NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Espy Keeps Pirates on Track

The Pittsburgh Pirates are off to their best start in 19 years. Cecil Espy is hitting .800, but their best player, Barry Bonds, is angry.

Bonds, whose batting average is more than 100 points lower than a year ago, hit a two-run home run, his fifth of the season, to help the Pirates to a 9-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies Saturday at Pittsburgh. It was the fifth victory in a row for the Pirates and gave them an 8-2 record, best in the National League.

Bonds flared when Mitch Williams, the Phillies’ sometimes wild reliever, hit him on the right elbow in the eighth inning.

“Mitch is going to end someone’s career unless he gains better control of his fastball,” said Bonds, hitting .281. “Sometimes he’s out there trying to throw 100 m.p.h. instead of trying to throw it over the plate. If he throws that hard and hits somebody in the head, it’s going to end someone’s career. He’d better start thinking about that before he gets his own (career) ended.”

Williams, who had not pitched in four days, denied he threw at Bonds.

“The pitch got away. If he wants to take it like that, that’s his prerogative,” Williams said. “Not everyone in the league is going to bow to Barry Bonds.”

Espy, who is eight for 10, hasn’t started a game. Manager Jim Leyland is using him much as a basketball coach uses a sixth man. Saturday, Leyland sent Espy to bat with the bases loaded in the fifth inning, and Espy’s triple turned the game into a rout.

Espy is four for four as a pinch-hitter and has driven in seven runs. Only Bonds, with nine, has driven in more for the Pirates. Espy, who started out with the Dodgers in 1983, has been a reserve outfielder most of his career.

Bonds didn’t hit his fifth home run last season until May 25, the Pirates’ 39th game. He hit 25 home runs last season.

Montreal 8, New York 6--Bret Saberhagen escaped his third consecutive loss with the Mets, but he pitched poorly, giving up seven hits and five runs in six innings. His earned-run average is 13.15.

“One of my pet peeves is to stay away from the big inning,” Saberhagen said. “I should have three losses but we showed character to come back. It’s tough to win a game when you give up five runs in an inning like I did.”

The poor start is typical of Saberhagen in even-numbered years. He won the Cy Young Award in 1985 (with a 20-6 record) and in 1989 (23-6) But in 1990 he was 5-9; 14-16 in 1988, and 7-12 in 1986.

Saberhagen gave up five runs in the third inning, but the Mets tied the score in the sixth. With Jeff Innis pitching in the eighth, the Expos turned three singles and errors by Howard Johnson and third baseman Chris Donnels into three runs and a victory.

San Francisco 7, Cincinnati 3--Will Clark got his 1,000th hit, a double, in a six-run first inning at San Francisco.

Pitcher Trevor Wilson, just off the disabled list, played a part in the big inning, hitting a two-run double off Tom Browning.

Wilson pitched five innings, giving up three runs and five hits.

The highlight for the Reds was the first appearance of Ron Dibble. Dibble, disabled in the spring with tendinitis, pitched two-thirds of an inning and got one strikeout.

“I was excited,” Dibble said. “I felt fine, but was a little uncomfortable at the start.”

Chicago 5, St. Louis 4--Dwight Smith doubled twice and Andre Dawson hit a two-run home run at St. Louis to lead the Cardinals.

Smith doubled home the go-ahead run in the sixth inning, and four relievers checked the Cardinals in the last five innings.

“‘That’s what you call a bullpen by committee,” Cub Manager Jim Lefebvre said. “They really did a job today.”

Houston 4, San Diego 2--Jeff Bagwell hit a two-run home run in the 10th inning at Houston to beat the Padres’ new bullpen ace, Randy Myers.

Chris Jones singled in Craig Biggio to tie the score in the eighth inning.

Houston third baseman Ken Caminiti injured his right shoulder in a third-inning collision with the Padres’ Tony Fernandez at third.