National League Roundup : Murphy’s 2 Homers Ignite Braves

Dale Murphy isn’t known for his blazing starts, so he’ll take this one.

Murphy drove in four runs with a pair of home runs Wednesday night at Philadelphia as the Atlanta Braves pounded out a 10-5 victory over the Phillies.

“This is a pretty good start for me,” Murphy said. “I’m still striking out a lot, but I’m working to improve.

“I was aggressive tonight. I had good swings and hit it good. Tuesday night, I was lousy. (Bruce) Ruffin has been tough on me with his sinker, but he got it up a little.”

Murphy hit a three-run homer off Ruffin (2-3) in the first inning and added his 11th of the season off Ruffin in the third to make it 6-0.

Glenn Hubbard hit a two-run homer off Ruffin in the second.

“Ruffin is not consistent,” Phillie Manager John Felske said. “He is not keeping the ball down. If you get a pitch up to Murphy, it’s gone.”

Cincinnati 12, Montreal 6--Eric Davis, Barry Larkin and Dave Parker hit two-run homers, and the Red rallied from six runs down to overpower the Expos at Montreal.

Davis hit his 15th homer, tops in the majors, in the fourth inning and started the Reds on their way back from a 6-0 deficit, most of it provided on a grand slam by Montreal’s Mitch Webster.

Bo Diaz hit a solo shot in the sixth and the Reds took the lead by scoring four times in the seventh. Pinch-hitter Lloyd McClendon doubled home one run and scored on Tracy Jones’ third single of the game, and Larkin followed with his homer.

Jones added a bases-loaded double in the eighth to make it 10-6 and Parker homered in the ninth.

Pittsburgh 9, San Diego 5--Barry Bonds hit his second three-run homer in as many games, and the Pirates scored the go-ahead run on a balk while beating the Padres at Pittsburgh.

The Padres lost for the seventh time in eight games and the 14th time in 17 road games.

Bonds’ sixth-inning homer rallied the Pirates into a 5-5 tie. Johnny Ray and Mike Diaz singled in the Pittsburgh seventh and moved up on Benito Santiago’s passed ball before Craig Lefferts (0-1) balked to send home Ray. Sid Bream and R.J. Reynolds followed with run-scoring doubles.

St. Louis 7, San Francisco 6--Terry Pendleton hit a two-run homer in the ninth at San Francisco as the Cardinals handed the Giants their third straight loss.

Curt Ford added a run-scoring single to give the Cardinals a 7-5 lead. The Giants made it close on Joel Youngblood’s run-scoring double in the bottom of the inning before Todd Worrell closed the door and got his fifth save.

Will Clark hit his second homer of the game, a three-run shot, in the sixth inning to give San Francisco a 5-4 lead.

Jack Clark hit his fourth homer of the season and pitcher Bob Forsch hit the 11th of his career for the Cardinals. Forsch added a double to raise his 1987 average to .389.

Houston 2, New York 1--Kevin Bass singled home Bill Doran with one out in the 10th inning to lift the Astros over the Mets at Houston.

Dave Meads (2-0) pitched the 10th, retiring the Mets in order.

Neither Houston’s Mike Scott nor New York’s Ron Darling were around at the finish after engaging in a pitching duel for eight innings.

The Mets took a 1-0 lead on a run-scoring single by Howard Johnson in the second.

The Astros loaded the bases with none out in the eighth. Jesse Orosco came on in relief and Bass hit a sharp grounder to Johnson at third. Johnson stepped on third, threw to second for a forceout, but the relay to first was too late for a triple play, and the tying run scored.