NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Buechele Helps Cubs Wear Down Pirates, 11-1

Steve Buechele was simply too tired from running out other hits to hit for the cycle Tuesday at Chicago.

But he hit a home run, triple and double to lead the Cubs to an 11-1 romp that knocked his former team, the slumping Pittsburgh Pirates, out of sole possession of first place in the National League East.

With the Montreal Expos winning their fifth in a row, the Pirates (53-47) and Expos share the top spot.

Buechele missed hitting for the cycle by a whisker. His eighth-inning smash was grabbed by John Wehner at third on a fine play and the throw barely got him.

Slightly more than two weeks ago, Buechele was playing third for the Pirates and they appeared ready to run away with the division. But the Pirates unloaded the high-salaried Buechele in a trade with the Cubs for Danny Jackson.

Maybe it’s coincidence, but since then the Pirates are 4-8.

“This was the biggest day of my baseball life,” said Buechele, who spent most of his career with the Texas Rangers. “It would have been nice to hit for the cycle, but John made a fine play. And, I’m not too fast getting down the line.”

Buechele doubled in the second, tripled in the fifth and homered in the seventh, his ninth this season but first for the Cubs.

“He’s a good player, no question about it,” Pirate Manager Jim Leyland said. “He’ll do well here.”

The Cubs, showing some hitting to go with the best pitching in the league, had 18 hits and moved to within 4 1/2 games of the Pirates and Expos.

Mike Morgan (9-4), given a big early lead, pitched seven scoreless innings, giving up five hits and lowering his earned-run average to 2.47.

Part of the reason for the Pirates’ recent skid, in which they are 2-7, is the flop of left-hander Randy Tomlin.

When he beat St. Louis on June 22, he was 10-3, but this was Tomlin’s fourth consecutive defeat. He lasted four innings, giving up nine hits and five runs.

Montreal 7, St. Louis 4--Few expected the Expos to be tied for first place after 100 games. In fact, they were such a disappointment, their manager, Tom Runnels, was replaced by Felipe Alou early in the season.

Maybe Alou is a miracle man. By winning their fifth in a row, this time after blowing a 4-0 lead, the Expos pulled even with Pittsburgh.

Delino DeShields broke a 4-4 tie with a run-scoring single in the eighth inning at St. Louis. It marked the fifth four-hit game for DeShields this season.

The Cardinals, who seemed ready to challenge the Pirates a couple of weeks ago, have lost four in a row and are 2-6 on the home stand.

Marquis Grissom had three hits. He also had two more stolen bases to give him a league-leading 54.

Chris Nabholz, given the 4-0 lead, twice was saved by double plays in the early innings before Tom Pagnozzi homered to start the fifth. Nabholz did not make it through the inning and the Cardinals tied the score.

Cincinnati 4, San Diego 1--Jose Rijo (8-7) has a painful elbow and he wonders how long he can keep pitching. He used his fastball sparingly at San Diego but pitched the Reds to within two percentage points of first place in the West.

Rijo gave up five hits and only one run in seven innings and won for the fifth time in his last seven starts.

Norm Charlton pitched two innings for his 24th save to tie St. Louis’ Lee Smith for the league lead.

Joe Oliver hit a two-run home run to give Rijo his lead.

Houston 7, Atlanta 5--The Astros might not want to go home. The Braves probably wish they would.

Even Pete Harnisch discovered he could win on the road. Harnisch, 0-5 with a 6.27 ERA on the road this season, gave up four hits in seven innings at Atlanta and struck out six.

The Astros, with 24 more games to play on the trip, have won the first two.

It was the third loss in a row for the Braves (57-40), who dropped into a virtual tie with Cincinnati (58-41) in the West.

Terry Pendleton drove in the Braves’ first two runs with singles.

New York 8, Philadelphia 6--When a Met pitcher gives up four runs in the first inning, he can usually figure on a defeat. The Mets, the worst hitting team in the league, seldom score five runs.

But in a dismal season for most Mets, David Cone has led a charmed life. He gave up a grand slam to Darren Daulton in the first inning, but the Mets unleashed a 13-hit assault and Cone improved to 12-4.

Cone gave up only three other hits in seven innings and the Mets moved to within four games of Pittsburgh in the East. Cone struck out nine to increase his league-leading total to 186.

Willie Randolph, whose error set up the grand slam, singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth.

Randolph’s single in the second drove in Eddie Murray and ended the Mets’ scoreless string at 30 innings.