NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Reds Rally Late, Sweep Phillies

One week into the season, the Cincinnati Reds have done something no one could last year--sweep the Philadelphia Phillies.

Lenny Dykstra’s error in center field handed Cincinnati its go-ahead run Sunday and let the Reds rally for a 7-5 victory and a three-game sweep.

No one had swept the Phillies since September of 1992.

Dykstra’s misplay and a three-hit, three-RBI game from Roberto Kelly gave the Reds their fourth consecutive victory and the kind of start they needed. The Reds lost 89 games last season and were under pressure to open strong.

It wasn’t a good day for two starting pitchers making their first starts for new teams.

Cincinnati’s Erik Hanson opened the game by giving up singles to Dykstra and Mariano Duncan and a homer to Darren Daulton. Loser Jeff Juden walked the first three batters he faced to set up a four-run first.

The Phillies went ahead with two runs in the fourth against Hanson, but Dykstra’s misplay turned the game around. Kelly singled home the tying run with two out in the sixth and scored from first when Dykstra got a late break on Bret Boone’s sinking liner, then let it skip past him for his first error of the season.

“No excuses,” Dykstra said. “Once I realized I was not going to catch it, I tried to play it on the hop and it skipped by.”

Kelly added a run-scoring double in the eighth, his third hit of the game.

Houston 6, New York 1--Andujar Cedeno homered for the second consecutive game, and had two doubles and three RBIs at Houston.

Chris Donnels, who also homered for the second game in a row, had two hits and scored two runs. His single against Pete Smith started a two-run second inning, capped by Cedeno’s two-run double.

Doug Drabek (1-1) went seven innings, giving up a run on five hits while striking out four and walking three. Smith (1-1) gave up six runs on 10 hits in five innings, striking out two and walking two.

New York third baseman Bobby Bonilla suffered a dislocated left shoulder while trying to field Cedeno’s decisive double. The Mets said the injury was not as serious as a ruptured ligament in the same shoulder that cut short Bonilla’s 1993 season, and would not require surgery. It was not known how long he will be out of action.

Montreal 8, Chicago 2--Ken Hill continued his April brilliance and the Expos shook up their batting order to avoid a three-game sweep at home.

Hill (2-0) gave up one run and four hits in seven innings. He struck out four and walked four. Hill is 6-0 in April starts the past two seasons.

Montreal Manager Felipe Alou juggled his batting order, moving Marquis Grissom, the team’s normal leadoff hitter, to the third spot in the lineup, and batting Mike Lansing first. Wil Cordero, who batted in the sixth spot in Saturday’s game, batted second.

St. Louis 2, San Francisco 1--Rheal Cormier gave up three hits in seven innings and Bernard Gilkey homered at San Francisco.

Cormier (1-0) left in the eighth after he was hit in the left foot by a Dave Burba pitch. He limped to first and was replaced by a pinch runner.

San Francisco threatened in the eighth against Vincente Palacios and Rob Murphy. Palacios issued a one-out walk to Royce Clayton, who stole second and took third on a fly-ball out. With two outs, Murphy retired pinch-hitter Dave Martinez on a sinking liner caught by Gilkey in left.

Florida 8, San Diego 5--The Marlins’ Gary Sheffield homered twice, doubled, tripled and drove in five runs against his former teammates.

Sheffield, who entered the game with no homers, hit a two-run homer in the first inning, a two-run double in the third and a solo homer in the fifth, all against Wally Whitehurst (0-2).

Sheffield also tripled in the ninth and scored on a wild pitch by Gene Harris, giving him a team-record 13 total bases for the day.