National League Roundup : Raines Hits for Cycle in Expos’ 10-7 Win

When Tim Raines joined the Montreal Expos a month into the season after finding that he was not in demand as a free agent, the Expos were already in trouble.

Without Raines and Andre Dawson and bullpen ace Jeff Reardon, the Expos were expected to challenge the Pittsburgh Pirates for last place in the National League East. They lost their first five games and had an 8-13 record when Raines played his first game May 2.

Since then, the Expos have been playing .600 baseball. Raines, who had wanted to join the Dodgers, has been Montreal’s leader from his first game back when he went 4 for 5, including a home run and 4 runs batted in.

He didn’t have a better game until Sunday at Montreal. The fleet outfielder hit for the cycle and had an extra double in a 5-for-5 performance that led the Expos to a 10-7 victory over Pittsburgh, and put them just four games behind the slumping St. Louis Cardinals.

Raines doubled during a five-run seventh inning, highlighted by Tom Foley’s three-run home run, as the Expos overcame a 7-4 deficit. It was the third game in a row in which the Pirates blew a late-inning lead.

Raines likes the Expos’ prospects of overtaking St. Louis.

“The tide has turned for us,” Raines said. “They have to count us in the race. We are proving we can come back and win. I wasn’t even thinking about the cycle when I came up in the eighth. I just wanted to hit the ball hard.”

Raines, who scored four runs, tripled in the first, doubled in the third, singled in the fifth and hit his 16th home run in the eighth to complete the cycle. It is the third time this season the unusual feat has been accomplished. Dawson, now with the Chicago Cubs, and Candy Maldonado of the San Francisco Giants, did it earlier.

Since Raines joined them, the Expos have a 57-38 record. The Cardinals have an identical record during that span.

The Pirates hammered Floyd Youmans for 8 hits in 3 innings to build a 5-2 lead. With their best pitcher, Rick Reuschel on the mound, the lead looked safe. But Reuschel left after giving up 10 hits in 6 innings and the bullpen collapsed in the seventh.

Foley’s home run was only his fourth of the season and made a loser of Brad Gideon (1-4).

Philadelphia 4, St. Louis 3--Jack Clark hit two more home runs, but the rest of his teammates remained in a slump at St. Louis as the Phillies won for the third time in the four-game series.

Juan Samuel hit a two-run single in the seventh inning to give Shane Rawley his career-high 15th victory.

John Tudor, in just his third start since returning from a long stay on the disabled list, had a two-hitter and a 2-1 lead going into the seventh.

Steve Bedrosian pitched the last two innings to get his 33rd save, most in the majors. He gave up a lead-off home run to Clark, his 32nd, in the ninth.

“We just aren’t hitting,” Manager Whitey Herzog said of the Cardinals, who were limited to 26 hits in the series.

Cardinal second baseman Tommy Herr left the game in the eighth inning with a pain in his side and was taken to a hospital for tests.

Cincinnati 2, San Diego 0--Ron Robinson, a reliever turned starter, pitched seven strong innings at San Diego and Nick Esasky hit two home runs to keep the Reds tied for the lead in the West.

Robinson, placed in the starting rotation when Mario Soto re-injured his shoulder, gave up just two hits and struck out eight to improve his record as a starter to 5-1. Overall, he is 6-3. John Franco earned his 23rd save.

Esasky homered in the third and seventh off Ed Whitson (10-8). Whitson gave up only three other hits.

Houston 6, Atlanta 2--Billy Hatcher drove in a career-high four runs at Houston and Jim Deshaies gave a big lift to the shaky Astros’ pitching staff.

Deshaies (10-4), in his first start since going on the disabled list with tendinitis in his left shoulder, gave up two runs and six hits in six innings.

Hatcher singled in two runs in the second and doubled in a pair in the seventh.