NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Backman Has Double Fun in Phillies’ Victory

Wally Backman, playing in his 1,000th game, tied a career high with three doubles as the Philadelphia Phillies defeated Atlanta, 8-4, on Tuesday night at Philadelphia.

John Kruk drove in three runs and former Atlanta star Dale Murphy added a two-run homer for the Phillies. It was the 389th of Murphy’s career, tying him with Johnny Bench for 26th on the all-time list, two behind the Angels’ Dave Winfield.

The Braves lost for the fifth consecutive time.

Jose DeJesus (4-2) allowed four runs and seven hits in 7 1/3 innings for the victory. He struck out five and walked four before Joe Boever pitched the final 1 2/3 innings.

The Phillies made it easy for DeJesus by taking a 4-0 lead in the first inning. Backman led off with his first double and went to third on Mickey Morandini’s bunt single. Wes Chamberlain and Kruk followed with RBI singles.

The game marked the return of Philadelphia catcher Darren Daulton, sidelined for more than a month with an eye injury sustained in a May 6 car crash with teammate Lenny Dykstra.

Daulton, placed on the 15-day disabled list May 6 and again on May 28 while recovering from the effects of the crash, started and went hitless in three trips to the plate.

New York 7, Cincinnati 5--Howard Johnson hit a grand slam and Kevin McReynolds singled home the go-ahead run off Rob Dibble in the eighth inning as the Mets beat the Reds at New York.

Johnson’s grand slam, the sixth of his career, gave New York a 5-2 lead in the third inning against Tom Browning, but the Reds came back on Barry Larkin’s run-scoring single in the fifth, Bill Doran’s RBI single in the seventh and Chris Sabo’s sacrifice fly in the eighth off Alejandro Pena (3-0).

Randy Myers (3-5) walked Johnson to open the bottom of the eighth and Rick Cerone hit a one-out double. Kevin Elster was walked intentionally and Dibble relieved Myers. But McReynolds, in a 3-for-16 slump, pinch-hit an RBI single to right through the drawn-in infield to break the tie.

Cincinnati, which finished with 13 hits, lost for only the third time in 10 games.

Montreal 3, Houston 2--Tom Foley’s two-out RBI single in the 12th inning lifted the Expos over the Astros at Montreal.

Mike Fitzgerald drew a one-out walk from Jim Corsi (0-4), stole second and scored on Foley’s line-drive single to right field. It was only the fourth hit of the game for the Expos, who extended their winning streak to five games.

Bill Sampen (5-1) pitched two scoreless innings and survived two Houston scoring bids in the 12th for the victory. Right fielder Dave Martinez threw out pinch-runner Mark Portugal at third base and gunned down Craig Biggio, who was trying to score on Gerald Young’s single, to end the inning.

The Expos trailed, 2-1, before tying the game in the eighth without a hit. Delino DeShields drew a one-out walk off rookie Darryl Kile, stole second and went to third on catcher Carl Nichols’ throwing error before scoring on Ivan Calderon’s sacrifice fly to center field.

St. Louis 3, San Francisco 1--Bob Tewksbury allowed four hits in eight innings at San Francisco for his third consecutive victory as the Cardinals handed the Giants their third straight loss.

Tewksbury (6-2), who did not allow a runner past first base until the eighth inning, is 3-0 with a 1.20 earned-run average in his last four starts. He lost a chance for his first career shutout when the Giants scored an unearned run in the eighth.

Tewksbury walked none and struck out three before Lee Smith pitched the ninth for his 17th save as the Giants lost for the fifth time in seven games.

Ray Lankford led off the game with a walk off Trevor Wilson (2-6), went to second on Geronimo Pena’s groundout and scored on Felix Jose’s double to right-center.

St. Louis added two more runs in the seventh.

Pittsburgh 3, San Diego 1--Jay Bell’s broken-bat two-run single with two outs in the top of the ninth gave the Pirates a victory over the Padres at San Diego.

After Stan Belinda preserved a 1-1 tie in the seventh by striking out the side with the bases loaded, Jose Lind opened the ninth with a one-out single to center off Craig Lefferts (0-3). Orlando Merced doubled to left-center, with Lind stopping at third, and both runners scored on Bell’s hit.

Bill Landrum (1-0), the Pirates’ fourth pitcher, got the win.