NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Duel of Ex-Dodgers Goes to Expos’ Carter

When they were teammates on the Dodgers last season, catcher Gary Carter learned the way Mike Morgan likes to pitch.

Carter used that knowledge Wednesday to give the Montreal Expos a 3-1 victory over the Cubs at Chicago.

Morgan had a 1-0 lead with two out in the sixth inning before giving up a single to Tim Wallach.

Carter, batting .225, hit a two-run home run to give the Expos their fifth victory in a row and ninth in their last 11 games. With the Pittsburgh Pirates winning, the Expos remained 2 1/2 games behind in the National League East.

The home run made a winner out of left-hander Chris Nabholz, who gave up only two hits before tiring in the ninth inning in a game delayed at the start more than two hours because of rain.

“I know how Mike likes to pitch,” said Carter, who at 38 has been a settling influence on the young Expos. “He was being a little careful and I was sitting on the pitch. It was a slider, low. I was looking for location. All I was trying was to get a pitch over the plate that I could drive.”

Morgan (10-6) said he might have deserved a better fate, even though he gave up 10 hits and walked two in eight innings.

“To throw over 100 pitches and want just one back is pretty tough, but that’s baseball,” he said. “Chris Nabholz pitched a pretty good game. You tip your hat to him.”

Nabholz said the rain delay might have helped.

“A delay gets you going quicker,” he said. “I had 15 minutes to get in the groove. The Cubs have been hitting the first few pitches.”

Pittsburgh 7, New York 6--Manager Jim Leyland made an unusual move in the 10th inning at New York and it worked.

After Jay Bell tripled in the go-ahead run off John Franco in the top of the inning, Leyland sent Stan Belinda in to pitch.

The Mets had a runner on first with nobody out and Belinda went to a 3-and-2 count on Jeff McKnight. Leyland jumped up and headed for the mound.

He brought in Bob Patterson. Patterson got McKnight on a fly ball and worked out of a bases-loaded jam when Eddie Murray flied out to end the game.

“It was a bit unusual and you don’t know if it will work out,” Leyland said. “You just don’t want to sit there and say you can’t do anything.”

Lloyd McClendon reached on an infield hit off Franco (6-2) in the 10th and Bell tripled to right-center for his third run batted in of the game.

Belinda had never been replaced in the middle of pitching to a batter and Patterson had never come in with the count 3-and-2. He threw a screwball to get McKnight.

“It’s one of those things,” Patterson said of Leyland’s instinct. “He never ceases to amaze us.”

The Mets lost for the eighth time in the last nine games.

Andy Van Slyke’s two-run home run in the seventh put the Pirates ahead, 6-3. But in the bottom of the inning, pinch-hitter Daryl Boston hit a three-run home run to tie the score.

Boston’s blast took David Cone off the hook. Cone had given up six runs and 10 hits in seven innings.

Houston 5, San Francisco 4--Manager Roger Craig of the Giants doesn’t often make the same mistake twice. But, in the case of the Astros’ Jeff Bagwell, he did.

Craig elected to pitch to Bagwell with the score tied and first base open Tuesday night at San Francisco and Bagwell lined a two-run single to lead the Astros to victory.

About 16 hours later, the Giants and Astros were tied again in the 10th inning, there was a runner on first and Bagwell was up. Craig elected to pitch to him again and Bagwell delivered the game-winning single.

“I didn’t know what they would do in the situation,” Bagwell said. “The breaks are falling my way right now.”

Said Craig: “With Jeff Brantley having control problems, if I walk Bagwell, he might walk a couple more.”

Xavier Hernandez (7-1) held the Giants scoreless for two innings to get the victory. Doug Jones pitched the 10th for his 25th save.

St. Louis 3, Philadelphia 2--Bernard Gilkey hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning at Philadelphia, then scored the winning run in the 10th.

Ray Lankford singled with two out in the 10th to score Gilkey, who had four hits in the Cardinals’ victory Tuesday night.

Just as the night before, Todd Worrell won in relief and Lee Smith got the save. Smith worked the ninth for his 28th save.

In addition, relief pitcher Mitch Williams, the loser Tuesday night, was the loser once again.

Darren Daulton hit his 20th home run for the Phillies.