National League Roundup : Cubs Take First but Know It May Not Last

Don Zimmer didn’t get too excited about being in first place because his Chicago Cubs have been there before.

Mark Grace and Ryne Sandberg hit two-run homers Monday night and the Cubs downed Montreal, 5-2, at Chicago to move one game ahead of the Expos in the National League East.

“Feels good,” Zimmer said. “But we’ve been there before this year.”

The last time the Cubs had sole possession of first place was on June 24 before they were swept in a three-game series by the Expos.

Jerome Walton, who had three hits and extended his hitting streak to 18 games, got the Cubs rolling in a three-run third. He tripled and scored on a single by Dwight Smith. Grace followed with his ninth home run.

Walton also singled in the seventh and scored ahead of Sandberg’s 17th home run.

“It was a big win,” Sandberg said. “We all remember that series when they swept us.”

But the talk in both clubhouses centered on the antics of losing pitcher Pascual Perez.

Walton hit a line drive in the fifth inning off Perez’s hand that deflected and was caught by second baseman Jeff Huson.

While trainer Ron McClain was attending to Perez, the pitcher threw a ball into the Cubs’ dugout. Rick Sutcliffe picked up the ball and threw it back to the mound, hitting McClain.

Before things got out of hand, umpire Harry Wendelstedt stepped in and fined Perez and Sutcliffe.

“I was only joking, I didn’t try to hit anybody,” Perez said.

The Expos lost their fifth consecutive game and lost the lead for the first time since June 25.

Montreal’s only runs came on home runs by Tim Wallach, his ninth, in the second inning and Tim Raines, his seventh, in the eighth inning off Greg Maddux (13-8).

Cincinnati 10, San Francisco 2--Ron Oester singled twice in one inning for the second time in five days as the Reds scored seven runs in the fifth inning to trounce the Giants at San Francisco.

Giant right-hander Scott Garrelts, the NL’s earned-run average leader at 2.42, was injured swinging a bat in batting practice and was scratched from his scheduled start.

Jeff Brantley (6-1), the 14th pitcher to start a game for the Giants this season, replaced Garrelts and was the victim of Cincinnati’s big inning.

Oester singled twice in the Reds’ 14-run first-inning outburst last Thursday against Houston. The big hit this time was Jody Reed’s two-run single that made it 7-1.

Philadelphia 2, New York 1--Ricky Jordan reached base on left fielder Mark Carreon’s three-base error leading off the ninth inning at Philadelphia and scored on rookie Charlie Hayes’ single over a draw-in outfield as the Phillies ended the Mets’ three-game winning streak.

Met left fielder Kevin McReynolds left in the fifth inning after learning his wife had gone into labor in New York and was replaced by Carreon.

St. Louis 4, Pittsburgh 0--Ted Power allowed four hits in eight-plus innings and singled home a run to lead the Cardinals past the Pirates at Pittsburgh.

Vince Coleman and Ozzie Smith each singled and stole second to ignite a two-run first inning against rookie Rick Reed (0-3), who allowed four runs and six hits in the first two innings.

San Diego 5, Houston 2--Bruce Hurst pitched a five-hitter at San Diego and the Astros lost for the fifth time in six games.

Hurst (11-8) allowed Glenn Davis’ 25th home run in the fourth, and Bill Doran scored on Hurst’s wild pitch in the sixth.