NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Gooden Gives Up Three Homers, Mets Lose

Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets said there was no mystery to why the Philadelphia Phillies chased him after only 4 1/3 innings Sunday at New York.

“The breaking ball is gone,” said Gooden, after the Phillies hit three home runs against him during a 10-9 victory. “And there was no speed on the fastball.”

Steve Lake, who had four hits, Sil Campusano and Dickie Thon homered against Gooden (7-6), who gave up three home runs in a game for the second time this season after having never done it in his career.

Gooden gave up seven runs, nine hits and walked two against the Phillies, who had a season-high 17 hits and pushed his earned-run average to 4.39.

“There’s nothing wrong with Gooden,” said Phillie outfielder John Morris, who had three hits. “If anything is bothering Dwight Gooden, it’s not velocity. Sometimes you have to give major league batters credit.”

Howard Johnson hit a two-run homer, his National League-leading 17th, in the ninth inning against Mitch Williams. After a walk, Williams got two outs for his 13th save.

Lake’s homer was his first since 1989 and only his 12th in 803 at-bats.

Danny Cox (3-1) gave up four runs and five hits in five innings for the victory.

San Francisco 8, San Diego 7--Will Clark drove in the tiebreaking run with a single in the 10th inning at San Diego to give the Giants their eighth victory in nine games.

“In the last eight games we’ve won, we’ve come from behind seven times,” said Craig, whose team entered Sunday 12 1/2 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West. “This is the kind of game that gets a club going. I heard a lot of my players talking about it. It was the biggest win of the year.”

The Giants had tied the score, 7-7, with two runs in the ninth inning.

With one out in the 10th, Willie McGee doubled on a grounder that took a bad hop past third baseman Scott Coolbaugh. Clark followed with his third hit off Craig Lefferts (0-4).

Jeff Brantley (3-1) got the victory.

Kevin Mitchell hit his 13th homer, his third in four games.

Darrin Jackson hit two solo home runs for the Padres.

The Giants’ Matt Williams was hit on the left wrist by a pitch from Andy Benes in the first inning. Williams left the game and was taken for X-rays, which were negative.

Cincinnati 5, Houston 4--Bill Doran, Billy Hatcher and Paul O’Neill homered in the fifth inning at Cincinnati to give the Reds at least two homers in eight of their last nine games.

All three solo homers came against Pete Harnisch (5-6), the National League earned-run leader entering the game.

Chris Hammond (6-5) gave up five hits in six innings, including a solo homer by Luis Gonzalez and a two-run homer by Jeff Bagwell.

Rob Dibble got his 22nd save in as many chances despite giving up an RBI single to Bagwell in the eighth. O’Neill preserved the lead by throwing out Eric Yelding at the plate from right field when he tried to score on Bagwell’s hit.

Yelding beat the throw and appeared to have a clear path to the plate if he slid while Jeff Reed reached to his right. Instead, Yelding dived at the catcher’s ribs and ended up on top of him, with Reed holding onto the ball as he lay on the ground trying to catch his breath.

“When I got halfway home, I couldn’t see the plate. He was blocking the plate and I committed to hit him,” Yelding said. “If I would have slid, I would have been safe.”

Pittsburgh 2, Montreal 1--Barry Bonds drove in the go-ahead run with a checked-swing single in the seventh inning at Montreal to hand the Expos their seventh consecutive loss.

The Pirates completed a three-game sweep and won their fourth game in a row. The Pirates are 6-0 at Montreal, and 8-1 overall against the Expos.

John Smiley (9-5) stopped his four-game losing streak, giving up seven hits and striking out a personal-best 10 in 7 2/3 innings. Stan Belinda got four outs for his sixth save.

Dennis Martinez (9-5) gave up seven hits in seven innings. He walked five, struck out five and lost for the first time since May 31.

Montreal fell to 13-17 in one-run decisions, tying San Francisco for the most such losses in the majors.

The Pirates scored first, getting an unearned run in the fifth inning. Orlando Merced led off with a single and went to second when right fielder Kenny Williams misplayed the ball. With one out, Andy Van Slyke doubled, driving in Merced.

The Expos tied the score in the sixth when Delino DeShields opened with an infield hit, went to second on a groundout and scored on Tim Wallach’s single.

Pittsburgh broke the tie in the seventh inning when Jay Bell and Van Slyke singled with one out and, after Bobby Bonilla flied out, Bonds singled to center.

Chicago 7, St. Louis 4--Dwight Smith hit a game-tying, three-run homer in the sixth inning at Chicago as the Cubs won their second consecutive game after losing 12 of 13.

The Cubs overcame a 4-0 first-inning deficit.

Reliever Chuck McElroy (4-0) got the victory, helping himself with a run-scoring double during a two-run eighth.

Jose DeLeon (3-6) took the loss.

Chicago made the score 4-4 in the sixth inning as Jerome Walton led off with a pinch-single and Doug Dascenzo doubled. DeLeon struck out Mark Grace and Ryne Sandberg, but George Bell barely beat out a single to deep short as Walton scored. Smith then hit a 2-1 pitch over the right-field wall for his second home run.