National League Roundup : Pitching Gamble Paying Off for Braves

What a difference a year makes. Last season the Atlanta Braves were the doormat of the National League, finishing 39 1/2 games behind the Dodgers in the West.

Tuesday night, behind the six-hit pitching of John Smoltz, the Braves beat the Phillies, 7-2, at Philadelphia for their sixth consecutive victory. The Braves moved into fourth place with a 16-17 record; the Dodgers are 15-16.

The Braves committed themselves to a young pitching staff in 1988 and their record suffered while Tom Glavine and Smoltz learned to pitch in the majors. Glavine was 7-17 and Smoltz 2-7.

Glavine is 4-0 this season and, with his second consecutive complete game, Smoltz is 5-2.

Until the winning streak, the Braves were getting good pitching but couldn’t score. During the streak, however, they have scored 52 runs.

San Francisco 4, Chicago 2--It didn’t take the Cubs long to find out how much they will miss Andre Dawson, who will have surgery to remove torn cartilage in his right knee.

Against the Giant pitching tandem of Mike Krukow (2-0) and Craig Lefferts, the Cubs had only four hits and one earned run in the loss at Chicago.

Dawson’s replacement in right field, Mitch Webster, dropped a fly ball in the sixth, allowing two unearned runs to score.

Krukow, with a history of arm problems, left when his arm stiffened after seven innings.

“Mike kept them off-balance, used all his pitches and threw strikes,” Manager Roger Craig said. “You can’t ask for more.”

New York 3, Cincinnati 1--Last season, his first in the National League, Danny Jackson was the league’s toughest left-hander. He was a 23-game winner and had 15 complete games, best in the league.

After beating the Dodgers in the opener this season, Jackson hasn’t won since.

Against a Met team that had been shut out twice in a row, Jackson lost his sixth consecutive game. He failed to go the distance for the eighth game in a row.

The Mets ended a scoreless string of 27 innings when they scored three runs in the fifth inning in their victory at Cincinnati. In their previous four games, they had scored a total of five runs.

Sid Fernandez improved to 4-1. Met shortstop Kevin Elster made an error in the ninth inning to end his record errorless streak at 88 games.

St. Louis 4, San Diego 3--Tony Pena hit a seventh-inning home run off Greg Harris at St. Louis to break a 3-3 tie, and Todd Worrell held on through the ninth for the save.

The Padres had two on and one out when Jack Clark bounced back to Worrell for the second out. Later, with the bases loaded, Randy Ready flied out to end the game.

The Padres’ run in the fourth ended rookie Ken Hill’s scoreless string at 24 innings.

The victory put the Cardinals (17-13) into a tie for first place in the East with the Mets.

Montreal 4, Houston 2--Wallace Johnson hit his first home run in two years, and Dennis Martinez gave up five hits in 8 1/3 innings at as the Expos won at Houston.

Mike Scott (4-2), who missed his previous start because of a hamstring problem, was the loser. He gave up three runs and seven hits in eight innings. He had only three strikeouts.