National League Roundup : Reds Muss Up Hawkins a Little, but He Wins 11th in a Row

Despite his sensational record, Andy Hawkins isn’t really convinced that he is a great pitcher. When he saw that he was slated to face Mario Soto Sunday at Cincinnati, the San Diego Padres’ unbeaten right-hander figured he would need a flawless performance.

Hawkins wasn’t even close to flawless, but he won his club-record 11th in a row without a defeat, 5-3, when the Padres jumped on Soto for four runs in the eighth inning.

Before the Padres batted for him in the rally that broke a 1-1 tie, Hawkins gave up eight hits and walked six in seven innings, working out of trouble in almost every inning.

While failing to go the route for the 11th time in 12 starts, Hawkins, nevertheless won the game that cut short, at least temporarily, the Reds drive to gain recognition in the West.

The Reds went into the four-game series knowing that by winning three out of four they could move past the Padres into first place. But they won only one game and fell 3 1/2 back. Player-manager Pete Rose tried to rally his charges. He had two hits, scored a run and drove in another. He now needs 48 hits to pass Ty Cobb.

In the winning rally the Padres, held to four hits for 7 innings, finally got to Mario Soto. The first run scored on a wild pitch and Sotothen gave up four consecutive singles and his record fell to 8-4.

The Reds scored their last two runs in the ninth off Rich Gossage.

“There’s a lot of luck involved,” Hawkins said after breaking relief pitcher Butch Metzger’s club record of 10 in a row. “If you look at my stats, I’m not striking out many (33 in 82 innings).”

Although he had won only 15 games in three major league seasons, Hawkins was the best of the Padre pitchers in the World Series, gaining their only victory. He has picked up where he left off.

“I know I’ve never had a pitcher with this kind of start,” Padre Manager Dick Williams said. “(Jim) Lonborg was a Cy Young and Catfish (Hunter) won 25 games, but neither was off to a start like this.

“People tend to criticize him for not going the route, but he could have in at least two others if we had wanted him to do it. He’s a good, sound pitcher and he’s got everything together. He’s challenging hitters and, with his stuff he should win a lot of games.”

Hawkins retired the Reds in order only in the first inning but was scored upon only in the fourth. In the fourth, Hawkins gave up two singles, then induced Ron Oester to hit into a double play. After an intentional walk to Wayne Krenchicki, Soto foiled the strategy by driving in the run with a single.

New York 6-2, St. Louis 1-8--A Shea Stadium crowd of 41,431 had a chance to see two of baseball’s best pitchers in action. However, they missed out on a special treat because Dwight Gooden and Joaquin Andujar did not pitch against each other.

Although he struck out only four, Gooden improved his record to 9-3 in the opener. One of the strikeouts was a big one. With the Mets leading, 3-1, the Cardinals had runners on second and third with one out in the seventh. Gooden elected to pitch to Tommy Herr, the league’s leading hitter and struck him out.

In the nightcap Andujar (11-1) breezed to his eighth victory in a row. Terry Pendleton’s freak grand slam highlighted the Cardinal fifth. With the bases loaded he hit a long fly ball to right-center. Outfielders Terry Blocker and Danny Heep collided and Pendleton circled the bases. His second home run of the season was his second grand slam.

Center fielder Blocker was hurt and had to be carried off on a stretcher. He injured both knees.

Andujar gave up seven hits and pitched his fifth complete game. The Cardinals won three out of four to drop the Mets 1 1/2 games behind Chicago in the East.

Chicago 5, Pittsburgh 1--It may be that Leon Durham has found a left-hander he can hit. Often in his career the Cubs’ left-handed swinging first baseman has been removed against left-handed pitchers.

In this game at Chicago for the second time in a row, Durham came through with a big hit off Al Holland, the Pirates’ ace reliever. Durham drilled a run-scoring double in the sixth inning to highlight a four-run rally that broke open a tight game, enabled the Cubs to sweep the four-game series and strengthen their grip on first place in the East.

On Thursday, Durham ended an 0-13 string against Holland with a double in the 12th inning that drove in the winning run.

“Against left-handers I have to work hard and bear down,” Durham said, “but I want people to realize that I can hit lefties.”

Dick Ruthven gave up four hits in six innings, but was trailing, 1-0, when the Cubs rallied in the sixth.

Philadelphia 4, Montreal 1--Glenn Wilson made a poor guess, but a terrific swing and helped the Phillies end a four-game losing streak in this game at Philadelphia.

With two on and two out in the first inning, Wilson guessed Joe Hesketh would give him a fastball. Hesketh threw a changeup, and Wilson hit it out for his fifth home run.

“He throws hard and I was sure he would give me the fastball,” Wilson said. “Luckily I checked up and timed the pitch just right. When I connected I thought it was going out.”

The Phillies, mired in a deep batting slump had lost seven of their previous eight and 12 out of 15.

Houston 5, San Francisco 0--Joe Niekro held the hapless Giants to two hits for his first victory in five weeks and the Astros completed a sweep of the series at Houston. In the three games the Giants scored two runs and had 15 hits.

Mark Bailey hit a three-run home run in the sixth.