National League Roundup : Pirates Win in 14th, Leave Mets in a Mess

The Pittsburgh Pirates did more over the weekend than just deal a severe blow to the New York Mets’ hopes of repeating as World Series champions. They also left Manager Davey Johnson’s pitching staff in shambles.

In a five-hour battle Sunday at Pittsburgh, Barry Bonds tripled in the 14th inning and scored on Andy Van Slyke’s fly ball to right to give the Pirates a 9-8 victory. That dropped the Mets to 2 1/2 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League East.

The Pirates, long ago eliminated from contention, continued to perform well against the three contenders in the division. In the past week, they split a pair with the Cardinals and the Montreal Expos before taking 2 of 3 from the Mets.

The Mets, with solid work from their bullpen, could have swept. Instead, Johnson finds himself with an overworked relief corps. He used 15 pitchers in the three games, and they gave up 23 runs and 36 hits in 31 innings.

The loss Sunday was a bitter one. With Sid Fernandez pitching a strong game, the Mets went into the sixth leading, 6-2. Then a single, an error by third baseman Dave Magadan and a walk loaded the bases with two out. Darnell Coles hit a grand slam to tie the score.

The Mets took a one-run lead in the eighth, and the Pirates fought back to tie. In the 12th, Tim Teufel doubled in the tiebreaking run, but Bobby Bonilla’s single scored Bonds from second in the Pirate 12th. Then Bonds and Van Slyke combined to win it in the 14th.

It was of little consolation to the Mets that Howard Johnson hit his 35th home run to tie a 53-year-old NL record for most home runs by a switch-hitter. It was an inside-the-park homer on a ball that eluded left fielder Bonds. Rip Collins of St. Louis set the record.

“I’m tired,” Manager Johnson said. “Every game was a nail-biter.”

The Mets play a day game in Chicago today and hope their ace, Dwight Gooden, can go the route and give the bullpen a rest.

St. Louis 10, Chicago 2--The Cubs managed to get the Cardinals out of a prolonged batting slump over the weekend at St. Louis.

After getting 10 hits Saturday, the Cardinals came right back with 15 more.

Left fielder Johnny Morris, playing despite the death of his father Wednesday, drove in four runs with a pair of singles and Terry Pendleton broke an 0-for-10 slump with four hits.

Morris, after attending the funeral in New York, arrived in St. Louis early Sunday morning. He found his name on the lineup card and made the most of it.

“I thank Whitey (Herzog) for putting me in the lineup and getting my mind off all of it,” Morris said. “It was the most draining experience of my life.”

The onslaught enabled Bob Forsch (11-5) to win for the first time since Aug. 10. Forsch gave up Andre Dawson’s 45th home run in the first inning after giving up a two-out walk, but he pitched brilliantly until two were out in the sixth, when he had to leave because of a groin injury.

Vince Coleman hit his second home run of the season for the Cardinals.

A crowd of 44,894 pushed the Cardinals’ attendance to a club-record 2,650,452. With 10 more home dates, they figure to reach three million for the first time.

Philadelphia 4, Montreal 1--Kevin Gross (9-14) and Mike Schmidt hit home runs at Montreal as the Phillies stopped the Expos’ three-game winning streak and dropped them three games behind the Cardinals.

It was the fourth homer of his career for Gross, who had not won since Aug. 15, and the 526th for Schmidt. It was the 487th as a third baseman for Schmidt, the most in history by a man playing that position. The record was held by Eddie Mathews of the Milwaukee Braves.

Neal Heaton (12-9) continued to struggle. The left-hander won his 10th game on June 23, the first pitcher in the league to reach double figures. He has not won since July 30.

Houston 3, San Diego 2--Most of the excitement in the West concerns the battle for last place.

The Padres, held to four hits by Mike Scott at Houston, regained sole possession of the cellar, when the Dodgers won in Los Angeles.

The Astros, who had lost five in a row, needed a win to take some of the sting out of the word battle between Manager Hal Lanier and General Manager Dick Wagner.

Lanier, who complained that management didn’t make any trades to strengthen the club for the stretch drive, was criticized by Wagner for making poor moves in Saturday night’s 14-inning defeat.

Cincinnati 10, San Francisco 6--Mike Krukow, a 20-game winner last season who thought he could win 30 this year, almost won his fourth in this game at San Francisco.

He gave up four runs in seven innings and the Giants led, 6-4, going into the ninth. But the Reds chased bullpen ace Don Robinson, tied the score and had the bases loaded. Up stepped Nick Esasky to hit a grand slam, and the Giants’ lead in the West was cut to 8 games with 13 left.