NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Smith Perfectly Wonderful for Pirates

Zane Smith, the man his manager called the perfect pitcher for the Pirates, threw a seven-hitter Saturday night at Pittsburgh in a 3-0 victory over the Houston Astros.

Smith (5-1) pitched his second shutout in his last three starts and the seventh this season for the Pirates, who have won five of their last six games.

It was after Smith shut out the Cincinnati Reds on April 29 that Jim Leyland said Smith was the perfect Pirate pitcher.

Leyland gave these reasons: He works fast. He throws strikes. He puts the ball in play. He makes the defense work. He can bunt and he can hit.

Barry Bonds hit his ninth home run in the fourth inning to give Smith the only run he needed to win his eighth in a row at Three Rivers Stadium.

Smith needed 2 hours 18 minutes to dispose of the Astros. He threw only 107 pitches and lowered his earned-run average to 2.36.

With his effective sinker, Smith almost always has an alert team behind him. They know he won’t be walking or striking out many batters.

In 50 innings, Smith has walked four batters and struck out 19. In his two shutouts, he has had 17 outs on ground balls.

Smith, 31, won a career-high 16 games last season for the Pirates. He was 45-66 with Montreal and Atlanta but is 27-13 since joining the Pirates in August, 1990.

“All you have to do here is throw strikes,” Smith said. “With the defense we have, there’s a real good chance they’ll make the play. That’s the key for me, because I’m not going to strike out 10 every game. I make them hit the ball and the defense does the rest.”

Smith was bailed out in this one on outstanding plays by second baseman Jose Lind and Jeff King, who was playing third base so Steve Buechele could have a night off.

King, who has played all four infield positions this season, made two exceptional plays. In the eighth inning, he made a great stop and threw out Craig Biggio to end the inning.

Then King snuffed a rally in the ninth by starting a double play on Jeff Bagwell’s hot smash. The Astros had two more hits after the double play.

“If either of those two balls get by King, I’m probably out of the game,” Smith said. “I’m lucky. I owe a lot to the defense.”

Montreal 9, San Francisco 3--With highly touted third baseman Bret Barberie slumping, the Expos are giving rookie Archi Cianfrocco a chance.

Cianfrocco, whose name is misspelled in the Expo media guide, started his second game at Montreal and hit a home run, triple and single. He also drove in five runs.

When he came up in the seventh inning, needing a double to hit for the cycle, he received a standing ovation. He struck out.

“The ovation caused me to lose all concentration in my last at-bat,” Cianfrocco said. “It sent chills through me.”

San Diego 5, Philadelphia 1--After spending most of his career as a reliever, left-hander Craig Lefferts is learning to like starting.

He pitched seven strong innings at Philadelphia to improve to 3-2.

“I’m enjoying it, I really am,” said Lefferts, who was a relief pitcher for eight years. “I’m learning more and more how to concentrate on being a starter. I think this was the best of my six starts.”

Lefferts gave up five hits, but one of them was Dale Murphy’s second home run of the season and 398th of his career.

Chicago 3, Cincinnati 1--Frank Castillo pitched seven strong innings at Chicago to get his first victory after three defeats and end the Reds’ three-game winning streak.