NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Thon Fuels Phillies Past Cubs in 16

Shortstop Dickie Thon singled to right-center with two out in the 16th inning Friday night at Philadelphia, lifting the Phillies a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

Dale Murphy, who opened the 16th with a single, easily scored from second on Thon’s hit.

It was the longest 1-0 victory in Phillie history, eclipsing a 15-inning game against the Cubs in the first game of a doubleheader on June 19, 1955.

The game lasted 4 hours 30 minutes and five Phillies combined for the shutout. Tommy Greene (2-0), a sometime starter, pitched the last four innings for the victory.

The Cubs had 10 hits, the Phillies nine.

The pitching marathon was tough on batting averages. George Bell went hitless in seven at-bats and his average fell to .235. Teammate Andre Dawson was three for seven and increased his average to .295.

Thon’s hit in the 16th was his third of the game.

Greg Maddux, the Cubs’ starter, went nine innings, giving up four hits and striking out eight.

Pat Combs, who started for the Phillies, had to work out of several jams in his eight innings. He gave up five hits and walked four.

Montreal 3, San Francisco 0--For eight innings, the pitchers also prevailed at San Francisco.

But in the top of the ninth, Marquis Grissom scored on a wild pitch by Mike LaCoss (1-4) to break the scoreless tie and Larry Walker hit a two-run home run against LaCoss to complete the scoring.

Rick Mahler worked seven scoreless innings but didn’t get the victory Barry Jones pitched one inning to win it.

Trevor Wilson pitched eight scoreless innings for the Giants.

Atlanta 9, Pittsburgh 3--The Braves aren’t intimidated by the defending National League East champions.

With former Pirate Sid Bream hitting a grand slam in the seventh inning at Atlanta, the Braves beat the Pirates for the third time in four games this season.

“All I could think of when I came to the plate with the bases loaded was those 30 runners I had left on base in the last four games,” Bream said after hitting his first grand slam.

“I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had sent in a pinch-hitter for me.”

Ron Gant and Lonnie Smith also hit home runs for the Braves, who have won nine of their last 14, including two out of three at Pittsburgh last week.

Although he needed help in the sixth inning, Steve Avery improved to 5-1. As a rookie last season, Avery was 3-11.

Cincinnati 7, San Diego 3--The Reds spotted Bruce Hurst a three-run lead early at Cincinnati, then stormed back to hand the Padres’ left-hander his first loss after four victories.

Glenn Braggs hit a pinch home run to spark the the Reds to three runs in the sixth. The Reds had only two hits against Hurst until Braggs, batting .122, started the tying rally.

The Reds took command with two runs in the fourth. Barry Larkin drove in the tie-breaking run with a grounder and Mariano Duncan beat out a bunt to drive in the other with two out.

As is almost always the case when they give Rob Dibble the ball with a lead, the hard-throwing right-hander earned the save.

Dibble registered the last five outs for his 10th save. He struck out four, giving him 22 strikeouts in 19 2/3 innings.

Jose Rijo pitched the first six innings, giving up all three runs.

Randy Myers pitched 1 1/3 innings to get the victory. Myers is unhappy, he said, because Dibble is now No. 1 out of the bullpen.

Houston 5, St. Louis 4--About the only time Lee Smith is ineffective, it seems, is when he is trying to save a game for Jose DeLeon.

Eric Yelding’s single, which right fielder Felix Jose barely missed catching, drove in what proved to be the winning run.

It marked the 23rd time in his last 26 starts that DeLeon failed to get the victory.

DeLeon gave up a leadoff home run to Steve Finley on the second pitch of the game at St. Louis.

It was the second time Smith, who has 11 saves, failed to hold a lead for DeLeon.

Jim Deshaies (1-4) went seven innings to get his first victory after four defeats.