NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Smith Improves to 5-1 as Pirates Beat Astros

Pittsburgh’s Barry Bonds won the most-valuable-player award and Doug Drabek won the Cy Young as the best pitcher a season ago.

It is doubtful if any winners of those awards ever had worse starts the following season. Bonds, who hit 33 home runs, drove in 114 runs and batted .301, is batting only .170. Drabek, who was 22-6, is 1-6.

So, where are the Pirates? They lead the National League East, and their 20-11 record is the best in the majors.

One of the reasons the Pirates are doing so well is the brilliance of veteran left-hander Zane Smith.

Smith gave up seven hits and two runs in 6 2/3 innings in the Pirates’ 6-3 victory over the Houston Astros. Pittsburgh improved its road record to 8-4.

Smith, who joined the Pirates last season for the stretch drive, improved his record to 5-1 with a sharp performance at Houston.

It was his fourth victory in a row over the Astros, and he outpitched Pete Harnisch, who had the best earned-run average in the league.

“One of the things I concentrate on is making the batter put the ball in play,” Smith said. “My philosophy is to throw strikes because I know I have a great defense behind me.”

Smith, who struck out six, walked one. He has walked only one batter in the past 26 innings and only six in 50 1/3 innings.

Bobby Bonilla’s two-run double in the first inning started Harnisch’s downfall. He gave up five runs in five innings--four earned--and his ERA rose to 1.97.

Bonds, who seems to be depressed by his terrible beginning, went hitless in five at-bats, leaving two runners in scoring position.

Chicago 5, Atlanta 4--The Braves appeared to be well on their way to their fourth victory in a row with a 4-1 lead in the seventh inning at Chicago.

But the Cubs scored three times in the seventh, two of them on Chico Walker’s first home run since September 1986.

And with two out in the eighth, Andre Dawson hit his eighth home run--his second as a pinch-hitter--as the Cubs ended their three-game losing streak.

Kent Mercker threw the home-run pitch to Dawson.

“I knew he is a power pitcher,” Dawson said. “I let him supply the power.”

Dave Smith retired the last three batters for his ninth save.

Cincinnati 3, St. Louis 1--With the Reds’ team batting average at .202, the starting pitchers have to be really sharp.

Norm Charlton (2-3) gave up only five hits in 7 1/3 innings before Rob Dibble took over for his ninth save at St. Louis.

Billy Hatcher, batting only .171, had two doubles, a single and a run batted in. Hal Morris, who leads the NL with a .389 average, added two hits and an RBI.

New York 6, San Diego 1--Hubie Brooks hit his seventh career grand slam and first for the Mets to lead them to victory at San Diego.

Brooks hit his homer on a 2-2 pitch from Eric Nolte with two out in the third inning. It gave the Mets a 5-1 lead.

Nolte (3-2) gave up six earned runs on six hits in less than three innings and his ERA jumped from 9.78 to 11.05.

Philadelphia 9, San Francisco 0--The Phillies hammered the Giants for 14 hits at San Francisco to make it easy for pitcher Terry Mulholland to improve to 5-2.

Mulholland, a former Giant, gave up eight hits in eight innings.

The Giants have lost four in a row and 10 of 11. Their 10-22 record is the worst in the league.