reds used five pitchers, including outfielder Paul O’Neill, who worked the final two innings in his first major-league appearance on the mound. He gave up a three-run homer to Virgil in the eighth, his 18th of the season. O’Neill allowed two hits, walked four and struck out two.

Although the Braves had 15 hits, Dale Murphy’s 15-game hitting streak came to an end.

San Francisco 7, San Diego 6--Will Clark, who had struck out in his three previous at-bats, doubled home two runs to cap a four-run eighth inning at San Diego as the Giants rallied from a five-run deficit to win.

Two streaks came to an end. The Padres had won six in a row and the Giants had dropped six straight.