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By PAUL SOKOLOSKI; Times Leader Sports Writer
Tuesday, July 18, 1995     Page: 1B

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The challenge of facing Darryl Strawberry didn’t really
hit Jeff Juden Monday night.
   
At least not until Strawberry sent a tremendous shot out of the park.
    “He gave me the most concern, just out of respect for what he’s done in the
game,” Juden said. “I threw him a slider that didn’t slide anywhere but right
down the middle of the plate. He did what Darryl Strawberry should do. He took
me deep for three runs.”
   
But Juden re-established his territory, and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red
Barons reclaimed theirs with a 9-5 victory at Cooper Stadium.
   
After surrendering four runs in the first two innings and walking the bases
loaded in the third, Juden settled himself enough to retire 13 of the final 14
hitters he faced. That included Strawberry twice, on a strikeout in the third
inning, during which Juden threw a couple fastballs past the former Major
League star, and on a groud-out in the fifth.
   
“After he hits a home run off me, after anybody hits a home run off me, I
like to regain my status,” Juden said. “I think I heated it up a little for
him. I was pretty pleased to catch him looking.”
   
Strawberry, the former mega-star with the New York Mets and Los Angeles
Dodgers, lost respect around baseball with his recurring abuse of cocaine, and
was suspended from the sport last year for taking the drug while with the San
Francisco Giants. The Yankees signed the troubled outfielder June 19, and
after rounding back into playing shape with a stint at Class A Tampa, joined
Class AAA Columbus for an eight-day homestand Thursday — a period that will
end when the Red Barons leave town.
   
“I don’t know how good he’s going to be,” Red Barons manager Mike Quade
said. “But he’s going to be a dangerous guy at this level. The first inning
proved that.”
   
Juden walked Derek Jeter and allowed a single to Tony Perezchica to start
the Columbus first. Then Strawberry, who has 294 homers and 886 RBI in a
12-year Major League period, sent an awesome blast off the center field
scoreboard for a three-run homer and a 3-0 Clippers lead.
   
The second inning didn’t get much better for Juden, the 6-foot-8
right-hander who began last season in Philadelphia’s rotation but who had
never before faced Strawberry.
   
Jorge Posada doubled in Bubba Carpenter for a 4-0 Clippers lead in the
second, and things began looking bleak when Juden walked the bases loaded with
two outs in the third inning.
   
But the big guy escaped further damage when he induced Bubba Carpenter’s
ground-out to finish that inning, then allowed only a Don Sparks single in the
fifth as Columbus’ only other baserunner until Juden left after seven innings.
   
“That gives a pitcher confidence,” Quade said. “I don’t know where he was
early — all over the place and scuffling. But he somehow found a way to get
through it. He kept us in the game.”
   
“I wanted to win the game,” Juden said. “That’s my job. I felt good out
there, I felt strong. I didn’t think I’d be able to make it into the seventh
inning, the way things were early on.
   
“Things just seemed to go my way.”
   
Then, they really went in the right direction for Juden, who picked up a
victory to improve to 5-4, when the Red Barons scored runs in each of the last
five innings.
   
Charlie Montoyo singled in a run in the sixth inning to tie the game, 4-4,
and Shawn Gilbert scored the run that put the Red Barons ahead to stay, 5-4,
on a fielder’s choice in the seventh.
   
RBI singles from David Tokheim and Charlie Montoyo and a run-scoring double
from Rick Holifield in the ninth inning pretty much put the game away, 9-4.
   
That left the Red Barons at 49-47, the first time they’ve been two games
over the .500 mark since the 1993 season. It also kept Scranton/Wilkes-Barre a
half-game behind Rochester for second place in the International League East.
   
“We’ve got the best-hitting club in the league,” Juden said.
   
“A very large percentage of these guys are playing at their peak,” Quade
said. “That breeds the confidence you see. These guys are having a lot of fun.
And I’m having as much fun as everybody else watching them.”
   
However, there will be a few less Red Barons to watch today.
   
Outfielder Rob Butler, one of the keys to the team’s recent surge, has been
battling knee troubles that caused him to break down in batting practice
Monday. Butler, who was a late scratch from the starting lineup, could miss
from four to seven weeks while he rests the injury, Quade said.
   
Also, Gene Schall — who pounded an impressive solo homer to center field
in the second inning Monday — pulled up lame with a hamstring injury later in
the game and is unlikely to play today.
   
Finally, pitcher Bobby Munoz, who made two rehabilitation starts for the
Red Barons, was promoted to the parent Philadelphia Phillies Monday. His
30-day minor league rehab stint was to end today.