National League Roundup : Reds’ Victory Over Mets, Ojeda, Is a Real Steal, 3-0

Holding runners on base has never been Bob Ojeda’s strong point, but he usually doesn’t have to worry about that many.

Ojeda gave up only three hits in seven innings Monday night at New York, but he walked six as the Cincinnati Reds scored a 3-0 victory over his New York Mets.

“We stole on the pitcher,” Cincinnati Manager Pete Rose said after the Reds stole a season-high five bases. “You very seldom steal on the catcher. We just happened to get the right guys on.”

Jose Rijo (3-0) pitched seven strong innings and combined with Norm Charlton and John Franco to deal the Mets their second consecutive shutout. The Mets managed only four hits.

The last time the Mets were shut out in consecutive games was May 3 and 5, 1987. They were stopped on five hits Sunday by Houston’s Jim Deshaies and have gone 23 innings without scoring. They have only 17 hits in their last four games.

“There’s not really one guy hammering the ball in the lineup and the rest of the lineup is struggling,” Met Manager Davey Johnson said. “The last four or five days, we haven’t been getting much hitting.”

Kal Daniels led off the Reds’ first with a walk and stole second. Chris Sabo bunted, and Daniels beat Ojeda’s throw to third.

“I was thinking of first base all the way,” said Ojeda (1-4). “I just really wasn’t thinking about third. It’s my fault. I should have been ready to go right away.”

Sabo stole second and the runners scored on Barry Larkin’s groundout and the first of Todd Benzinger’s two sacrifice flies.

In the fifth, Sabo walked, stole second, went to third on Larkin’s single and scored on Benzinger’s second sacrifice fly.

Rijo struck out nine and lowered his earned-run average to 1.43 with his third consecutive victory after opening the season with four no-decisions. He walked three and gave up a first-inning double by Howard Johnson and a fourth-inning single by Darryl Strawberry.

Franco got his 11th save.

Montreal 4, Houston 1--Kevin Gross pitched a five-hitter and Tim Raines hit a two-run homer as the Expos ended a four-game losing streak by beating the Astros at Houston.

Gross (4-2) pitched his first complete game of the season, striking out seven and walking none. Bill Doran broke up his shutout with a home run in the fourth.

Houston’s Bob Knepper (1-5) gave up up four runs and five hits in 3 2/3 innings.