NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Gooden Fuels Mets Past Phillies, 3-1

The New York Mets are confident they can overtake the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League East. They know they must have Dwight Gooden at his best to do it.

Gooden picked an opportune time to shake off his most recent slump with a sharp performance Friday night at Philadelphia. Gooden gave up only three hits and struck out nine to lead the Mets to a 3-1 victory over the struggling Phillies.

Howard Johnson drove in two runs to lead the Mets to their fifth consecutive victory and put them only 3 1/2 games behind the Pirates. It was the 10th loss in the last 13 games for the Phillies.

Gooden improved to 8-6 with only his third strong effort in his last 10 starts. In the other seven he gave up 40 runs and 67 hits in 42 1/3 innings.

In his previous start, Sunday, he lasted only 4 1/3 innings against the Phillies, giving up seven runs and nine hits in a 10-9 loss.

This time, he also singled in the seventh and scored the Mets’ final run. He labored in the first inning, giving up his only walk and a single by Dale Murphy for the Phillies’ only run.

“It’s been awhile since I had a game like that,” Gooden said. “My confidence has always been there. I’ve been struggling, but you can’t lose confidence.

“I can’t get too excited. This is just one game. There’s still the entire second half of the season. This is a start.”

Cincinnati 1, Houston 0--The Astros, who scored 31 runs in a three-game sweep at San Francisco, returned to Houston and couldn’t score.

They couldn’t score even though they had three singles in the ninth against reliever Rod Dibble. The rally was killed when pinch-runner Gerald Young was thrown out stealing.

Chris Hammond (7-5) pitched six innings, had two of the five Reds’ hits and scored the only run. He doubled down the left-field line with one out in the third and scored on Billy Hatcher’s two-out single through the infield. It was another tough loss for Pete Harnisch (5-7).

Hammond, a rookie, has won four in a row to lend a hand in the Reds’ drive to overtake the Dodgers in the West.

“I really felt good,” he said. “Every time I threw the ball, I wanted it back so I could throw it again. This is the best I’ve felt all year.”

Dibble’s performance was one of his poorest, but he picked up his 23rd save.

The Astros have not scored in the last 21 innings at the Astrodome.

Montreal 4, Pittsburgh 3--Dennis Martinez pitched and batted the Expos to victory at Pittsburgh, ending their 11-game losing streak.

Martinez (10-5) gave up 11 hits and survived a botched flyball to get the victory. Martinez had a single and a walk and scored two runs.

Spike Owen had two doubles and drove in three runs for the Expos.

It was the Expos’ second victory in 14 games.

Chicago 5, St. Louis 1--Ryne Sandberg’s hustle caused the best fielding team in the majors to make two errors on one play and contributed to the Cardinals’ loss at St. Louis.

Third baseman Todd Zeile and first baseman Pedro Guerrero botched a Sandberg grounder in the first inning to help the Cubs to two runs. The Cardinals’ three errors gave them 44 for the season.

Rookie Frank Castillo pitched a six-hitter for his first victory. Jose DeLeon (3-7), who has won only four times in 35 starts since June of 1990, gave up five hits in six innings.

Ozzie Smith, once again the starting shortstop in the All-Star game, was three for three, increasing his average to .321.

San Diego 4, San Francisco 2--Alarmed by a San Francisco newspaper columnist’s contention that there was dissension on his team, Giant Manager Roger Craig held a team meeting before the game at San Francisco.

Chronicle writer Lowell Cohn wrote that unidentified players were critical of preferential treatment for outfielder Kevin Mitchell.

The meeting might have cleared the air, but it didn’t stop the losing streak. When Fred McGriff, Benito Santiago and Darrin Jackson hit home runs, the Giants lost their fourth in a row.

Ed Whitson (4-6) went six innings for his first victory since May 26.