National League Roundup : Clark Reinjured in Cardinals’ Loss

Jack Clark, tired of sitting around watching his St. Louis teammates win the National League East, now may have to watch them lose it.

Clark tried to lend his big bat to the club’s title drive by pinch-hitting with two out in the top of the ninth inning in the Cardinals’ 2-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field Friday. Instead, on the second pitch, he swung hard and fell to the ground, aggravating the ankle injury that had kept him benched since Sept. 9.

Clark immediately took himself out, and the Cardinals not only lost a game in the standings to the New York Mets, who now trail by 2 1/2, but they also may have lost Clark for the remainder of the season.

“He just wanted to try to hit,” Cardinal Manager Whitey Herzog said. “He told me before the game that he wanted to pinch-hit. I probably will not use him as a pinch-hitter for the remainder of the season.”

Herzog said Clark was not hurt during the fall, but Clark appeared to turn his ankle when he swung. Tony Pena replaced him at the plate and grounded out to end the game.

After Andre Dawson hit a two-run, first-inning homer, Scott Sanderson and Frank DiPino combined to pitch the Cubs to the victory.

Sanderson (8-8) pitched 7 innings, allowed 5 hits, struck out 5 and walked 2 in getting his first win of the season over the Cardinals.

“When I came to the park this morning, I could sense something special in the air among the players,” Sanderson said. “I was determined to go out there and pitch well. I could tell it was going to be a good game. I knew I had a solid game plan and all I needed to do was execute it.”

DiPino pitched 1 innings and struck out 2 to pick up his fourth save.

St. Louis starter Bob Forsch (11-6) allowed 5 hits in 6 innings while striking out 7.

Dawson’s homer, which came after Ryne Sandberg doubled and went to third on a ground-out, was his 46th of the season and raised his RBI total to 130--both tops in the National League. Dawson now has the most RBIs by a Cub since Ernie Banks’ 143 in 1959.

The Cardinal run came in the sixth when Clark’s replacement, Dan Driessen, singled in Vince Coleman, who had singled, stole second and moved to third on a ground-out.

New York 10, Pittsburgh 2--Darryl Strawberry and Kevin McReynolds celebrated bigger and better numbers, but the one that counted most was 2 1/2--the Mets’ reduced margin behind the Cardinals.

McReynolds hit his 27th and 28th homers, a career high, and Strawberry scored Len Dykstra with a sacrifice fly to the warning track in left-center, joining Rusty Staub and Gary Carter as the only Mets to reach 100 RBIs. McReynolds also has nine game-winning RBIs this season.

All of the heavy hitting in this game at New York made a winner of Sid Fernandez (12-8).

Dykstra had a bunt single in the first inning, then doubled home a run and scored another in the second to drop Mike Bielecki to 2-3.

Dave Magadan doubled home three runs in the fourth.

San Francisco 9, Atlanta 2--Pitcher Mike Krukow broke a sixth-inning tie at Atlanta with a run-scoring single, and the Giants went on to reduce their magic number for winning the NL West to three.

Any combination of San Francisco victories and Cincinnati defeats totaling three will give the Giants their first divisional title since 1971.

Krukow (4-6) allowed 10 hits in 8 innings, and Kelly Downs got the last three outs.

The Giants blew the game open with five runs in the eighth. Will Clark and Jose Uribe drove in runs with singles; Uribe scored on a wild pitch, and Candy Maldonado hit a two-run triple for a 9-2 lead.

Cincinnati 4, Houston 1--Barry Larkin hit a two-run homer at Cincinnati to help hand the Astros their fourth straight loss, but it didn’t aid the Reds in their futile pursuit of the Giants.

Red starter Tom Browning (8-13) allowed 6 hits in 7 innings.

Mike Scott (16-13) was shelled for 7 hits and 4 runs in 4 innings and was lifted for a pinch-hitter after the sixth.

Cincinnati grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second on Larkin’s two-run homer. Nick Esasky singled, and Larkin followed with a line drive over the left-field wall, his 11th homer of the year.

Philadelphia 4, Montreal 2--Mike Schmidt drove in two runs with his 33rd home run--the 528th of his career--and scored twice to lead the Phillies at Philadelphia and prevent the Expos from gaining ground on the Cardinals.

Don Carman (12-11) went 7 innings to send Philadelphia to its third straight victory.