NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Tudor Is Answer to Cardinals’ Slump--Again

John Tudor stopped a St. Louis Cardinals’ slump for the fifth time this season Tuesday, yielding five hits over seven innings and leading St. Louis to a 3-2 victory at Houston.

The Cardinals ended a four-game losing streak. Each of Tudor’s victories has halted a team drought.

“I’m not looking for that kind of publicity. It just means we’ve lost a lot of games,” Tudor said. “I place no importance on that at all.”

Tudor (5-2) struck out three in seven innings. He had not won since April 28.

“He’s the guy we want out there when we’re down,” catcher Todd Zeile said. “He’s a battler and you know he’s ready to pitch.”

Cardinal Manager Whitey Herzog said Tudor has been throwing much better recently. “Basically, he’s had his best stuff on the road,” the manager said.

Houston second baseman Bill Doran noticed. “He’s very deceptive. I don’t care about his speed. They can throw the (speed) guns away,” Doran said. “He was throwing strikes.”

Ozzie Smith, Pedro Guerrero and Terry Pendleton drove in third-inning runs against Dan Schatzeder (1-3).

Eric Yelding’s single in the third inning and Franklin Stubbs’ pinch-hit double in the eighth scored Houston’s runs.

St. Louis had lost seven of its last 10 games. Houston had won four of its last five.

Cincinnati 2, New York 1--Bud Harrelson lost his managerial debut in Cincinnati when Eric Davis hit his first home run since April 15, and Chris Sabo added a solo homer for the Reds off Bob Ojeda (1-3).

Harrelson replaced fired Davey Johnson as Met manager two hours before gametime.

Harrelson didn’t have much to do as he watched the Mets lose for the ninth time in their last 13 games. New York failed to get a baserunner after the sixth inning and stranded three runners in scoring position overall.

“That wasn’t the way I wanted the script to read,” Harrelson said. “I thought our spirit was good. They played the same today as if Davey was still here, with a little more aggression. It just didn’t work out.”

The Mets’ season-long problems were on display against Tom Browning (4-4), who gave up six hits in eight innings before giving way to Rob Dibble and then former Met Randy Myers, who picked up his 10th save. The two runs were the first the Reds have scored for Browning in his last four starts.

New York failed to get anything out of two threats and failed to hold an early lead. The Mets had at least one hit in four of the first five innings, twice stranding two runners.

New York’s only run came on a home run by Tim Teufel, who is 16 for 31 lifetime with four homers against Browning.

San Francisco 6, Chicago 2--Don Robinson gained his first victory of the season and contributed a run-scoring single as the Giants broke a three-game losing streak on a frosty night at Chicago.

Robinson (1-0) gave up two runs and five hits in 6 2/3 innings before leaving with back spasms. Making his second 1990 start after recovering from a knee operation, he was activated from the disabled list May 24.

Loser Kevin Blankenship gave up three runs and six hits in his first major league appearance of the season after the Cubs recalled him from triple-A Iowa on Monday. Blankenship retired the last 13 batters before he was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning.

Two unearned runs in the third inning gave the San Francisco the lead for good. Blankenship’s failure to touch first base while covering on a ground ball contributed to the runs.

San Francisco won for only the third time in its last 11 games.