National League Roundup : Cubs Have Rundown Feeling After Loss to Mets

It is more than likely that after what happened to the Cubs Friday at Chicago there will be more discussion concerning the merits of instant replay for baseball.

The New York Mets, who eventually won, 8-3, were trailing, 2-1, with one out in the sixth inning, with Len Dykstra on third and Lee Mazzilli on first. Dave Magadan tapped back to pitcher Pat Perry and Dykstra was caught in a rundown.

In the rundown, a throw by third baseman Vance Law hit Dykstra in the helmet, and Dykstra and Mazzilli scored, giving the Mets the lead. The Cubs argued in vain that Dykstra threw his hand up and also jumped in the air.

After viewing the instant replay, umpire Harry Wendelstedt, the crew chief, said: “I’m not happy with what we came up with. I think we erred.”

It wasn’t much consolation to Manager Don Zimmer. “That don’t do me no good, now,” he said. “I didn’t see the play and I don’t want to look at the replay. I went out to argue because of the way Vance reacted. He wouldn’t argue if he didn’t think he was right.”

Some of the edge was taken off the dispute when the Mets scored three times in the ninth, the first on Howard Johnson’s 11th home run.

“If they’d called Lennie for interference, they’d had to run me,” Met Manager Davey Johnson said.

Once they got the lead, the Mets never gave it up. Their most effective pitcher, David Cone, needed help in the seventh, but he improved his record to 9-1. He gave up all the Cub runs and 8 hits, but struck out 9 in 6 innings.

For the first month Cone was a relief pitcher. He made his first start May 3 and pitched the Mets into first place in the East. They’ve been there ever since.

As a starter he is 7-1. Except for the defeat, he had not given up more than one earned run in any of them until he faced the Cubs. In two starts in which he failed to get a decision, he gave up just one run in 10 innings in both games.

San Francisco 11, Houston 0--Kelly Downs pitched a two-hitter at Houston and contributed to a 13-hit Giant attack.

Downs, who has pitched three of the Giants’ four complete games, singled in a run and scored two others.

Nolan Ryan, who hurt his own cause with two throwing errors, lost his third in a row. He gave up six runs, four of them earned in five innings.

Two of the runs came on Will Clark’s National League-leading 18th home run. Clark hit his first major league homer off Ryan on April 8, 1986.

Ryan, who has 266 victories, 99 of them with the Astros, hasn’t won since May 29.

Pittsburgh 5, Montreal 3--The Pirates don’t act like a team about to fold. After blowing a two-run lead in the ninth inning at Montreal they fought back to win it in the 10th.

Barry Bonds began the winning rally with a single and scored on Andy Van Slyke’s double into the right-field corner. An error and a sacrifice fly brought in Van Slyke.

Jim Gott, who took over in the ninth after Hubie Brooks hit the first home run off Bob Walk in 118 innings to cut the lead to 3-2, got the win, but he was lucky. He gave up a single and a double that tied the game, but was the pitcher of record after the Pirates rallied.

Atlanta 4, San Diego 3--The Braves jumped on Eric Show for four runs in the first inning at Atlanta, then barely hung on for the victory.

Pete Smith (2-7) lasted six innings, two relievers made it through the seventh and bullpen ace Bruce Sutter shut the door in the last two innings.

With 11 saves this season, Sutter, a candidate for Comeback Player of the Year, has a lifetime total of 297.

Philadelphia 7, St. Louis 6--Mike Schmidt isn’t hitting with power, but he appears to be emerging from his season-long slump.

The Phillies’ third baseman had three hits and drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning at St. Louis.

The Phillies built a 6-0 lead at the expense of Larry McWilliams, who went into the game with a 1.81 ERA. But the Cardinals fought back and pulled even in the fifth inning.

Before Schmidt’s fly scored Milt Thompson from third, the Cardinals had rallies halted when two runners were thrown out at the plate.