National League Roundup : A 3-1 Win Over Cardinals Is Latest Example of Giants’ Road Strength

It was unfortunate for the Dodgers that they weren’t able to improve their team even a little bit this season. They are playing in a division that an average team can win. The champion of the National League West may well finish only a game or two above .500.

Earlier, it appeared that the Cincinnati Reds might be the best team. But injuries and the failure of Mario Soto to regain form after arm surgery have made the Reds just another team.

Defending champion Houston can’t seem to get anything going. The Dodgers, of course, are still the Dodgers.

What does that leave? Manager Roger Craig is convinced it leaves his San Francisco Giants.

The Giants, it would seem, need only to learn how to win at Candlestick Park. It may be asking too much. On the road, the Giants are the best in the West.

The Giants improved their record away from home to 28-21 and stopped, at least temporarily, the Cardinals’ runaway in the East by scoring a 3-1 victory Saturday night at St. Louis.

Bob Brenly knocked in two runs with a home run and a single, and the Giants received solid pitching from Kelly Downs (8-4) and Scott Garrelts to end the Cardinals’ nine-game winning streak.

Downs gave up a home run to Terry Pendleton to lose his shutout in the sixth. When Pendleton came up with two on in the seventh, Garrelts took over. He struck out Pendleton and got five more strikeouts in the last two innings.

Even after his team lost a pair of tough-luck, extra-inning games to the Cardinals to open the series, Craig was adamant that his Giants, now three games behind division-leading Cincinnati, will be playing the Cardinals in the Championship Series.

“They’re playing good, and they’re getting a lot of the breaks,” Craig said after the Giants lost late Friday night on former Giant Jack Clark’s home run in the 13th inning. “But we’re still going to play the Cardinals in the playoffs.”

Downs, a 6-4 second-year right-hander, is one of the reasons Craig is optimistic. He showed promise as a rookie last year, when he was 4-4.

“He has become the great pitcher I always thought he was going to be,” Craig said. “He’s going to be a 20-game winner some day. He’s pitched well enough to go to the All-Star Game. It’s too bad he didn’t get the call.”

After the All-Star break, the Giants will have 43 home games and only 31 road games remaining. If they start winning at home, the pattern for most teams, they indeed figure to challenge for the division title.

Montreal 11, Cincinnati 5--The Reds continue to skid. Tim Wallach was the villain at Cincinnati as they lost for the fifth time in the last six games.

Wallach hit an inside-the-park home run and two doubles, and drove in four runs. The inside-the-park shot was a first for Wallach, who sped around the bases after his smash went between outfielders Dave Parker and Tracy Jones and caromed off the wall.

The Expos pounded out 17 hits as Dennis Martinez improved his record to 4-1. Martinez, given a 6-2 lead, needed help in the sixth, when he lost all but one run of the lead.

Manager Pete Rose of the Reds was ejected in the seventh inning after arguing that Expo Mitch Webster’s double was really a foul ball.

“Did it look ugly from 150 feet?” Rose asked reporters. “It looked uglier from sea level, where I was.”

Atlanta 5, Philadelphia 4--Kent Tekulve reached a milestone against his former Manager, Chuck Tanner, at Atlanta, but it came after Dale Murphy’s two-run single in the fifth had already wrapped up the Braves’ victory.

Tekulve pitched a scoreless eighth. It was his 900th game, a major league record for most games pitched all in relief.

“The only thing I feel good about,” Tekulve said, “is setting it against my former manager (Tanner), who put me in about 600 of them. He was the first guy who said, ‘Hey, go out there and pitch 85 or 90 games a year, I think you can handle it.’ It is most gratifying.”

New York 9, Houston 6--Between seasons, Howard Johnson went on a weight program that convinced Manager Davey Johnson (no relation) to install him as the regular third baseman.

Johnson, who platooned at the hot corner his first two seasons with the Mets, has been one of the few bright stars of the season for the defending World Series champions.

Johnson hit two home runs, walked three times and stole three bases at Houston to spark the Mets. He has hit a career-high 19 home runs and driven in 51 runs, also a personal best.

Johnson’s big day helped Randy Myers gain the victory. Myers, a hard-throwing left-hander, took over when Terry Leach could not hold a 6-1 lead. Myers pitched 4 innings, striking out 6 and giving up a home run to Kevin Bass.

San Diego 3, Pittsburgh 1--Mark Grant and Mark Davis combined at Pittsburgh to give the Padres a dividend from their recent seven-player trade with the San Francisco Giants.

After Grant worked his way out of several jams, Davis got the last five outs and his first save as a Padre.