NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Drabek Wins 19th for Pirates

The reliance the Pittsburgh Pirates have on Doug Drabek is of major concern to the New York Mets.

When the talented right-hander takes the mound these days, the Pirates count the game a victory.

It has been that way for most of the last two months.

Drabek gave up seven hits in 7 2/3 innings at Pittsburgh and the Pirates turned on their tormentors Saturday night, the Montreal Expos, 6-1. Drabek, beaten only once since June 28, improved his record to 19-5 and kept the Pirates 3 1/2 games in front of the Mets in the National League West.

Andy Van Slyke and Sid Bream hit home runs for the Pirates, who had lost three in a row to the Expos. Van Slyke drove in three runs to lead the Pirates to their seventh victory in eight games.

At the halfway point of the season, it was speculated that the battle for the Cy Young Award was between Ramon Martinez of the Dodgers and Frank Viola of the New York Mets. There was no mention of Drabek.

Since then Drabek is 11-1 and has become the leading candidate to win the honor.

“Now I can worry about 20, because that’s my next one,” said Drabek, the first Pirate to win 19 games in 11 years. “I kind of shove all that Cy Young stuff aside because the race is a long way from over. All I want to do is win the pennant.”

New York 12, Philadelphia 2--The Mets got 12 hits for Dwight Gooden (16-6), including home runs by Kevin McReynolds and Gregg Jefferies, and ended their six-game losing streak against left-handers.

It wasn’t so much they hit Bruce Ruffin, it was that he couldn’t find the plate. He gave up three hits and four walks before departing in the fourth inning.

Gooden pitched a five-hitter and struck out 10. San Francisco 2, Houston 1--Matt Williams’ second home run of the game at San Francisco came with two out in the 10th inning to give the Giants the victory.

Williams leads the league with 107 runs batted in and has 29 home runs. The big surprise is his .285 average. After three seasons and 220 games, Williams had a .198 average.

“We didn’t know he would hit this consistently,” Manager Roger Craig said. “His high average is a major plus.”

Chicago 5, St. Louis 4--After Cardinal left-hander Ken Dayley brushed back Mark Grace twice in the seventh inning at Chicago, Grace responded with his eighth home run to break a 4-4 tie.

Earlier, Ryne Sandberg of the Cubs hit his league-leading 33rd home run.

Atlanta 11, San Diego 5--A throwing error by San Diego rookie Paul Faries set up a five-run eighth inning as the Braves rallied in San Diego for their eighth victory in nine games.

With Atlanta trailing, 5-4, Dave Justice and Mark Lemke opened the eighth with consecutive singles off Derek Lilliquist (3-9).

Gregg Olson bunted down the third-base line off Greg Harris and Faries picked up the ball bare-handed and threw wildly to first.

Second baseman Roberto Alomar, who was covering, was hit by Olson as he reached for the throw and the ball rolled into foul territory as Justice and Lemke scored and Olson advanced to third.

Andres Thomas’ single made it 7-5 and Lonnie Smith hit a two-run homer. Thomas added another RBI single in the ninth and scored on Jeff Blauser’s groundout.