NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : O’Malley Finally Gets Chance; Mets Win on Homer in 11th, 6-5

Tom O’Malley was starting to think he might not have a chance to win games for the New York Mets this season.

With only two hits in 22 at-bats, O’Malley was afraid his game-winning hits might be for the Tidewater Tides, a Met farm club. But O’Malley led off the 11th inning with a home run over the center-field fence to give the Mets a 6-5 victory over the Montreal Expos Tuesday night at New York.

O’Malley will be sticking around.

The victory ended New York’s three-game losing streak and left the Mets 2-4 since Bud Harrelson took over as manager for Dave Johnson last week.

“It was a tough adjustment for me to make,” O’Malley said. “I was used to playing almost every day (at Tidewater), and this is not an easy role to accept.

“It’s not tough to accept the role, but it’s tough to do what is expected of you. I just hope they are patient and like what they see.”

O’Malley entered the game in the 10th inning to play first base and hit his first homer of the season off reliever Dale Mohorcic (0-1). It was only O’Malley’s 11th career homer in 1,115 at-bats.

John Franco (2-0) pitched one inning for the victory.

San Francisco 6, Cincinnati 1--Scott Garrelts ended a season-long slump by outpitching NL earned-run average leader Jack Armstrong at San Francisco as the the Reds suffered a second consecutive loss for only the third time this season.

Armstrong (8-2) failed in his attempt to become the league’s first nine-game winner even though he held the Giants to three runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings. His ERA rose to 1.77.

Garrelts (2-6), the NL’s ERA leader last season, had an 0-3 record with a 9.33 ERA over his four starts before holding the Reds to four hits in seven innings. Jeff Brantley pitched the final two innings to earn his seventh save, despite yielding a run-scoring single to Eric Davis.

Pittsburgh 6, Chicago 5-- The Pirates turned two high-choppers and a walk into the winning run in the ninth inning, giving rookie Stan Belinda his first major league victory at Pittsburgh.

Bobby Bonilla hit a three-run homer in the first as the Pirates won for the eighth time in 11 games. The Cubs lost for the 10th time in 13 games despite getting five hitless relief innings of relief from Steve Wilson.

With the Pirates trailing, 5-4, Cub relief pitcher Mitch Williams (0-5) replaced Wilson after R.J. Reynolds’ leadoff single in the eighth. Reynolds advanced on Bonilla’s walk and Jeff King’s sacrifice ahead of Andy Van Slyke’s sacrifice fly.

Pinch-hitter Wally Backman walked to start the ninth and Gary Redus hit a grounder that bounced over third baseman Domingo Ramos’ head for a double. With the infield playing in, Backman scored standing up as Reynolds hit a high-bouncing grounder to second.

Philadelphia 9, St. Louis 6--Len Dykstra tied the score with a two-run single and Von Hayes put the Phillies ahead with another two-run single to cap a four-run eighth inning that beat the Cardinals at St. Louis.

Dykstra, the major leagues’ leading hitter with a .415 average, tied the score, 5-5, with with a single off Ken Dayley with one out. Dykstra advanced to second on a groundout and Hayes followed with a single for the game-winner as the Phillies won for the third time in four games.

Dykstra went two for six to extend his hitting streak to 18 games, the best in the major leagues this season, although his average dipped three points. Dykstra is hitting .454 (35 for 77) during the streak and is 13 for 23 in his last five games.

San Diego 11, Houston 2--Dennis Rasmussen pitched a four-hitter and Shawn Abner and Garry Templeton hit consecutive homers in a six-run fifth inning at San Diego as the Padres handed the Astros their fifth consecutive loss.