National League Roundup : Expos’ Perez Looks Impressive in Return

Montreal’s Pascual Perez says his drug problems are history and his concentration now centers on throwing baseballs, which is good news for the Expos and bad news for opposing batters.

In his first start after a two-month stay at a drug treatment center, the right-hander pitched seven strong innings Thursday at Montreal as the Expos beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2.

“I’m not thinking about what happened a couple of months ago, I’m thinking about the team, about winning, about pitching,” Perez said after holding the Pirates to three hits and two runs--one on Barry Bonds’ fourth-inning homer and another on Bobby Bonilla’s run-scoring single in the seventh.

Reliever Tim Burke got the victory by pitching a scoreless eighth inning, and Joe Hesketh pitched the ninth for his first save.

“Let’s forget all the antics, the man knows how to pitch,” Bonilla said of Perez. “He has command over everything he throws. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins 20 games.”

Trailing, 2-0, and having been shut out for 16 consecutive innings, the Expos rallied against Pittsburgh starter John Smiley when Rex Hudler opened the eighth inning with a single. Hudler advanced to third on Tim Raines’ double, and both runners scored when Otis Nixon lined a double into the gap in right-center field.

Jim Gott, whose spring training earned-run average was 11.68, made his regular-season debut and yielded the game-winning single to Tim Wallach after walking Andres Galarraga and striking out Hubie Brooks.

Philadelphia 8, Chicago 3--Chris James drove in four runs, and Steve Ontiveros won his first NL game at Chicago as the Phillies beat the Cubs.

Ontiveros, who signed as a free agent Feb. 16 after having been released by the Oakland Athletics, allowed five hits in eight innings, including Jerome Walton’s first major league home run. Steve Bedrosian pitched the ninth.

James, whose only problem according to Manager Nick Leyva was a lack of concentration, had a sacrifice fly, a two-run homer and a run-scoring single.

Paul Kilgus, making his first NL start after being acquired in a trade from Texas, yielded four runs in the first inning, all unearned.

Atlanta 3, Houston 2--Right-hander John Smoltz drove in a run with a triple and allowed six hits in eight-plus innings at Houston to lead the Braves past the Astros.

Smoltz, 21, struck out seven and walked three before leaving with none out in the ninth and a runner on second.

Kevin Bass led off the ninth with a single, and Bill Doran followed with a run-scoring double to chase Smoltz. Joe Boever came on to retire the side for his second save in as many nights.

The Braves didn’t have saves in consecutive games all of last season.