National League Roundup : Cubs Gets 10 Hits Off Gooden but Lose Game

Everybody keeps saying that Dwight Gooden is having a poor season, but Sunday at Chicago, the brilliant young star of the New York Mets improved his record to 10-4 with a 7-4 victory over the Cubs.

Although he gave up 10 hits, the right-hander pitched his seventh complete game and is not that far behind last season’s pace, when he drew acclaim as one of the all-time greats.

A year ago, Gooden was 11-3, on his way to a 24-4 season. In two departments, strikeouts and earned-run average, however, Gooden doesn’t even approach last season’s figures. It probably accounts for the belief that he isn’t having a big year.

Gooden, who has been hit hard in a couple of outings this season, struck out six Cubs. In 123 innings he has struck out 97. By contrast, as June wound down in 1985, he had 137 strikeouts in 129 innings. The four Cub runs raised his ERA to 2.70. A year ago it was 1.65.

Whereas Gooden isn’t doing quite as well as he was a year ago, the Mets are doing much better. With Darryl Strawberry and George Foster hitting home runs, the Mets hammered Rick Sutcliffe out in six innings and made him the majors’ first 10-game loser.

It gave the Mets a 49-21 record (.700), the best in the majors and kept them 9 1/2 games in front of Montreal in the National League East. After 70 games last season, the Mets were 38-32, in third place, 3 1/2 games behind Montreal.

The Mets are breezing, but Gooden is still struggling. Since shutting out Houston May 6 for a 5-0 start, he has gone 5-3 with an earned-run average of 3.90. And, after leading the majors in strikeouts for two seasons, he has had only one game this season in which he struck out more than 10.

Manager Davey Johnson has been saying that the 21-year-old has been trying too hard. For this game, though, Gooden said he just didn’t feel well.

“I had a slightly upset stomach,” he said. “I guess it was from some Japanese food I ate last night.”

Gooden, who was 5-0 against the Cubs last season, has beaten the Cubs seven times in a row. The 10 hits, though, are the most he’s given up in a game in the last two seasons.

Cincinnati 4, San Francisco 3--There’s an old baseball saying that it “only takes one to hit it.” The Reds Ron Oester knows exactly what that means.

With the score tied and the bases loaded in the ninth inning at Cincinnati, Oester fell down swinging at reliever Chuck Hensley’s first pitch. On the next one, the Reds’ second baseman bounced a single up the middle to win the game and knock the Giants out of first place in the West.

“It was embarrassing,” Oester said. “The first pitch was a fastball right down the middle. I caught my foot in the dirt and it was one of the worst swings I ever took.”

Oester went from goat to hero. In the fifth inning he made an error to set up two Giant runs.

Oester, a switch hitter, was batting only .108 from the left side, so the Giants brought in Hensley to face him.

Montreal 6, Pittsburgh 4--Tim Raines had a single, double and a triple at Pittsburgh, driving in a run and scoring another to spearhead the Expos’ 15-hit attack that enabled Floyd Youmans to improve his record to 7-5.

“I had two chances to complete the cycle,” Raines said. “But I can’t hit home runs when I want to.”

Philadelphia 8, St. Louis 7--Obviously, it isn’t in the Cards this season. In this game at St. Louis, they rallied from a 4-1 deficit and had a 7-4 lead with two out and two on in the top of the ninth.

Greg Gross hit a grounder to Ozzie Smith, generally acknowledged to be the best shortstop in baseball. Instead of a game-ending out, Smith threw wide to first and the bases were loaded.

The next batter, Juan Samuel, hit the first grand slam of his career and the Cardinals had lost again.

Atlanta 3, San Diego 1--David Palmer pitched a four-hitter and drove in the go-ahead run with a fourth-inning double at Atlanta. It was only the second complete game for Palmer.

“I’m trying to live down the rap that I’m a five-inning pitcher,” Palmer said. “This may help.”