National League Roundup : Another Error by Smith Opens the Door for Pirates to Beat Cardinals

Rafael Belliard has turned from a lightweight to a heavyweight at the plate this season, but the man generally considered to be baseball’s best shortstop seems headed in the opposite direction in the field.

Belliard drove in two runs with a double and a single Wednesday and Pittsburgh capitalized on an Ozzie Smith error for the second consecutive day as the Pirates beat the Cardinals, 7-5, at St. Louis.

“Rafael’s been hitting balls in the strike zone,” Pirates Manager Jim Leyland said.

Backup catcher Tom Prince had two RBIs, and R.J. Reynolds, who platoons in the outfield, had two hits for the Pirates.

“We felt all winter we had a better bench then we had a year ago,” Leyland said. “I think it’s showing.”

Smith made a throwing error during a three-run rally by Pittsburgh in the fourth inning. On Tuesday night, the Pirates scored the winning runs when Smith booted a grounder with two outs in the ninth.

Pittsburgh scored two runs in the eighth Wednesday to take a 7-1 lead, but the Cardinals rallied for four runs with two outs in the bottom of the inning.

After St. Louis loaded the bases on two walks and a single by Milt Thompson, Bob Walk forced in a run by walking Jose Oquendo.

“All of the sudden I didn’t have a lot of arm strength left,” Walk said. “I couldn’t get the ball over the plate.”

Jeff Robinson relieved and was greeted by pinch-hitter John Morris’ base-clearing triple before getting Willie McGee on a grounder to end the inning. Robinson finished the game to gain his fourth save.

Walk (1-1) gave up six hits, walked six and struck out four. He also tripled and singled.

Don Heinkel (0-1) took the loss. He was a last-minute replacement for scheduled starter Joe Magrane, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list because of an intestinal disorder.

Magrane is the third St. Louis starter to be placed on the disabled list in the last month. Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog said right-hander Ken Hill would be called up from Louisville to start against Montreal on Thursday night.

Barry Bonds opened the Pittsburgh fourth with a double. Reynolds then grounded to Smith, who threw the ball into the dirt at first, putting men on first and third.

The Pirates then scored on a sacrifice fly by Prince, an RBI double by Belliard and a fielder’s choice groundout by John Cangelosi.

Belliard and Prince also had RBIs in the eighth--Prince with a double and Belliard with a single.

The Pirates scored in the first on Jose Lind’s RBI single and made it 2-0 in the second on Walk’s triple off the left field wall.

St. Louis scored in the third when Smith singled, stole second and came home on Pedro Guerrero’s double.

Atlanta 4, Houston 3--With one swing at Atlanta, Dale Murphy regained some lost confidence.

Murphy hit a two-run single with two out in the eighth inning to give the Braves a victory.

“A guy that’s been struggling all year gets two key hits and drives in three runs,” Braves manager Russ Nixon said. “It really picked us up.”

Murphy entered the game with a .115 batting average and two runs batted in his first 13 games.

“I hadn’t done anything, so it feels good to help the cause,” Murphy said. “It’s one game but it helped the confidence a little.”

Murphy’s hit came off Larry Andersen, the second reliever in the eighth after the Braves had chased starter Jim Clancy (1-1) who yielded only four hits in 7 1/3 innings.

Both runs in the Braves’ eighth were unearned after pinch-hitter Dion James was safe on shortstop Rafel Ramirez’s error with one out. Lonnie Smith followed with a single, sending James to third and chasing Clancy.

Juan Agosto struck out pinch-hitter Darrell Evans, with Smith stealing second on the play. Gerald Perry walked to load the bases, and Murphy then singled off Andersen.

The Astros have lost four in a row.