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NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Strawberry Fails to Get Caminiti’s Fly to Right, Astros Edge Mets, 2-1

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On paper, the New York Mets have an outstanding team. They have tremendous pitching and are capable of scoring runs.

It is on the field that the Mets leave something to be desired. They have committed 20 errors in 18 games. And there have been other misplays that have not been scored as errors.

The defensive problems showed up Sunday at Houston in a pitching duel between Dwight Gooden and Mike Scott. The Astros won in the 10th inning when Darryl Strawberry played Ken Caminiti’s drive to right field poorly and it went for a hit that beat the Mets, 2-1.

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After Scott, a non-winner this year, and Gooden, who has won only once, pitched strong games, it was tied, 1-1, in the 10th.

With one out in the bottom of the inning, Eric Yelding beat out a roller to shortstop Howard Johnson. One out later, Yelding stole second and continued to third when catcher Mackey Sasser threw the ball into center field. Reliever Julio Machado walked a batter and hit the next one to load the bases.

Caminiti then hit a sinking fly ball to right. Strawberry didn’t appear to get much of a jump. Then, instead of trying to make a diving catch, he lunged at the ball and the winning run scored.

“He (Strawberry) got a bad jump on the ball,” Manager Davey Johnson of the Mets told the Associated Press. “If the dive would have caught it I wish he had dived. Usually you don’t dive unless you have a chance to catch it.”

Strawberry thought the ball was well placed.

“I didn’t get a bad jump, I gave it my best shot,” he said. “I thought I had a shot at it, but it kept dropping. I was running full speed. It’s a tough play to make a dive on.”

Caminiti was surprised to get the game-winning hit. “I didn’t hit the ball all that well,” he said. “I thought I was going to be out. I don’t know if he could have dived and caught it. I’m just happy with the results.”

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Scott gave up a run and four hits in seven innings in his best outing. Gooden, in his third fine outing in a row, gave up six hits in eight innings and struck out eight.

The run Gooden gave up came on a single by Glenn Davis leading off the second and a triple to right-center by Rafael Ramirez.

The Mets’ run came in the sixth on a walk and singles by Strawberry and Kevin McReynolds.

Pittsburgh 10, San Diego 1--When the Pirates were going well a couple of years ago, the B-Boys, Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla, were providing the punch.

Now that the Pirates have rolled into first place in the East on a winning trip West, Bonds and Bonilla are at it again.

Bonds hit a three-run home run to snap a tie in the fourth inning at San Diego and Bonilla hit his league-leading seventh home run.

Doug Drabek (4-1) went a strong six innings as the Pirates won their sixth in a row and improved to 12-2 on the road.

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San Francisco 9, St. Louis 7--Joe Magrane is supposed to be the best Cardinal pitcher. But, if it wasn’t for John Tudor’s surprising comeback, the Cardinals would really be in trouble.

Magrane gave up six runs and eight hits and was gone with none out in the third inning and remained winless in four decisions.

In some of his starts, Magrane hasn’t gotten much offensive support. But in this game at San Francisco, the Cardinals got 10 hits off Rick Reuschel (2-1) and knocked him out in the eighth. But it still left them a little short.

Pedro Guerrero had four hits, two RBIs, and scored twice for the Cardinals.

Atlanta 3, Philadelphia 1--The Braves, despite their slow start, have been getting pretty good pitching. And Pete Smith won this one at Atlanta by pitching their first complete game.

Smith (2-1) gave up six hits and became the winner when Jim Presley hit a two-run home run in the sixth. It ended the Braves’ five-game losing streak and was their third win in 16 games.

Montreal 6, Cincinnati 3--The Reds’ run of good luck ended in this game at Cincinnati.

Left-hander Danny Jackson, on his fourth pitch, was hit on the left arm by a smash off the bat of Junior Noboa and had to leave the game. X-rays revealed no broken bone.

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Tim Wallach and Mike Fitzgerald hit home runs as the Expos hammered four relievers for six runs and 10 hits.

Kevin Gross, who had walked 15 batters in 18 innings this season, walked only two in 7 1/3 innings and gave up six hits to improve his record to 2-1.

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