NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Once Again, the Pirates Aren’t Much of a Problem for Whitson

So far this season, the New York Mets or the Montreal Expos haven’t been able to take over the lead in the East from the surprising Pittsburgh Pirates.

And, for most of the teams in the West, the Pirates might as well be in a higher league.

However, former Pirate Ed Whitson doesn’t have any problems when he pitches against Pittsburgh.

Whitson extended his mastery over the Pirates to seven years Sunday at Pittsburgh when he pitched the struggling San Diego Padres to a 4-1 victory.

Whitson (7-6) held the heavy-hitting Pirates to four hits in seven innings to give new Manager Greg Riddoch his first victory after three defeats.

The third win in the last 16 games for the Padres ended a four-game losing streak. The Pirates, who had won 10 out of 12, lead the East by two games.

The last time the Pirates beat the veteran right-hander was July 26, 1983. In his last 10 starts against them he is 8-0. He is 5-0 in the last two seasons with a 1.12 earned-run average.

Whitson, who broke in with the Pirates in 1977, also played with San Francisco and spent two seasons with the New York Yankees.

“I told my wife that I won Lou Piniella’s first game as a manager, and if I got a couple of runs I’d win Greg Riddoch’s first game,” Whitson said. “I really wanted to give him his first one.

“I’ve always liked pitching in this ballpark. The mound’s real good here and I’m real comfortable here.

“I had good stuff and good control. Against these guys, if you get behind them and have to go with the fastball, you’re dead.”

The loser was Neal Heaton (10-5). Until he reversed the trend last season, Heaton had always pitched well early in the season and then was ineffective in the second half. He has lost three in a row.

“If he wasn’t throwing well, I’d be concerned,” Manager Jim Leyland said. “He’s still keeping us in the game--three runs.”

Cincinnati 2, New York 1--Manager Lou Piniella may have finally found the right spot for Norm Charlton--as a starter.

Charlton, in his first start in two years, held the Mets scoreless on two hits for six innings at Cincinnati to improve to 7-4.

Eric Davis hit two doubles to drive in both runs. Mariano Duncan was on base each time. Duncan, who had three hits in four at-bats, was eight for 16 and scored five runs in the series.

Charlton, a hard-throwing left-hander, didn’t seem to fit in on a club with closers such as Randy Myers and Rob Dibble. But he was too good to use as a middle reliever. The hope was that he could start.

Dibble, who came in for Charlton, pitched 1 2/3 innings but had to be replaced by Myers in the eighth after the Mets scored. Myers struck out Howard Johnson to end the inning. He struck out the side in the ninth, including pinch-hitter Darryl Strawberry.

Montreal 16, Atlanta 14--It was an old fashioned slugfest at Atlanta, where the Expos and Braves combined for 34 hits, including seven home runs.

The Braves had more hits (20) and home runs (five), but they also had more errors (five), including two in the ninth that helped beat them.

Andres Galarraga, who hit a three-run homer in the sixth, singled home the tie-breaking run in a three-run ninth. The win moved the Expos to within 3 1/2 games of the lead in the East.

Tim Wallach hit a grand slam for the Expos and rookie catcher Jimmy Kremers hit his first major league homer for the Braves.

Houston 6, Philadelphia 1--Veteran right-hander Danny Darwin gave up a run and eight hits in seven innings to improve his record against the Phillies at the Astrodome to 4-0.

The Astros broke the game open with four runs in the seventh. The key hit was a run-scoring double by Javier Ortiz to break a 1-1 tie.

San Francisco 5, St. Louis 3--Jeff Brantley didn’t do the job in the All-Star game, but he came through in the clutch at St. Louis.

Brantley came in with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth and retired Tim Jones and pinch-hitter Denny Walling.

The three men in the middle of the Gianst’ lineup, Will Clark, Kevin Mitchell and Matt Williams, scored five runs. Mitchell hit his 24th home run of the season.

Todd Zeile homered for the Cardinals.