National League Roundup : Down 10-3, Phillies Top Cubs, 16-13

There was thunder and lightning again at Chicago, and that was before the storm hit.

It simply meant that the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies were involved in one of their familiar pitching duels at Wrigley Field, seeing who could do the most damage to the other team’s pitching staff.

After 29 runs, 35 hits and 11 pitchers, the Phillies escaped with a 16-13 victory shortly before a storm hit the north side of Chicago.

For all the excitement, it wasn’t even close to a couple of past Cub-Phillie slugfests--Chicago’s 26-23 victory in 1922 and Philadelphia’s 23-22 win in 1979. They are the two highest-scoring games in major league history.

“Frightening afternoon,” Phillie Manager Nick Leyva said.

The defeat ended the Cubs’ three-game winning streak and cut their National League East lead to 2 1/2 games over idle Montreal.

Jeff Parrett (9-4) held the Cubs hitless over the last three innings.

After six homers, including two by the Cubs’ Ryne Sandberg that gave him five in four games, the game was decided by a roller up the middle by Ricky Jordan that scored the tying and go-ahead runs in the seventh inning.

Jordan’s single gave him three hits and four runs batted in for the Phillies, who trailed, 10-3, before rallying to take a 12-10 lead in the sixth. The Cubs came back in the bottom of the sixth to regain the lead, 13-12, before the Phillies rallied again.

Cub rookie Jerome Walton ran his hitting streak to 21 games.

Sandberg opened the Cubs scoring with a homer in the first and capped an eight-run outburst in the third with a two-run homer. He also made the score 12-12 with an RBI double in the sixth. Smith followed with a single up the middle to put the Cubs ahead.

But the Phillies got seven runs in the fifth, including Daulton’s three-run homer and a two-run, pinch-hit homer by Randy Ready.

New York 5-6, St. Louis 1-4--Kevin McReynolds hit a game-tying three-run homer in a six-run sixth inning as the Mets rallied in the second game to sweep the Cardinals at New York.

The Mets stretched their winning streak to five games and moved to within 3 1/2 games of the Cubs in the East, while the Cardinals fell 5 1/2 back.

Pedro Guerrero’s two-run homer in the fourth inning to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead in the nightcap before the Mets erupted against Ricky Horton and John Costello. After McReynolds’ homer, Barry Lyons and Darryl Strawberry hit run-scoring doubles and Gary Carter had a sacrifice fly.

Ron Darling (10-9) pitched a seven-hitter and McReynolds hit a solo homer in the opener as the Mets beat Jose DeLeon (11-11) for the first time in four decisions this season.

McReynolds has 14 RBIs in his last eight games.

San Diego 13, Houston 3--Tony Gwynn drove in four runs with three hits as the Padres routed replacement starter Bob Forsch and the Astros at San Diego.

The loss dropped Houston three games behind San Francisco in the NL West. The Padres improved to 58-57, the first time they’ve been over .500 since June 6.

The Padres scored four runs in the first inning and three more in the second against Forsch, who gave up 10 runs on 18 hits in his last appearance, an 18-2 loss to Cincinnati on Aug. 3.

Forsch (3-4) replaced Mike Scott, who leads the majors with 17 victories, but couldn’t pitch because of a pulled hamstring muscle.

Greg Harris (5-6) gave up six hits in eight innings, striking out six and improving to 4-0 against Houston in his career.