National League Roundup : Surprising Expos Batter Mets, 13-3

During spring training, the Montreal Expos were called a team in tatters. It had taken just about two years to strip the organization of some of the best talent in the major leagues.

Gone in ’85 were All-Star catcher Gary Carter and pitchers Bill Gullickson and Scott Sanderson. After last season, bullpen ace Jeff Reardon and outfielders Andre Dawson and Tim Raines were either traded or permitted to become free agents.

Several Montreal players accused the Expos of being more interested in saving money than in contending for the pennant. The club filled out the roster with players getting just a little more than minimum wages.

A couple of pitchers acquired in bargain basement deals, Neal Heaton and Dennis Martinez, are playing key roles in the Expos’ surprising surge in the National League East.

Heaton, acquired from Minnesota in the Reardon trade, has won 12 games, equaling his career high.

The big surprise, though, is Martinez. Once rated a Cy Young Award candidate with the Baltimore Orioles, arm trouble had all but wiped out the 33-year-old right-hander’s career. Released last fall by the Expos after winning just three games in two years, he finally signed a minor-league contract. He did so well the Expos brought him up in June.

Suddenly, Martinez has regained the form that carried him to a 14-5 record in the strike-shortened 1981 season.

With Mitch Webster hitting a grand slam and Tim Wallach and Raines also hitting home runs, Martinez coasted to a 13-3 victory over the New York Mets Friday night at Montreal to keep the Expos just four games out of first place.

Martinez gave up only one run in seven innings and improved his record to 6-1. Between them, Heaton and Martinez were 10-21 last season. For the Expos, they are 18-5.

Of course, it also helped that nobody else would pay Raines close to what he’s worth and he was forced to take the Expos’ best order. He joined them a month late and has been the catalyst in their surge from an 0-5 start to a 58-43 record. Raines, who hit his 10th home run, is batting .340 and has driven in 44 runs despite missing the first 23 games.

The Mets came into Montreal fresh from a three-game sweep in St. Louis and talking pennant instead of fighting among themselves.

They were quickly brought back to earth. Tim Wallach doubled home two runs in a three-run third and Webster cranked his grand slam to break it open in the fourth.

“A night like this makes baseball fun,” Webster said. “I knocked in five runs, scored three, stole a base, hit a grand slam and threw a guy out at second. It was my best game.”

Cincinnati 9, San Francisco 2--There is a showdown series in the West, too, and the Reds, using such diverse offensive weapons as the home run and bases loaded walks, prevailed in the opener at Cincinnati.

The Reds were trailing, 2-1, in the sixth, but loaded the bases, bringing on Jeff Robinson to relieve Dave Dravecky for the Giants. Robinson walked two batters to force in two runs and the Reds had the lead for good.

It was a spot where the Giants could have used another Robinson, Don. But the hard-throwing reliever, who was obtained from Pittsburgh just before gametime, won’t arrive until today.

Eric Davis hit his 29th home run for the Reds, and Buddy Bell had a three-run home run to give Ron Robinson the victory and increase the Reds’ lead in the West to three games over the Giants. Davis’ homer was inside the park.

St. Louis 4, Pittsburgh 3--The Cardinals fell behind the lowly Pirates, 3-0, at St. Louis and seemed in danger of losing their eighth consecutive game.

But the Cardinals scored a run in the fifth, two in the eighth to tie the score and won in the ninth when Vince Coleman doubled to right-center with two out to score Jose Oquendo from first base with the winning run.

The Cardinals, leading the East by four games despite a series of crippling injuries, will pitch John Tudor tonight for the first time since mid-April when he suffered a broken leg.

They also hope to have injured Jack Clark back in the next two days.

Philadelphia 8, Chicago 5--Chris James hit two home runs and Rick Schu drove in four runs, two of them with a triple in the eighth to break a 5-5 tie at Chicago and lead the Phillies to their fifth victory in a row.

Kent Tekulve (5-3) gained the victory in relief and Steve Bedrosian got the last four outs to earn his club-record 30th save.

In addition to his home runs, James had a pair of singles.

There were 27 hits in the game, five of them home runs. Andre Dawson hit his 28th for the Cubs.

San Diego 6, Houston 2--Ed Whitson delivered a two-run single at Houston and became a 10-game winner on the worst team in the league. Garry Templeton had three run-scoring singles for San Diego.