National League Roundup : Gooden (4-0) Shows April Powers to Braves

Dwight Gooden will be sad to see April end.

Gooden allowed five hits in 8 2/3 innings and started a two-run rally with a double, leading the Mets past Atlanta, 6-1, Wednesday night in New York.

Gooden improved to 4-0 for the season and 17-2 lifetime in April. He struck out nine and walked six.

“This might sound strange since I’m from Florida, but I like pitching in the cool weather,” Gooden said. “Not cold, and not windy, but cool. I don’t like the hot weather.”

Gooden also raised his record to 95-35 lifetime, a .731 winning percentage.

The Mets are 10-9, having won four in a row and seven of the past nine to move over .500.

“We needed a good home stand after a miserable road trip, and we got it,” Mets Manager Davey Johnson said.

After Gooden loaded the bases in the ninth, Randy Myers came on to strike out Gerald Perry for his fourth save. The on-deck batter was Dale Murphy, who has two homers in three lifetime at-bats against Myers.

“I probably let Doc (Gooden) face one hitter too many,” Johnson said. “I wanted to see him get a complete game.”

Gooden threw 144 pitches, and Johnson said his limit is about 140.

With the score tied 1-1, Gooden doubled with two outs in the fifth off Pete Smith (0-3) and scored on Len Dykstra’s ground single to right.

“The turning point was that hanging curveball to Gooden,” Atlanta Manager Russ Nixon said. “It got the go-ahead run, and they went from there.”

Dykstra, who has hit in 11 of the past 14 games, stole second and scored on Gregg Jefferies’ double.

Smith pitched 4 2/3 innings and allowed six hits while equaling his career high with eight strikeouts.

“Smith was pitching a tough game,” Gooden said. “Probably better than I was at that point.”

The Mets made it 4-1 when Kevin McReynolds led off the sixth with his third homer, off Paul Assenmacher. Howard Johnson hit a two-run homer in the eighth.

Ron Gant homered off Gooden with one out in the third to tie it, 1-1. It was Gant’s third homer of the season and second in two days.

“You have to manufacture runs against Gooden for the most part,” Nixon said. “We had six walks but couldn’t do anything.”

Dykstra led off the first with a walk and moved to third on Jefferies’ hit-and-run single. With Darryl Strawberry at bat, Smith threw a wild pitch, allowing Dykstra to score.

Lonnie Smith had three stolen bases for the Braves.

“I took Lonnie for granted a couple of times,” Gooden said.

Cincinnati 6, Montreal 5--Chris Sabo’s two-run double in the sixth put the Reds ahead to stay in a victory over the Expos at Cincinnati.

Rick Mahler (2-3), who beat his former teammates, started the sixth with a single off Pascual Perez (0-2). Mahler took third on Kal Daniels’ double and both runners scored when Sabo bounced a double over the Expos’ drawn-in infield to make it 3-2.

John Franco got his sixth save despite allowing three runs in the ninth before he retired Tim Wallach on a fly ball for the final out with two men on base.

St. Louis 3, San Francisco 1--Jose DeLeon allowed five hits over 8 1/3 innings and the Cardinals got past the Giants at St. Louis.

DeLeon (4-1) struck out seven and blanked the Giants after Brett Butler led off the game with a home run. Ken Dayley got the final two outs for his first save.

Terry Pendleton’s run-scoring single in the sixth broke a 1-1 tie and beat Kelly Downs (2-3). Tom Brunansky followed with a run-scoring single that ended an 0-for-24 streak.

Houston 6, Philadelphia 5--Glenn Davis homered in his fourth consecutive game as the Astros downed the Phillies at Houston.

Davis hit a two-run homer to break a 3-3 tie in the seventh and Gerald Young’s sacrifice fly made it 6-3 in the eighth.

The Phillies made it close on run-scoring singles by Curt Ford and Dwayne Murphy in the ninth before Dave Smith shut the door for his third save.