NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Expos Are No Relief for Mets’ Saberhagen

Bret Saberhagen was having troubles as a starter. Now he is struggling as a reliever.

Saberhagen made his first appearance since Aug. 1 on Friday and took the loss in relief when, giving up a pinch two-run single to Bret Barberie during the eighth inning that gave the Expos a 4-3 victory over the New York Mets at Montreal.

“It’s been one of those seasons, a long season,” said Saberhagen, who last pitched in relief when he was in Kansas City in 1989. “It’s been very frustrating. I was making good pitches until I got two strikes. Then I was trying to throw through the backstop. I had two strikes on a lot of guys, but couldn’t put them away.”

Saberhagen has been bothered most of the season by inflammation of his right index finger, but it didn’t show during his first inning of work as he retired the side in order.

“I was nervous about the finger, had butterflies, but it felt good,” Saberhagen said.

During the eighth, Saberhagen struck out Larry Walker and then got in trouble. Greg Colbrunn and Wil Cordero singled, the latter on a 1-and-2 pitch, to put runners at first and third.

Saberhagen walked pinch-hitter John Vander Wal to load the bases for Barberie, who flared a single to center.

“If I’d known he hadn’t thrown for 41 days, I would’ve been looking fastball even more,” said Barberie, six for 19 as a pinch-hitter. “That’s the hardest I’ve seen anyone throw against us this year. I didn’t crush the ball, but I got the job done.

Combined with Pittsburgh’s loss to Philadelphia, the Expos moved within four games of the first-place Pirates in the East.

Philadelphia 5, Pittsburgh 2--National League RBI leader Darren Daulton drove in four runs, three with a home run during the sixth inning, as the Phillies won at Philadelphia.

Daulton has 99 RBIs, breaking the Phillie single-season record for catchers. Stan Lopata had 95 in 1956.

Ben Rivera won for the fifth time in six decisions. Mitch Williams got the final three outs for his 25th save.

Atlanta 7, Houston 0--The Braves won their seventh in a row as Pete Smith pitched a four-hitter and Damon Berryhill drove in three runs with two doubles at Houston.

Smith’s shutout was the Braves’ 21st of the season, matching the franchise record set in 1974. In improving to 5-0, he gave up four singles and only one Astro advanced as far as third.

Smith, who joined the Braves on July 29 after being called up from triple A, pitched his first shutout and his second complete game of the season.

Chicago 8, St. Louis 2--Greg Maddux gave up 10 hits in eight innings and had two singles in the Cubs’ 15-hit attack at St. Louis.

Maddux (17-11) struck out nine, walked three, and is 4-0 with a 1.69 ERA in four starts against the Cardinals this season. Jeff Robinson pitched the ninth.

Ryne Sandberg and Mark Grace each had two singles, a double and an RBI for the Cubs. Derrick May added three singles and Dwight Smith had two hits and drove in two runs.

Cincinnati 4, San Diego 1--Rookie Tim Pugh pitched gave up five hits in eight innings in his third major league start as the Reds beat the Padres at San Diego to regain second place in the West.

The Reds ended a three-game losing streak and dropped the Padres back into third place, but remained 9 1/2 games behind Atlanta.

Pugh (2-1) shut out the Padres on four hits through 5 2/3 innings before Fred McGriff tripled into the right-field corner to score Tony Fernandez, who had drawn a leadoff walk.

Rob Dibble pitched the ninth for his 19th save.