National League Roundup : Gooden, Four Homers Help Mets to 11-0 Win

The New York Mets are so good they scare Manager Davey Johnson.

They were so outstanding in an 11-0 victory Sunday over the Reds at Cincinnati, they managed to easily quiet a crowd that became unruly during Saturday night’s game.

The Mets hit four home runs, including one by Darryl Strawberry, to tie the club record, but it was mostly Dwight Gooden who kept the fans sitting on their hands.

Gooden, in winning his sixth in a row, gave up just four hits and pitched his fourth consecutive complete game.

Saturday night, the Mets won on a disputed call in the ninth inning, and Cincinnati fans nearly rioted. They threw golf balls, baseballs, radios and everything else they could find onto the field. They ran umpire Dave Pallone, fearing serious injury, off the field.

With the slumping Reds at the mercy of Gooden in this one, there was no reason to get excited--unless you were Johnson.

“I hate to use the word awesome , it’s scary, but even I have to admit that today we looked pretty awesome,” Johnson said.

Awesome or not, the Mets (16-6) haven’t yet overtaken the surprising Pirates (17-6).

Tim Teufel, Keith Hernandez and Howard Johnson also hit home runs, but Strawberry’s was a milestone. His seventh of the season was his 154th to tie Dave Kingman’s club record.

Gooden sounded an ominous warning to the rest of the league.

“I’ve been advancing with each start and this was probably my best game of the year,” he said. “But I did it today without my fastball as my best pitch. The curve was my best. I like to change sequence, so today I was getting a lot of breaking pitches over for first strikes.”

Another awesome Met is Hernandez. He drove in 3 runs, giving him 14 runs batted in and all 4 of his home runs in the last 5 games.

Pittsburgh 4, San Diego 2--The Mets haven’t yet thrown a scare into the young Pirates. They are finding quality from top to bottom of their lineup.

In this game at San Diego, the No. 8 hitter, Al Pedrique, was the key performer as Pittsburgh won for the 15th time in the last 19 games.

Pedrique had three hits and drove in two runs to keep the Pirates on top in the East.

“Pedrique’s a quality eighth-place hitter,” Pirates Manager Jim Leyland said. “He can hit a ball in the gap and he’s a tough out with men in scoring position.”

Pedrique helped John Smiley win his second in a row. Smiley gave up four hits in six innings. Barry Jones and Jim Gott allowed only one hit over the last three innings.

Atlanta 9, Philadelphia 5--Ozzie Virgil came out of a horrendous slump with a bang at Philadelphia.

Virgil, ending an 0-for-22 streak, doubled in a run in the second, hit a three-run home run in the fourth and singled in the sixth to help the Braves end a three-game losing streak and win for only the fourth time in 20 games.

The Braves jumped on Shane Rawley (0-5) for their first five runs. Rawley has lost 10 in a row since Aug. 31, 1987.

Montreal 7, Houston 3--Mike Scott became the 23rd consecutive Houston starter to pitch at least seven innings in this game at Houston.

But, after holding the Expos to an unearned run and striking out nine, Scott departed with a 1-1 tie through nine innings.

The Expos began hitting the next inning. Andres Galarraga had a two-run home run in the 10th, but the Astros tied it. Tom Foley tripled in a run in the 14th and for good measure rookie Johnny Paredes hit a three-run home run.

San Francisco 7, Chicago 6--Kevin Mitchell singled, doubled, tripled, scored two runs and drove in two at San Francisco, and it was barely enough for the Giants.

After Rick Reuschel (4-1) held the Cubs to six hits and two runs in seven innings, the Giants needed Atlee Hammaker to save them. With runners on second and third and four runs already in, Hammaker got Darrin Jackson to ground out to Mitchell to end the game.