National League Roundup : Another Pirate Deal Pays Off, 8-4

When Pittsburgh General Manager Syd Thrift started wheeling and dealing a couple of years ago, everyone thought he was just unloading a bunch of high-salaried veterans.

There definitely was method in Thrift’s apparent madness.

One of Thrift’s best trades came at the end of the 1986 season when he dealt high-salaried pitcher Rick Rhoden to the New York Yankees. It is not that Rhoden hasn’t done well (16 victories in 1987), it’s just that the two pitchers the Pirates received have helped make them pennant contenders.

Brian Fisher and Doug Drabek have been almost perfect in helping the Pirates get off to a fast start.

Drabek survived a rocky second inning Friday night at Pittsburgh and struck out a career-high 11 batters in winning his third game in a row, an 8-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

The Pirates, leading the National League East, are 11-4, their best start in more than 25 years. Drabek and Fisher are both 3-0.

While Rhoden will be 35 next month, Drabek is 25 and Fisher 26. The future Thrift was working toward, is now.

Drabek gave up four hits, including Shawon Dunston’s home run and a double that extended Vance Law’s hitting streak to 15 games, in the second inning and fell behind, 3-0.

But Thrift didn’t just deal for pitchers, he picked up some hitters, too. One of them, catcher Mike LaValliere, obtained from St. Louis, went 4 for 4, scored a run and drove in two. And R. J. Reynolds, an escapee from the Dodgers, singled in the tiebreaking run in a four-run seventh inning.

Although he wasn’t involved in the decision, Calvin Schiraldi made his best start for the Cubs. The hard-throwing right-hander entered the game with a 12.27 earned-run average. He gave up five hits and three runs in seven innings and left tied, 3-3.

Philadelphia 2, Montreal 0--Kevin Gross decided in spring training to quit being his own worst enemy and just pitch.

For whatever reason, the Philadelphia right-hander is just about as effective as any pitcher in the league. In this game at Philadelphia, Gross pitched a six-hitter and struck out a career-high 12.

Gross (1-1) won a duel from Pascual Perez, and the shutout lowered his ERA to 0.86. Perez gave up only one run and six hits in seven innings.

Cincinnati 4, Atlanta 0--Shutting out the Braves is not much of a feat, but for left-hander Danny Jackson, this one at Atlanta was his first in the National League.

Jackson (3-1)) gave up six hits and struck out nine and ignored a 48-minute rain delay to become the third pitcher in a row to shut out the Braves.

The Braves haven’t scored a run for 28 innings.

Rookie third baseman Chris Sabo hit a three-run home run to key the Reds’ attack.

New York 4, St. Louis 0--Shades of 1987. Howard Johnson hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning at St. Louis, and third-base umpire Doug Harvey, the crew chief, confiscated his bat so it could be checked for cork.

Three times last season, once at the request of the Cardinals, Johnson’s bat was confiscated. This was only his second homer of the season.

Ron Darling pitched an eight-hitter as the Mets beat the Cardinals for the fourth time in a row.

San Diego 3, Houston 1--Benito Santiago hit a two-run home run off Nolan Ryan in the sixth inning at San Diego to hand the veteran fireballer his first loss of the season.

Ryan struck out eight in six innings and increased his record career total to 4,583.