NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Swindell Keeps Pirates on Skids With 5-2 Victory

Greg Swindell has haunted the Pittsburgh Pirates ever since they failed to make him the No. 1 selection in the 1986 amateur draft.

He made the point clear Saturday when he held the Pirates to five hits at Pittsburgh and pitched the Cincinnati Reds to a 5-2 victory.

Swindell (8-2) was winning his fifth in a row at the same time the Pirates gave up on Jeff King, the player they made the first choice in the 1986 draft.

King, tried at all four infield positions and the outfield, was hitting .187, had only one hit in his last 23 at-bats and was sent to the minors to make room for newly acquired Alex Cole. Cole was hitting .206 for Cleveland before being traded.

Even the return of Barry Bonds, out since June 14 because of a rib injury, couldn’t get the Pirates a victory. Bonds scored one run and drove in the other.

The victory was the Reds’ third in a row over Pittsburgh, leader of the National League East, and enabled them to maintain a three-game lead over the Atlanta Braves in the West. Swindell, who struck out four, pitched the Reds’ first complete game since May 23.

“Swindell kicked our butts,” Bonds said. “It looked like he was throwing 105 m.p.h. in the first inning.”

The Pirates have scored only 10 runs while losing five of their last seven games.

“We’re treading water. We’re playing bad. We’re not hitting and we don’t look like a first-place club,” Pirate Manager Jim Leyland said. “Right now, a rally for us is a walk and a single. I’m not mad or upset, but we don’t have any spark.”

Atlanta 4, Chicago 2--After being shut out the previous four times they played in Atlanta, the Cubs ended 49 scoreless innings there on a pop fly with two out in eighth inning.

Charlie Leibrandt (7-3), given a lead when Jeff Blauser hit a two-run home run in the first inning, had a shutout going when Andre Dawson came up with Ryne Sandberg on first in the eighth. Dawson hit a pop down the right-field line. Right fielder David Justice got his glove on the ball but only knocked it down and Sandberg scored.

Brian Hunter also homered off Chicago’s Danny Jackson (4-9).

New York 5-1, Houston 3-3--After Dwight Gooden turned in a superb effort in the opener at New York, the Astros came back for a split. Eric Anthony’s run-scoring single in the eighth inning broke a 1-1 tie in the second game.

Gooden (6-7) gave up three runs and five hits in seven innings in the first game.

Bobby Bonilla of the Mets homered in both games and has hit homers in three games in a row.

St. Louis 1, San Francisco 0--When Todd Zeile singled home Felix Jose in the 13th inning at San Francisco, it was only the third run scored by the Cardinals in the last 49 innings.

Francisco Oliveras held the Cardinals to one hit in six innings but had to leave when he hurt his back batting. The Cardinals had only three hits until the 13th inning.

Bob Tewksbury turned in another strong performance for the Cardinals, giving up five hits in eight innings. Mike Perez (6-1) worked the 12th to win it, and Lee Smith pitched the 13th to get his 19th save.

The victory put the Cardinals in second place in the East, 4 1/2 games behind Pittsburgh.

Montreal 3, San Diego 2--Marquis Grissom singled home Spike Owen from second base with the winning run in the 10th inning at San Diego.

The Padres tied the score in the eighth on a run-scoring single by Tim Teufel.

Fred McGriff hit his 17th home run in the second inning to take over the league home run lead.