NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Cone Strikes Out 13 and Beats Giants, 1-0

For the most part, it has been a disappointing season for the New York Mets.

They had hoped to have a high-powered offense when they obtained sluggers Bobby Bonilla and Eddie Murray. And new pitcher Bret Saberhagen was sidelined early because of a strained ligament in his right index finger.

But instead of challenging the Pittsburgh Pirates for the lead in the National League East, the Mets have been worried about avoiding the cellar.

David Cone has been one bright spot.

The hard-throwing right-hander struck out a season-high 13 batters, gave up six hits and pitched the Mets to a 1-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants Friday night at New York.

Cone (10-4) outpitched Billy Swift (7-2) to get his fifth shutout and his fifth consecutive victory.

The day after Dwight Gooden had to leave the game because of a sore right shoulder, Manager Jeff Torborg didn’t want to overwork his next starter.

But there was no way he was going to remove Cone, who threw 166 pitches.

“He had a little trouble early,” Torborg said, “but by the late innings he kept getting sharper and better. Earlier he was all over the plate, and his delivery came apart. It’s been a long time since I let a pitcher make that many pitches.”

It was a tough loss for Swift. He gave up a double to Dave Magadan in the first inning, and the only run scored when left fielder Kevin Bass misplayed Howard Johnson’s fly ball into a run-scoring single.

After that the pitchers were in charge, but it was too late for Swift.

Cone extended his strikeout lead to 167 in 149 2/3 innings.

Cone is tied with Tom Glavine of the Atlanta Braves for the major league lead in shutouts.

Atlanta 5, Houston 0--The Braves are keeping the pressure on the Cincinnati Reds in the West.

John Smoltz (11-6) gave up five hits in eight innings at Houston and the Braves, stretching their winning streak to seven games, remained one game out of first place.

The Braves scored three runs against Pete Harnisch (3-8) in the first. Sid Bream doubled in two runs and scored on Jeff Blauser’s double.

Kent Mercker pitched the ninth to preserve the Braves’ 15th shutout, tops in the majors.

Chicago 2, Pittsburgh 1--About 24 hours after rejecting the Cubs offer of a $28-million contract, Greg Maddux proved to be the stopper at Pittsburgh.

Maddux (11-8), who wants $32 million for five years, gave up six hits in eight plus innings to end the Cubs’ five-game losing streak.

Maddux beat Randy Tomlin (10-6), who won his 10th on June 22 and has lost three in a row. Maddux leads the league with 150 innings pitched.

Cincinnati 8, St. Louis 1--Both teams had a dozen hits at Cincinnati, but while the Cardinals were hitting singles, the Reds hit for power and ended their four-game losing streak.

Darnell Coles hit a three-run home run in the third and Bill Doran hit a two-run home run in fourth to help Greg Swindell (9-2) win his sixth in a row.

Swindell gave up nine hits and walked four in seven innings. But the Cardinals stranded 12 runners, seven in scoring position.

The Cardinals thought they had a home run in the fourth when Todd Zeile hit a line drive to left. After the ball hit near the top of the wall, third base umpire Paul Runge gave the home run sign. But he was overruled and Zeile settled for a single.

Montreal 3, San Diego 0--Chris Nabholz (6-6) shut down the Padres on six hits for eight innings at Montreal and the Expos moved to within four games of first in the East.

After Nabholz gave up his seventh hit, a single to Tony Gwynn to start the ninth, John Wetteland retired the side on 12 pitches and picked up his 18th save.

Darrin Fletcher hit a two-run single in the fourth inning, and the Expos went on to beat Andy Benes (7-8) for the fourth time in a row.