National League Roundup : Jefferies, Hitting .422, Leads Mets

Considering he has watched Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry break into the majors, New York Mets Manager Davey Johnson’s praise for Gregg Jefferies is that much more impressive.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody break into the big leagues and do the things he’s done,” Johnson said after Jefferies led the Mets to a 7-3 victory over the Expos Friday night at Montreal. “It’s remarkable.”

And consistent. The baby-faced rookie from Burlingame, Calif., who was called up Aug. 26, raised his batting average to .422 with a double, a triple and a two-run homer to pace New York’s 14-hit attack against 5 Expos pitchers.

“He gave a hitting clinic out there,” Montreal Manager Buck Rodgers said.

The ironic thing about Jefferies’ dazzling big-league exploits is that they are coming on the heels of one of his poorer minor-league campaigns. He was hitting .282 with seven homers at triple-A Tidewater, after posting averages of .320 and .354 in his previous two seasons, when he was named Baseball America’s minor league player of the year.

“I got off to a bad start this year and I was hitting only .180 in June,” Jefferies said, almost apologetically. “I just started turning it around and tried to keep it going when I got here.

“To tell you the truth, I didn’t even think I would play when they called me up. I figured I would just pinch hit.”

While Jefferies was the dominant force, the power of Howard Johnson and Mookie Wilson, who each blasted solo homers, contributed to the Expos’ miseries.

Terry Leach (7-2) pitched two-thirds of an inning in relief of starter Sid Fernandez to get the win, while Roger McDowell finished for his 15th save.

Houston 4, San Francisco 3--Alan Ashby singled home Craig Smajstrla with two out in the 12th inning at San Francisco to move the Astros within four games of the Dodgers in the West.

Reliever Scott Garrelts (5-9) started his fourth inning of work by retiring the first two Astros in the 12th. Buddy Bell singled, and Smajstrla ran for Bell. Terry Puhl singled Smajstrla to third, and Ashby followed with a single to right for the winning run.

Danny Darwin (7-11) pitched two scoreless innings to earn the victory.

The Giants announced before the game that Kevin Mitchell would undergo arthroscopic surgery Monday on his right knee and would miss the remainder of the season.

Pittsburgh 5, Philadelphia 2--Mike Dunne won his first game in two months, and the Pirates tied a National League record with four sacrifice flies in the win at Pittsburgh.

Dunne (7-11) ended an 0-4 streak that covered eight starts since the All-Star break. His last win was July 9 against the Dodgers.

“You think about it but there’s not a whole lot you can do by yourself as a pitcher,” he said. “A great game for a pitcher is holding the other team to two or three runs but we haven’t been scoring a lot of runs when I’m pitching.”

Andy Van Slyke, Dunne, Barry Bonds and Glenn Wilson each hit a sacrifice fly off Bob Sebra (0-2) to become the sixth team in league history to hit four sacrifice flies in a game. The Seattle Mariners set the major league record last month with five.

Ricky Jordan ended the Phillies’ string of 23 scoreless innings with a home run in the second, his ninth.

St. Louis 6, Chicago 2--Two-run doubles by Ozzie Smith and Pedro Guerrero keyed a five-run sixth inning at St. Louis that gave the Cardinals their fifth straight win.

Guererro later singled home a run, giving him 18 RBIs in 23 games since being traded from the Dodgers.

“I know I won’t be able to drive them in all the time, because I’m human,” Guerrero said. “I’m going to bring them in more than not. As long as I keep my confidence, I’ll be all right.”

Greg Mathews (4-5) allowed just three hits before needing relief help in the eighth from Todd Worrell, who pitched 1 innings for his 29th save. The two finished with a combined five hitter.

Atlanta 5, San Diego 4--Ozzie Virgil singled home Jim Morrison with the game-winning run in the 11th inning at San Diego as reliever Bruce Sutter earned his 300th career save.

Padre relief pitcher Mark Davis (5-8), who surrendered the game-tying run in the eighth inning, gave up a leadoff single to pinch-hitter Morrison. Morrison took second base on shortstop Dickie Thon’s throwing error on the play and Virgil followed with a single over second base to score Morrison and give Jose Alvarez (4-6) the victory. Sutter pitched the bottom of the 11th for his 14th save.

The Braves staged a three-run rally to tie the score, 4-4, in the eighth, chasing Padre starter Jimmy Jones and ending a string of 27 innings of scoreless relief pitching by Davis.