NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Mets’ Hitters Making Things Easy for Gooden

One of the many things Dwight Gooden is doing right these days is to bring out the best in the New York Mets.

The Mets, who went into Tuesday night’s game at Houston having lost two in a row while scoring only two runs, snapped out of it with the hard-throwing right-hander on the mound.

Kevin McReynolds went four for four and Howard Johnson and Kevin Elster homered to lead the Mets to a 6-2 victory over the Astros. The Mets moved to within a game of first place in the East.

Although his pitching hasn’t always been great, Gooden (10-5) has won seven in a row. In the seven games the Mets have scored 56 runs.

In this game, they got 16 hits. In their four defeats in the previous five games, they had a total of six runs and 19 hits.

Gooden gave way to John Franco with one out in the eighth inning, having given up seven hits and two runs, only one of them earned.

“I did have a hit and drive in a run,” Gooden said, “but mainly, I think we were due to snap out of it. We only had three hits and a run in each of the previous two games. That’s not like us.”

Cincinnati 6, Montreal 2--One of the reasons for the success of the Reds this season has been their ability to turn misfortune to their benefit.

When left-hander Danny Jackson couldn’t start this game at Cincinnati because of a stiff shoulder, the Reds had to hurry to get Scott Scudder ready.

Scudder’s 7.43 earned-run average was the worst on the staff. But the 22-year-old right-hander responded with an outstanding performance.

He lasted into the seventh inning and struck out nine batters, giving up eight hits before Rob Dibble and Randy Myers came along to do their usual job of shutting down the opposing hitters.

Scudder opposed one of the hot pitchers in the league, rookie Mark Gardner. Gardner, who led the league in ERA with 2.32, had a scoreless string of 19 innings. But the Reds jumped on him for three runs in the first and Mariano Duncan homered in the fourth.

Two of the hits off Scudder were home runs by Andres Galarraga and Dave Martinez.

San Francisco 6, Pittsburgh 3--Matt Williams hit a grand slam to break a tie in the sixth inning at Pittsburgh, and former Pirate Don Robinson (6-1) pitched a strong eight innings.

Although they remain 7 1/2 games behind the Reds in the West, the Giants have won seven of their last eight games.

Williams, who has 18 home runs, leads the league in RBIs with 76. He was thrown out trying for an inside-the-park home run in the eighth.

Robinson, who was 0-3 with an ERA of 8.20 last season against the Pirates, had a 6-1 lead and a two-hitter after eight innings. But when he gave up a single and a double to start the ninth, he was replaced by Atlee Hammaker. The last two Pirate runs came on sacrifice flies.

The Pirates have lost three in a row at home for the first time this season.

Chicago 7, San Diego 2--Rookie Shawn Boskie (4-5) helped his own cause with a two-run double at Chicago, and the Cubs romped over the Padres.

Boskie, a onetime third baseman, flied out to end the fourth inning, but he climaxed the six-run fifth with his double.

Boskie gave up both Padre runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings.

It was the 45th birthday for new Padre Manager Greg Riddoch, who has a 1-5 record.

Atlanta 14, Philadelphia 10--Baseballs are flying out of Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. On Sunday, Montreal beat the Braves, 16-14, and eight home runs were hit.

In this game 14 runs were enough for the Braves to win, and there were five home runs hit. Jim Presley hit two of the home runs and drove in four runs for the Braves.

The Braves built a 10-1 lead for Tom Glavine after four innings, but he couldn’t make it through seven innings. He did improve his record to 6-6.