National League Roundup : Strawberry Stirs Fans, Homers in 3-0 Victory

Darryl Strawberry, one of the finest prep athletes from the Los Angeles area, was given a tremendous buildup by the New York media when he joined the Mets in 1983 at age 21.

When he failed to live up to his promise, he was the target of boos and more boos. In frustration, he lashed out at fans and teammates.

At 26, after a fine 1987 season, Strawberry has finally matured into a star. Not surprisingly, he’s become a favorite of the fans.

Strawberry was given a tremendous ovation by 48,719 fans at the Mets’ Shea Stadium opener Tuesday. He responded by hitting a second-inning home run, his fourth of the season, to start the downfall of Pascual Perez and the Montreal Expos. The Mets won, 3-0, the first loss by Perez as an Expo after eight victories, including one this season.

Except for Strawberry, though, it was a day for Yale graduates. One of them, Vice President George Bush, threw out the first ball.

Another, Ron Darling, was even more impressive. Darling pitched a five-hitter for his first shutout since the middle of the 1986 season.

Strawberry caused a stir in spring training with comments about Manager Davey Johnson and some teammates.

“I don’t feel any pressure,” said Strawberry, who is 11 for 28 this season. “But, it did feel good to hear the cheers.”

Montreal Manager Buck Rodgers said Strawberry’s homer shook up Perez. “Pascual was on an emotional high until Strawberry homered. It changed everything.”

Since shutting out the Chicago Cubs on July 29, 1986, Darling had made 45 starts without a shutout.

Strawberry’s home run was the league-leading 14th for the Mets, who improved their record to 4-3.

Cincinnati 4, San Francisco 3--Barry Larkin hit a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to lift the Reds to a victory over the Giants at San Francisco.

Buddy Bell singled off Scott Garrelts (0-1) to start the ninth, pinch-runner Chris Sabo stole second and third before scoring on Larkin’s fly to right.

Danny Jackson (2-0), who shut out the Giants through seven innings, got the victory despite allowing the Giants to tie the score, 3-3, in the eighth on a run-scoring double by Chris Speier and a two-run homer by Kevin Mitchell.

John Franco blanked the Giants in the ninth to get his first save.

Cincinnati scored on Kal Daniels’ two-run double in the first inning and a run-scoring single by Bo Diaz in the sixth. Daniels has 12 runs batted in.

Houston 8, Atlanta 3--Neither a rain delay nor the light-hitting Braves could prevent Nolan Ryan from gaining his first victory in this game before only 1,938 fans at Atlanta.

The defeat gave the Braves their second 0-7 start in the 22 years they have been in Atlanta. The other time was 1980.

Ryan went seven innings in a game delayed more than a half-hour at the start, gave up three hits and three runs and struck out eight.

In 14 innings this season Ryan has given up 7 hits and struck out 19 batters.

St. Louis 7, Chicago 5--The Cardinals are tough on offense only when the top three men in the order are producing. Going into this game at St. Louis the Cardinals were 1-5 as Vince Coleman, Ozzie Smith and Tommy Herr, collectively, were batting .151.

The three started to hit, as did cleanup hitter Bob Horner, and the Cardinals won. The top four hitters had 10 hits and the top three scored five runs.

Horner drove in two runs with his four hits, and Willie McGee, batting fifth, drove in two more.