National League Roundup : With Pitchers Hurting, Cardinals’ Defense Fails

When the St. Louis Cardinals lost two starting pitchers, Danny Cox and Greg Mathews, for the season because of injuries during spring training, the Eastern Division was all but conceded to the New York Mets.

However, the Mets’ lack of hitting and general attitude have made for a wide-open race with everyone wanting to be counted in, including the Cardinals.

Even Manager Whitey Herzog, who has directed the Cardinals to three pennants in the 1980s, took hope. With the Mets faltering, he began to piece together a pitching staff. The Cardinals joined the Chicago Cubs and the Montreal Expos as challengers to the Mets.

“When everyone is healthy,” Herzog said, “we have the best eight-man lineup in the majors.”

Although he didn’t stress it, he was in large measure giving credit to his regulars for outstanding defensive ability. But as the Cardinals threaten to fade out of the race, the defense has been the killer.

Costly errors by rookie third baseman Tim Jones and first baseman Pedro Guerrero set the stage for catcher Craig Biggio to deliver a run-scoring double in the ninth inning that enabled the Houston Astros to beat the Cardinals, 4-3, Wednesday at St. Louis.

It was the Astros’ sixth consecutive victory and 10th straight on the road.

The Cardinals have lost four in a row and were tied in a fifth game that was rained out with the score tied. In all but one of those games, an error cost the Cardinals the victory.

Guerrero, a defensive liability with the Dodgers at several positions, made critical errors in two of them, but Ozzie Smith, long recognized as the king of shortstops, has made errors that permitted the winning run to score in three games.

The Cardinals, once challenging for the lead, have lost 12 of their last 16 games. St. Louis also is without the services of its best relief pitcher, Todd Worrell, who suffered a groin injury in mid-May.

“Injuries can’t be helped,” Herzog said, “but what bothers me is that I have never had a club play worse than this.”

There was more bad news for Herzog. Worrell, eligible to come off the disabled list, threw on the sidelines Tuesday and said he wouldn’t be ready to return for a couple of more days.

With the division-leading Cubs losing, the Cardinals (23-25) are only four games behind.

Meanwhile, the only problem for the soaring Astros is they have to return home. They play the Dodgers tonight at the Astrodome, where their record is 10-17. The winning streak has given them a 17-7 record on the road.

Biggio’s double in the ninth inning was his second run-scoring double. Ken Caminiti singled off Cris Carpenter (1-4) with one out in the ninth, took second on Craig Reynolds’ ground-out and easily scored on Biggio’s shot to left-center field.

Although Biggio appears to have the catching job won, his throwing leaves something to be desired. He has thrown out only one runner in 40 steal attempts.

At the plate, he has a six-game hitting streak, going 11 for 24.

Atlanta 3, Chicago 2--When the Braves made two baserunning blunders in the sixth inning at Atlanta, it appeared that they weren’t going to break a 2-2 tie.

But when shortstop Shawon Dunston fielded Ron Gant’s grounder and threw into the dirt at first base, Dale Murphy scored what proved to be the winning run from second.

John Smoltz, with ninth-inning help, improved to 7-3, giving up only five hits, walking none and striking out four.

Jeff Blauser’s second double of the game opened the Braves’ sixth. But Blauser, thinking Gerald Perry’s single might be caught, hesitated and was caught in a rundown between third base and home. Perry reached second, but when Murphy grounded to shortstop, Perry fell asleep and was out trying to go to third.

Cincinnati 4, Pittsburgh 3--After the Reds lost four in a row, Manager Pete Rose decided to shake up his lineup for this game at Pittsburgh. The move worked.

Utility players Luis Quinones and Joel Youmgblood each hit his first home run of the season, allowing Jose Rijo (5-1) to win for the 10th time in his last 11 starts.

Rijo gave up seven hits in 7 1/3 innings. One of the Reds’ bullpen stars, Rob Dibble, wasn’t available because he was completing a suspension for a bat-throwing incident. John Franco earned his 15th save by getting the last five outs.

It was Quinones’ second major league home run, coming in his 304th at-bat, while Youngblood’s was his first since 1987.

San Diego 2, Philadelphia 1--Marvell Wynne hit a two-out double in the eighth inning at San Diego to drive in the winning run from first base.

Dennis Rasmussen gave up a first-inning home run to Dickie Thon for the Phillies’ only run. Rasmussen has given up 18 runs in the first innings of his 11 starts.

Mark Davis held off the Phillies in the ninth with the potential tying run on third base and one out.

New York 3, San Francisco 1--The Mets scored two unearned runs in the 10th inning at San Francisco.

Barry Lyons led off the 10th with a single to center. Kevin Elster then hit an apparent double-play ball to second baseman Ed Jurak, but Jurak’s throw sailed wide of second, and both runners were safe.

Pinch-hitter Mark Carreon popped out, but then Elster went to second and pinch-runner Keith Miller moved to third on Craig Lefferts’ wild pitch. With the Giants’ infield playing in, Mookie Wilson hit a bouncer that went through charging shortstop Chris Speier, and both runners scored.