clarinews@clarinet.com (POHLA SMITH, UPI Sports Writer) (09/21/89)
PITTSBURGH (UPI) -- Neal Heaton, traded by Montreal to the Pirates during spring training, showed the Expos Wednesday night there's still life in his left arm, shutting them out on four hits for six innings of a 9-1 Pittsburgh rout. The Pirates' fifth straight victory and 10th in 11 games pushed the former division-leading Montreal to the brink of elimination in the National League East. The loss left the Expos, who have lost three straight and 10 of the last 13 games, in fourth place, seven games behind first-place Chicago, with 10 games left to play. Bobby Bonilla slammed a three-run homer, Barry Bonds had a two-run triple, and Jay Bell went 3 for 4 with an RBI single and a sacrifice fly to lead the Pirates' offense. The loss went to Kevin Gross, 11-12, who lasted 3 1-3 innings, giving up six hits and seven runs, including five in the first inning. Heaton walked none and struck out seven in his fourth straight start after a summer in the bullpen. In those four starts, he has given up 9 hits and four runs over 22 innings. ``When Montreal got rid of me, they thought I had a bad arm,'' said Heaton, who was 3-10 in 1988 as he struggled the entire season with shoulder tendinitis. ``I proved tonight my arm is 100 percent and I'm back where I was two years ago,'' Heaton added. ``Every time I go out now I have confidence, I'm throwing strikes. I'm in a groove.'' It took Heaton a while to get there. He started the year in the Pirates' rotation, but was sent to the bullpen after going 1-6 in his first 11 starts. Already engaged in a weight program that relieved the tendinitis, Heaton improved dramatically after he started pitching in relief, going 2-0 with no saves and a 1.96 ERA in 41 1-3 innings spanning 24 appearances. ``(Pitching coach) Ray Miller has helped him,'' Manager Jim Leyland said. ``He's started throwing a little more breaking balls and changeups. When you have a tendency to throw nothing but fastballs for five or six innings, the third time out against somebody, you better watch out.'' Heaton becomes a free agent at the end of the season. He said he would like to stay with Pittsburgh but will look around first. ``I like Pittsburgh a lot. I think this team has a lot of potential,'' he said. ``But if somebody offers me $300,000 more, I'd be an idiot to say no. I've got a wife, a house, a family, bills to pay.'' The Expos played listlessly the entire game but avoided a shutout when Marquis Grisson singled off Doug Bair with one out in the seventh and scored on Nelson Santovenia's double. ``Five runs down in the first inning, everybody would look flat,'' said Montreal manager Buck Rogers. ``Even the '32 Yankees would look flat five runs down. ``The story is very simple,'' he added. ``We got smoked.'' Gross said he felt he pitched better than the score made him look. ``They just came out swinging,'' he said. The tone for the Pirates' 11-hit outburst was set before Gross recorded an out. Bonds led off with a double, stole third and scored on Bell's single to left center. Bell took third on Van Slyke's single to short right, and Bonilla followed with his homer to right. R.J. Reynolds then walked, stole second, took third on Jeff King's flyball out to right, and scored when Mike LaValliere grounded out to short. The Pirates got three more runs in the fourth. LaValliere walked to lead off, took third on Jose Lind's double, and both scored on Bonds' one-out triple to the right-field corner. Bonds scored on Bell's sacrifice fly to left. Van Slyke's sixth-inning triple scored Bell, who doubled with one out.