NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Drabek Cuts Cardinals From 23 Hits to 1, 8-0

Doug Drabek displayed his 1990 Cy Young Award form Monday, against the hottest-hitting team in the National League.

Drabek, who was 2-7 going into the game at Pittsburgh, held the St. Louis Cardinals to a sixth-inning single and pitched the Pirates to an 8-0 victory.

Drabek lost his no-hit bid with two out in the sixth when rookie Bernard Gilkey lined a solid single to center.

Last season, he pitched a one-hitter against Philadelphia. That hit, by Sil Campusano, came with two out in the ninth.

The Cardinals, who dropped 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Pirates in the National League East, had 23 hits Sunday in New York.

Drabek struck out two and for the third game in a row walked none. In his previous start, last Wednesday, Drabek gave up nine hits in seven innings.

“I’ve had trouble concentrating for the whole game this season for some reason,” said Drabek, who had three hits and scored a run.

“But today I didn’t have any lapses. It also helped to have a three-run lead.”

The Pirates, outscored in the first inning by a total of 14-3 in their last 12 games, took the pressure off Drabek with three runs in the first.

Jay Bell helped widen the lead with a double and a two-run homer as the Cardinals lost despite getting five double plays.

“I wasn’t thinking about any no-hitter,” Drabek said. “I would have been if we had gotten to the ninth, but I was just throwing it in there to let them hit it with an eight-run lead.”

Manager Joe Torre of the Cardinals found one bright spot. “We won’t have to face him for a long time,” he said.

New York 3, Chicago 1--Jim Essian was pretty sure he wouldn’t win every game as manager of the Cubs.

The struggling Mets, who lost four out of five at home, rode home runs by Howard Johnson and Hubie Brooks at Chicago to hand Essian his first loss after five victories.

Frank Viola (6-2), the Mets’ most consistent pitcher this season, was the winner. As he was being replaced in the eighth inning by John Franco, Viola was ejected for arguing a play at first base.

The play, ruled a single, put runners on first and second with one out. Franco made one pitch and Mark Grace grounded into a double play.

Greg Maddux (5-3) was the victim of the home runs.

“I threw a change to HoJo that stayed up and a fastball to Brooks, but it was in too close,” Maddux said.

Atlanta 3, San Diego 1--The Braves are making themselves at home on the road.

Ron Gant hit the first pitch at San Diego for a home run and Steve Avery (6-2) pitched seven strong innings. The Braves ended a two-game losing streak and improved their road record to 11-7.

The Padres are good on the road, too, but at home, they are 7-13.

Bruce Hurst (5-2) couldn’t overcome a two-run first. He gave up six hits and struck out eight in seven innings.

Montreal 8, Philadelphia 1--Ivan Calderon, a last-minute starter, was the big gun at Philadelphia as the Expos ended a five-game losing streak.

Calderon, who missed three games because of a jammed left shoulder, hit two home runs and drove in five runs after Manager Buck Rodgers determined he was swinging well enough to play.

Chris Nabholz, given four runs in the first, three on Calderon’s homer, improved his record to 2-3 with six strong innings.

Cincinnati 3, San Francisco 2--Eric Davis hit a home run at San Francisco, then later was ejected for protesting a third strike.

The Giants had 10 hits off Jose Rijo (4-2) in six innings, but scored only twice.

Rob Dibble pitched the last two innings, giving up a triple in the eighth to Dave Anderson. But he retired the last four Giants in order to get his 12th save in 12 tries.

The Giants fell to 14-30, 11 1/2 games behind the Dodgers.