NATIONAL LEAGUE : Smith Pitches Pirates Into First Place in East

The Pittsburgh Pirates, after losing five games in a row, have moved into first place in the National League East by winning a doubleheader.

With the New York Mets splitting their doubleheader against the Dodgers, recently acquired Zane Smith put the Pirates half a game ahead of the Mets.

Pirate ace Doug Drabek (15-5) pitched a six-hitter for a 3-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves in the first game at Pittsburgh. Although he was shaky in his first start since last Wednesday, when he came to the Pirates from Montreal, Smith lasted 7 1/3 innings as the Pirates won the nightcap, 6-4.

The Pirates took a 6-1 lead for Smith (7-7). But Smith, formerly a Brave, had an earned-run average of 5.40 in three games against his former mates.

He gave up four hits and four runs, three of them earned. Bob Paterson stopped a budding rally in the eighth inning, then struck out two in the ninth to get his third save.

Bobby Bonilla had three hits, including a homer, in the opener for the Pirates. Jeff King homered and drove in four runs in the nightcap.

Atlanta’s Dave Justice hit his eighth home run in nine games to spoil Drabek’s bid for a shutout.

Cincinnati 9, St. Louis 4--Jack Armstrong won for the first time since July 5 as the Reds increased their lead in the West to 7 1/2 games by winning in St. Louis.

Armstrong (12-8) gave up two runs and five hits in six innings.

Todd Benzinger had a two-run double in the first inning and a run-scoring single in the fourth as the Reds built an 8-1 lead.

Philadelphia 4, San Francisco 3--The Phillies tied the score at Philadelphia with a run in the bottom of the ninth.

After that, they loaded the bases with one out and didn’t score. In the 10th they loaded the bases with two out. In the 11th they loaded them with nobody out.

In the 13th, against Steve Bedrosian, they won it when he made a wild pitch with two out and Rod Booker on third base. Booker singled off Bedrosian (5-7) stole second and went to third on an infield out, the second out of the inning.

The Phillies left 20 runners on base, 11 in the last five innings.

Chicago 5, Houston 2--Ryne Sandberg hit his league-leading 28th home run at Chicago and Greg Maddux won for the sixth time in his last seven starts. Maddux (10-10) struggled through 7 2/3 innings, working out of several jams.

Sandberg hit 14 home runs in June and 24 in his first 74 games. But he had only one in the next 34 games and has two in the last three games.

Montreal 8, San Diego 3--Otis Nixon went four for four, including his first home run in almost five years, and drove in four runs at San Diego. It was the sixth victory in a row for the Expos, trying to stay in the running in the East.

Dennis Martinez pitched his second consecutive complete game to end the Padres’ four-game winning streak.