NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Reds End Slump the Hard Way

The Cincinnati Reds ended their longest losing streak in 25 years Saturday, but it wasn’t easy.

It took a favorable bounce, five double plays and a three-run home run by Eric Davis for a 3-2 victory at Pittsburgh. Another loss would have made it an 11-game losing streak, matching a 1966 skid.

The fortunate bounce came in the ninth inning, but the absence of bullpen ace Rob Dibble was almost costly. Dibble, who fought a three-game April suspension for igniting a brawl, finally decided to serve it against the Pirates.

Randy Myers, who has pitched poorly recently, walked two Pirates in the ninth with one out and the Reds leading, 3-1. Ted Power came in to strike out Lloyd McLendon for the second out.

Oscar Merced then hit a drive to right-center field. Both runners seemed certain to score, but the ball took a high bounce over the fence for a ground-rule double. Only one run could score, and Jay Bell then grounded out to give the Reds their first victory since the All-Star break.

The Pirates hit into double plays in the second, third, fourth, seventh and eighth innings. Although he gave up five walks and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings, the double plays saved Kip Gross (2-2).

With two runners on in the first inning, Bob Walk (7-2) had an 0-and-2 count on Davis, but he hit the next pitch over the wall in right for his 10th home run.

“I don’t care about how we won it,” Manager Lou Piniella said. “You don’t appreciate winning until you go through something like we have. Maybe this will get us going.”

Myers, who has asked to be traded, had given up eight runs in his two previous outings. But when Piniella came out to replace him with the count 2-and-0, he stalked off the mound.

“What else could I do but yank him?” Piniella said. “He’d lost his control.”

St. Louis 2, Atlanta 1--A balk and a walk with the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the ninth in St. Louis dropped the Braves four games behind the Dodgers in the West.

Tommy Glavine was going after his 14th victory and he gave up only three hits in seven innings. But one of the hits was a double by Ozzie Smith to open the fourth. An infield hit put Smith on third, and he scored on Glavine’s balk.

With reliever Lee Smith trying to save a 1-0 victory for Bob Tewksbury, Ron Gant hit a drive off the wall in left-center field and got an inside-the-park home run.

After Felix Jose doubled against Mike Stanton to open the bottom of the ninth and was sacrificed to third, two intentional walks were issued around a pop-up. Stanton then walked Bernard Gilkey on four pitches.

San Francisco 5, Montreal 3--Matt Williams and Robby Thompson hit home runs at Montreal to spoil the Expo debut of Ron Darling.

Darling, obtained in a deal with the New York Mets last week, gave up the home runs in the second inning. He gave up eight hits and four runs in six innings and fell to 5-7.

“I didn’t pitch well, I’m disappointed and I don’t have any excuses,” Darling said. “I kept getting the ball up, and I paid for it.”

Chicago 6, Houston 0--Greg Maddux pitched his first shutout in nearly a year, had two hits at Houston and drove in the only run he needed.

Maddux (8-6) gave up eight hits in his second complete game of the season. It was the 11th time the Astros have been shut out, the most times in the league.

Philadelphia 4, San Diego 0--Bruce Ruffin pitched the first two-hitter of his career and John Kruk homered at San Diego to lead the Phillies to their fifth victory in a row.

Ruffin (2-2) gave up a double to Jerald Clark in the fourth and a single to Tim Teufel in the seventh.