NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Sandberg’s Two Home Runs Power the Cubs to a 5-3 Victory

The Chicago Cubs’ Ryne Sandberg has been recognized as a star for years. He is a Gold Glove second baseman, a durable player and a career .290 hitter.

But not until midseason last year was Sandberg thought of as a home run hitter.

Even though his home park is Wrigley Field, probably the best home run park in the majors, Sandberg never hit more than 24 home runs in a season until last year when he had 30 home runs, 19 after the All-Star break.

Sandberg, the surprise home run leader of the National League, hit two more Wednesday at Chicago to lead the Cubs to a 5-3 victory over the Montreal Expos.

With 24 home runs and 52 runs batted in, Sandberg has had an outstanding season and it isn’t even the midway point yet.

In his last 29 games, Sandberg has batted .422 with 17 home runs and 29 RBIs.

Sandberg, 30, hit a home run off Kevin Gross (8-5) in the first inning and another off reliever Bill Sampen in the seventh. Gross, who gave up eight hits and four runs in the first two innings, broke his finger fouling off a pitch in the fifth inning and will be out two weeks.

Manager Don Zimmer of the Cubs has watched some pretty good hitters in his day, including Roy Campanella, Duke Snider and Carl Yastrzemski, but he is ecstatic about Sandberg. “It would be tough to match what this guy is doing right now,” he said. “That ball coming up to the plate looks like a watermelon these days.”

Sandberg has a simple explanation of why he has been hitting so many home runs. “In the first place, I feel comfortable at the plate,” he said. “But most important, I no longer swing at balls. I’m only swinging at strikes.”

San Francisco 8, Cincinnati 3--Matt Williams, whose error on a sacrifice bunt gave the Reds the victory Tuesday night, made amends at Cincinnati.

The Giants’ third baseman hit his 15th home run and drove in four runs. Don Robinson (3-1) pitching on two days rest, held the Reds to four hits in eight innings.

Pittsburgh 5, Philadelphia 3--Switch-hitting rookie Orlando Merced, called up just before the game at Pittsburgh, hit a pinch single in his debut and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh on Wally Backman’s two-out double.

Merced is the Puerto Rican youngster introduced by sons of the late Roberto Clemente to a Pirate scout.

New York 5, St. Louis 2--Frank Viola became the league’s first 11-game winner, Darryl Strawberry extended his hitting streak to 16 games and the Mets extended their winning streak to nine games in this game at St. Louis.

The Mets have won 16 of their last 18 games, are 5-0 against the slumping Cardinals and 19-7 since Bud Harrelson became manager.

Viola (11-3) pitched a four-hitter and kept the Mets two games behind Pittsburgh.

Houston 9, San Diego 1--Glenn Wilson drove in three runs at Houston and Jim Deshaies pitched a strong game to beat the Padres for the first time in four years.

Wilson, who has 17 RBIs in the last 17 games, hit a two-run double in the first inning that provided all the runs Deshaies (4-5) needed.