NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Gooden Back in Good Form

It seems a different Dwight Gooden shows up for almost every start. On Wednesday night against the San Francisco Giants, it was the pitcher who can still dominate.

Gooden and rookie Mike Draper combined on an eight-hitter as the New York Mets routed the Giants, 10-0. Gooden had been shaky in his previous two starts, losing to Houston and Colorado.

Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre suggested that the right-hander, in an attempt to reduce his wildness, throw extra pitches in during warmups.

“I totally agreed with that,” said Gooden (2-2). “(Wednesday night) I warmed up as usual, and all the while Mel kept talking to get me completely mentally prepared. When I threw the normal amount of pitches, we sat down for five minutes and talked some more.

“Then I got up and threw another 10 pitches. It worked and now I’m going to follow the same routine every game.”

Todd Hundley hit a three-run homer, his first of the season, and Bobby Bonilla and Eddie Murray each hit two-run homers. It was Murray’s third home run of the season and 417th of his career. Murray also had two singles and drove in three runs.

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Houston 2, Chicago 0--Doug Drabek pitched a six-hitter for his third consecutive complete game as the Astros won at Chicago.

Drabek (2-2) outpitched Mike Morgan (1-3) to become the first Houston pitcher to throw three complete games in a row since Joe Niekro did it seven consecutive times in 1982.

Drabek, the 1990 National League Cy Young Award winner, struck out seven and walked one in pitching his 17th career shutout. Only one Chicago baserunner reached second.

Morgan gave up nine hits in seven innings. It was only his fourth loss in 18 decisions at Wrigley Field, where he has a 1.31 ERA.

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Atlanta 7, Florida 4--David Justice and Mark Lemke each hit two-run homers in the eighth inning to lift the Braves over the Marlins at Miami.

Justice’s homer on the first pitch from reliever Bob McClure (0-1) barely cleared the wall in right-center field to give the Braves a 5-4 lead.

John Smoltz (2-2) gave up eight hits, four walks and four runs in seven innings for the win. Mike Stanton pitched a scoreless ninth for his major league-leading seventh save.

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Colorado 11, St. Louis 2--Andres Galarraga had three hits and scored twice against his former team lead the Rockies at St. Louis.

Galarraga, who signed as a free agent with the Rockies last November, also drove in a run.

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Cincinnati 8, Pittsburgh 7--Barry Larkin drew a bases-loaded walk in the 12th inning as the Reds blew a two-run lead in the ninth, then recovered to win at Pittsburgh.

But the Reds suffered a loss when reliever Rob Dibble broke a bone in his left forearm while making a game-saving defensive play and will be lost indefinitely.

The Pirates tied the score when defensive replacement Cesar Hernandez dropped Orlando Merced’s fly ball to left field with the bases loaded and two out in the ninth. But Kevin Young was thrown out attempting to score the potential winning run when reliever Rob Dibble’s pitch bounced away from catcher Joe Oliver.

John Candelaria (0-1), the Pirates’ fifth pitcher, immediately got into trouble in the 12th when Reggie Sanders singled. Hernandez and Bobby Kelly, who reached base six times, walked before Larkin walked to force in the winning run.