National League Roundup : Expos Sweep Mets, Move Into First

It wasn’t much of a homecoming for Gary Carter.

On Sunday at Montreal, the New York Met catcher saw the completion of a three-game sweep by the Expos, his former club. He also saw the Expos move into first place in the NL East.

And he saw Hubie Brooks, one of the four players for whom he was traded last winter, get a couple of the key hits to make it possible.

Brooks had a pair of singles, including one that drove in two runs in a three-run fifth inning as Montreal won, 7-2.

That gave the Expos five straight wins and a one-game lead over Chicago. The Mets have lost 9 of their last 11.

“I’m just glad we beat them to prove a lot of people wrong,” said Brooks, who drove in the game-winner Saturday night in a 3-2 Expo victory. “I feel good, no doubt about it. The team is starting to do the job. I am doing my share but everybody is pulling together as a unit. We won two out of four from Chicago and could have won all four. Taking three from the Mets was the icing on the cake.”

Andre Dawson took the first bite out of Met pitching Sunday with a two-run, first-inning home run off starter Rick Aguilera (1-1) who was making his first major league start.

Bill Gullickson (7-5) started for Montreal after missing two turns with a groin injury. He allowed three hits but walked four in five innings. Mickey Mahler pitched the final four innings for his first save.

Cincinnati 6, Atlanta 5--Nick Esasky says he doesn’t know why he hits so well at Atlanta.

“I wish I did, so I could carry it over to other places,” he said after his solo home run in the 10th inning gave the Reds a victory.

Esasky, whose off-season home is in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, has 12 hits in 23 at-bats, including two home runs, and has driven in eight runs against the Braves this season. In his career, he is 27 for 88, with 8 home runs and 24 RBIs against Atlanta. All eight of the home runs have come in Atlanta.

“Last year, I never could hit him,” Esasky said, referring to ace Brave reliever Bruce Sutter (3-2), who yielded the home run.

Ted Power (1-2) Cincinnati’s fourth pitcher, picked up the victory.

The Reds trailed, 5-3, in the ninth before Gary Redus doubled in one run--his fourth RBI of the game--and then scored the tying run on a two-out single by Pete Rose. Rose had another hit and is now only 46 behind Ty Cobb, the all-time leader.

Philadelphia 3, Pittsburgh 2--The Phillies gave Charles Hudson a smaller lead than he enjoyed in his last outing, but he and two relievers made the advantage stand up at Pittsburgh.

Mike Schmidt’s RBI single capped a three-run sixth inning that carried Hudson (3-6) to victory.

In his last start, the Philadelphia pitcher had a 16-0 lead over New York after two innings and won, 26-7.

The runs off Hudson Sunday came in the seventh on Bill Almon’s second home run of the year. The loss was the first in six starts for Reuschel (3-1) since he was recalled from the minors.

Pirate first baseman Jason Thompson reinjured his left hamstring in the eighth inning. He’s expected to miss two or three games.

St. Louis 5, Chicago 2--The Cardinals extended the Cub losing streak to five games to complete the first sweep of the year at Wrigley Field by an opposing team.

The victory kept St. Louis two games behind the front-runner, Montreal, in the NL East. Cardinal Manager Whitey Herzog said he knew his team could contend for the title.

“We knew it before this road trip,” he said. “We were playing good. We just started off (the season) making errors and couldn’t pitch around them. At one time, we had 30 games and 31 unearned runs. We’re a better defensive team than that.”

St. Louis starter Kurt Kepshire (3-5) pitched eight innings, giving up two runs on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Bill Campbell got his third save.

Chicago starter Dennis Eckersley (7-4) took the loss.

San Francisco 7-5, San Diego 3-4--Rookie Chris Brown, whose four RBIs led San Francisco in the opener, won the second game with a two-out single in the bottom of the 13th inning at Candlestick Park.

Jeff Leonard blooped a triple down the right-field line with two out in the 13th off reliever Mark Thurmond (3-6), who picked up his second loss of the day after starting the opener. Luis DeLeon replaced Thurmond and Brown lined the first pitch to right for his sixth hit of the doubleheader.

Tim Flannery had tripled in the top of the 12th, scoring Garry Templeton from second for a 4-3 lead, but the Giants tied it up again on an RBI pinch-double by Dan Gladden.

Frank Williams (2-2) pitched an inning for the victory.

Vida Blue, starting for San Francisco, yielded two hits in seven innings and struck out 10 batters for the first time since 1977.

Mike Krukow (5-4) won the opener.