NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : It’s Home Sweet Home Again as Mets Win

The Pittsburgh Pirates learned Wednesday night what everybody in the National League is increasingly aware of:

The New York Mets are two different teams. There is the road version, which has trouble beating anybody. And there is the home version, which is virtually unbeatable.

David Cone survived a wild spell in the third inning Wednesday night to pitch a three-hitter and help the Mets beat the Pirates, 2-1. In winning their 10th in a row at Shea Stadium, the Mets improved baseball’s best home record to 49-22.

The Mets cut the Pirates’ lead in the East to 2 1/2 games and set the stage for a big game tonight. It will be Doug Drabek (19-5) for the Pirates against Dwight Gooden (16-6).

The three wins in a row at home are a turnabout from the Mets’ recent trip. On that trip, they lost all three games at Pittsburgh, scoring two runs, and were 2-6 overall, and fell out of first place.

The most glaring problem on the road for the Mets was their inability to hit left-handed pitching.

And they didn’t seem as if they had solved that problem against John Smiley (8-9) Wednesday night.

But a walk, a single and Dave Magadan’s double to right-center gave the Mets a 2-0 lead before Smiley got his first out.

Cone struck out four of the first seven batters before Smiley singled in the third for the first Pirate hit. Then, with two out, Cone lost control, walking Jay Bell and Andy Van Slyke. On a 3-and-2 count, Bobby Bonilla, after fouling off two pitches outside the strike zone, walked to force in the run.

But Barry Bonds took Cone off the hook. The first pitch was low and inside. Then Bonds went after the next one, which may have been ball two, and popped to short.

San Francisco 8, Atlanta 3--Matt Williams hit a three-run home run in the first inning at San Francisco to send the Giants on the way to their fifth victory in a row. The victory left the Giants tied for second place with the Dodgers, six games back in the NL West.

The home run was the 30th for the third baseman and helped John Burkett (12-7) end a string of seven winless starts. Burkett left with two out in the eighth inning, after rookie Dave Justice hit his 24th home run.

The Giants, 11-2 against the Braves, are 6-0 against them at Candlestick Park.

It may have been a costly victory for San Francisco. In the fourth inning, Kevin Mitchell left with a hyper-extended left knee.

Houston 3, Cincinnati 1--Bill Doran, the Reds’ first batter, homered, but that was the end of their scoring at Cincinnati.

With two out in the ninth, Ken Caminiti looped a single to left for the third hit off Jose Rijo and it drove in the tying run.

In the 13th inning, Mike Simms’ first major league hit knocked in the go-ahead run. He scored another on a wild pitch.

Chicago 9, Philadelphia 3--Ryne Sandberg may not consider himself a home-run hitter, but the pitchers do.

After the Cubs, who scored 10 runs in an inning Tuesday, had a six-run first inning at Chicago, Sandberg unloaded in the fourth.

It was the second baseman’s 34th home run to tie the Giants’ Mitchell for the league lead. Sandberg has hit 64 homers in the last two seasons.

The first seven Cubs reached base against starter Jose DeJesus. The big blow was a two-run single by Andre Dawson.

In the second inning the night before, the Cubs had 10 runs before a batter was retired.

Montreal 6, St. Louis 2--Oil Can Boyd (10-5) has been saying that he is a better pitcher than ever this season. He seems to be proving it, too.

Boyd gave up two runs and five hits in seven innings at Montreal to win his third in a row. The right-hander has lost only two of his last 17 starts.

Rookie Delino DeShields drove in four runs and hit his fourth home run to lead the Expos’ assault on Bob Tewksbury (10-6). The third loss in a row eliminated the Cardinals from the race.