NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Tudor Continues His Impressive Pitching

John Tudor couldn’t lift his arm last April, but he is one of the hottest pitchers in the National League.

The left-hander, who pitched only 14 1/3 innings for the Dodgers at the end of last season, improved his record to 4-0 Saturday at San Francisco as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Giants, 5-0. Tudor’s performance drew raves from Giant Manager Roger Craig.

“He was incredible,” Craig said. “His best fastball on the clock was 76 miles an hour. It goes to show you don’t have to throw 95 to get people out. He makes it look easy.

“It’s kind of a miracle. He just changes speeds and keeps the ball down. Last year everybody thought he was washed up.”

Tudor underwent elbow, shoulder and knee surgery after the 1988 season. The Dodgers decided that with a surplus of young pitching talent, they didn’t need him.

Cardinal Manager Whitey Herzog, who had success with Tudor before trading him to the Dodgers for Pedro Guerrero, gave him another chance, and he is keeping the Cardinals from falling apart.

This was the third time in his four starts that Tudor combined with relievers for a shutout. In his other start he gave up three runs. In this one he gave up five hits in seven innings. In 28 innings, he has given up 19 hits and has an earned-run average of 0.95.

Until Tudor’s performance, the Cardinals had lost six in a row at Candlestick Park. Now, it is the Giants having trouble there. They are 1-9 at home this season.

“I’m not doing anything differently,” Tudor said. “I’m trying to do the same things, only I’m doing them with less velocity. Every day has been a surprise for me. I’m just grateful for each outing.”

Willie McGee, another Cardinal coming back from an injury-plagued season, had two run-scoring singles. He has hit safely in 17 of 19 games. His 29 hits in April are a personal high.

Ken Dayley pitched the eighth and Scott Terry pitched the ninth for the Cardinals, who will be without bullpen ace Todd Worrell at least until July.

Cincinnati 6, Montreal 4--In the fourth inning at Cincinnati, Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd retired Chris Sabo on a fly ball.

However, the out was nullified because a balk was called.Given new life, Sabo then hit a two-run homer that proved to be the final margin of victory.

Sabo’s fifth home run helped Jack Armstrong improve his record to 4-0 as the Reds won for the 12th time in 14 games.

Mariano Duncan and Paul O’Neill also homered as the Reds continued to win without injured Eric Davis, their best hitter. Duncan has four home runs, one more than he hit all of last year in 94 games with the Dodgers and Reds.

Armstrong, who was 2-3 and had a 4.64 ERA with the Reds last season, gave up eight hits but only two earned runs in 6 2/3 innings. Rob Dibble replaced him and threw a wild pitch, enabling another run to score.

After a rain delay of 83 minutes, Randy Myers pitched the final two innings to get his fourth save. He gave up four hits, but no runs.

Montreal Manager Bob Rodgers didn’t fault the balk call. “He balked, he didn’t stop,” he said. “He’s a pitcher in transition. He used to throw 92 miles per hour. Now he’s trying to learn to pitch with an 80 or 81.”

Pittsburgh 4, San Diego 3--Pirate bullpen ace Bill Landrum retired pinch-hitter Mike Pagliarulo on a grounder to end the game with the potential tying run on third. That saved the win for Bob Walk at San Diego.

It was the fifth victory in a row for the Pirates, the leaders of the East.

Walk gave up home runs to Jack Clark, Benito Santiago and Bip Roberts (inside the park), but won his first after three defeats.

Houston 8, New York 4--Sid Fernandez pitched a two-hit shutout in his previous outing, but he couldn’t hold a 4-1 lead and he couldn’t make it through the fourth inning.

Fernandez hit better than he pitched. In the second inning he doubled in three runs.

Bill Gullickson, back from Japan, pitched well for the Astros. He went five innings and won in the majors for the first time since 1987.

Gerald Young of the Astros hit his first home run in 1,195 at-bats in the eighth inning. Glenn Davis also homered, his fourth.

The Mets had won six in a row.

Philadelphia 2, Atlanta 1--Carmelo Martinez is making his pitch for a starting job with the Phillies. The former San Diego player has been playing a little at first and a little in the outfield.

Martinez hit a home run in the ninth inning at Atlanta to deliver the big blow for the second game in a row. It was the fifth loss in a row for the Braves, who fell to 2-13.

Martinez hit a grand slam in the eighth inning Friday night to win that one. He has hit 13 home runs in his career against the Braves.

The Phillies, one of the surprise teams in the East, have won six of their last seven.