National League Roundup : Even With No Homers, Mitchell Gets Big Hits

The Reds held slugger Kevin Mitchell to a pair of singles Monday night in Cincinnati.

But one of those hits came with the bases loaded, driving in two runs and helping San Francisco score an 11-8 victory that ended the Reds’ four-game winning streak and put the Giants on top in the National League West.

Jose Rijo (5-2) was feeling good when he struck out Mitchell, the major league home run leader, with the bases loaded in the first inning and again with nobody on in the fourth.

The Giants, on Jose Uribe’s first home run in almost a year, had a 3-2 lead when Mitchell came up in the fourth. His single made it 5-2 and increased his major leagues-leading runs batted in total to 56. Mitchell, who hit four home runs in three games at Atlanta and now has 19, has driven in 12 runs in the last five games.

Until about a week ago, the pitchers appeared to be dominating the National League. All of a sudden, balls are booming out of the parks and against the wall.

Manager Whitey Herzog of the St. Louis Cardinals said his club recently received a new batch of baseballs from the league office and wondered if that was the reason.

Whatever it may be, the Giants, who recently had trouble scoring, got 15 hits in this game. They gave an 11-2 lead to Scott Garrelts, who retired the first 13 Reds and gained his fourth victory in five decisions while going eight innings.

Chicago 15, New York 3--To the Cubs, who hit six home runs in spacious Busch Stadium, Wrigley Field must have seemed like a band box when they returned home to play the Mets.

This time, the Cubs came up with two homers, the first of Dwight Smith’s career and the third in the last three games for Mitch Webster.

And they scored more runs than they have in two years.

The Mets had a four-game winning streak and their best pitcher of 1988, David Cone, going for them. But Cone, who lost only three games last season, was rocked for seven runs and was gone before he could retire seven batters. His record fell to 3-5, and the Mets dropped 2 1/2 games behind the Cubs.

Greg Maddux (5-5), who had some bad luck early in the season, was breezing to his fourth victory in a row when he was hit in the calf by a Darryl Strawberry smash in the fifth. He finished that inning, then left. He is not expected to miss a turn.

St. Louis 5, Montreal 4--The livelier ball may have made a difference for the Cardinals, who usually trail the league in home runs. Milt Thompson hit a three-run home run, and Tom Brunansky added a two-run shot in the third inning as the Cardinals gained only their second victory in their last eight games.

Jose DeLeon (7-3) walked six batters in 6 1/3 innings but gave up only three hits and struck out 10.

San Diego 10, Houston 2--After going 238 consecutive games without scoring in double figures, the Padres, with the help of 17 hits, did it at Houston.

Ed Whitson (9-2) held the Astros, who had won 10 games in a row, to five hits in eight innings for his seventh win in a row.

Tony Gwynn had four singles for San Diego.

Philadelphia 3, Pittsburgh 3--Umpires waited almost two hours at Philadelphia before calling this game a tie after eight innings because of rain. All statistics will be retained, but the entire game will be replayed.