National League Roundup : Bonilla Hits 12th, and Pirates Close In on Mets

Most of the familiar names are high on the home run lists. On them are Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Darryl Strawberry, Will Clark and Kent Hrbek.

But who’s that new one--Bobby Bonilla?

That’s the young hitting star who is keeping the Pittsburgh Pirates in contention in the National League East.

In his second full season, Bonilla, one of the many players obtained by General Manager Syd Thrift in deals that have turned out to be gems, is having an All-Star season.

The 25-year-old third baseman took over the league home run lead when he hit his 12th in the ninth inning Sunday at Cincinnati to help the Pirates gain a 4-2 victory. The win put them only 3 1/2 games behind the New York Mets.

With the season nearing the one-third mark, Bonilla’s statistics are startling. He is third in the league in batting (.331), tied for the RBI lead (39), second to teammate Barry Bonds in runs (36), third in doubles (13) and fifth in hits (59).

The Pirates, who gave up pitcher Jose DeLeon to the Chicago White Sox for Bonilla in the middle of the 1986 season, aren’t surprised about the power. He hit only two home runs in 234 at-bats for the White Sox, but after all, he’s a big man (6-3, 230).

“Scouts looked at Bobby and saw how big and strong he was and wondered why he didn’t hit more home runs,” Thrift said. “I told them to just wait, he would hit and hit for distance.”

Bonilla is a little surprised that after hitting only 15 homers all last season, he is hitting the long ball more often.

“I’m a line-drive hitter,” he said. “I have a line-drive swing. I’m the type to drive the ball into the alleys. I can’t go up there trying for home runs. If I do, I won’t hit any. But, I am being aggressive.”

Bonilla’s homer in the ninth took a little sting away from a rare baserunning mistake by the Reds’ veteran Dave Concepcion. Concepcion was on third and Bo Diaz on second with the Reds trailing, 4-2. Paul O’Neill flied to left, but Concepcion left third before the catch and was called out on an appeal play to end the game.

“My run was not important,” Concepcion said. “Maybe I should have been thinking a bit more.”

The injury jinx struck the Reds again when shortstop Barry Larkin pulled a leg muscle and had to leave the game. Three other Reds are on the disabled list.

San Diego 6, New York 3--The Padres, in giving General Manager Jack McKeon a 1-1 record as manager, erupted for their biggest inning of the season at New York.

It was a scoreless duel between Jimmy Jones of the Padres and Bob Ojeda, and the Padres had only one hit, a two-out single by Jones in the sixth, until the seventh.

The Padres scored five times in the inning as Roberto Alomar and Tony Gwynn started the uprising with singles. Gwynn had returned after being out 21 days with a thumb injury. Keith Moreland doubled to break the tie, and the Padres broke it open when new second baseman Keith Miller of the Mets threw away a grounder to let in two more runs.

The lowly Padres took two out of three from the high-flying Mets.

St. Louis 3, Atlanta 1--Jose DeLeon isn’t having the type of season for the Cardinals that Bonilla is for the Pirates, but he was on his game Sunday.

DeLeon (4-4) had the Braves shut out on three hits with one out in the ninth inning at Atlanta, but Albert Hall belted a 3-2 pitch for his first home run. Ken Dayley then came to the rescue, getting the last two outs.

Tom Brunansky singled home the first of two runs in the first inning and Willie McGee’s sacrifice fly scored the other.

Houston 7, Chicago 1--Nolan Ryan probably pitched better last season when he was 8-16, despite a league-leading ERA of 2.76. But he is getting a lot more support from the Astros.

Rafael Ramirez hit a grand slam homer to highlight a six-run sixth inning that broke open a close game and enabled Ryan to improve his record to 5-2.

Under tough conditions--a 12 m.p.h. wind blowing out--Ryan held the Cubs to three hits before tiring in the eighth inning.

It was the first grand slam for Ramirez. “I was looking for a fastball and got it,” the shortstop said. “I was a little lucky because the wind was blowing out.”

Philadelphia 4, San Francisco 2--Bruce Ruffin’s sinker was working at Philadelphia and it enabled the Phillies to sweep the three-game series.

Ruffin (4-4) gave up nine hits, but four double plays helped him stifle Giant rallies.

Mike Krukow (4-3) gave up only three hits in six innings, but one of them was a home run by Chris James.