NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Mets Really Battle Back and Beat Phillies

The New York Mets, charged up by a fight in which Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry and five others were ejected, rallied past the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-4, Thursday night at Shea Stadium.

The brawl began in the fifth inning with Philadelphia leading, 3-1, when Pat Combs hit Gooden with a pitch above the left knee. Both benches and bullpens emptied. The melee lasted eight minutes and it was 20 minutes before play resumed.

Gooden was punched in the head several times by Philadelphia catcher Darren Daulton, but did not appear to be hurt. Combs left with a cut above his nose. The Mets’ Tim Teufel was ejected, as were Daulton, Combs, Dennis Cook and bullpen coach Mike Ryan of the Phillies.

Gooden had hit Dickie Thon and Tom Herr with pitches earlier in the game, but there were no incidents. After Gooden was hit, he rushed to the mound and was tackled by Combs. Daulton jumped in and hit Gooden in the head. Strawberry, who was in the clubhouse when the fight started, charged onto the field.

The Mets’ winning rally came in the sixth. Kevin McReynolds walked and was forced by Daryl Boston, who stole second and continued to third on a wild throw by Tom Nieto. Howard Johnson followed with his 17th homer, tying it at 3-3. Tom O’Malley singled and Mackey Sasser doubled. Pinch-hitter Kelvin Torve then hit a two-run double.

The victory, coupled with Pittsburgh’s loss to Montreal, pulled New York back to within half a game of the Pirates in the East.

Montreal 7, Pittsburgh 6--Andres Galarraga scored from second base in the 10th inning on Mike Fitzgerald’s bad-hop grounder at Pittsburgh.

Bill Landrum walked Galarraga to start the 10th and Marquis Grissom sacrificed. Fitzgerald hit a grounder off the plate and was thrown out at first by Slaught.

When Slaught, who was backing up first base, didn’t immediately return to the plate, Galarraga kept running and scored.

St. Louis 3, Chicago 1--Lance Dickson pitched well at Chicago, but lost in his first major league appearance.

Dickson was outpitched by Ken Hill, who gave up four hits and had a shutout until Jerome Walton’s leadoff homer in the ninth.

Dickson, a 20-year-old left-hander from the University of Arizona who was Chicago’s first pick in the June amateur draft, gave up eight hits, walked one and struck out three in six innings.

San Diego 7, Atlanta 0--Bruce Hurst pitched a six-hitter at Atlanta as the Padres won for the sixth time in eight games on their current trip.