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BLUE JAYS 8, Expos 3
Jays explode in 8th inning to win
TORONTO (CP) -- The Toronto Blue Jays won yet another series against the Montreal Expos, but you won't find them crowing about it.
"They've got a fine young club," Toronto manager Jim Fregosi said after his team beat their Canadian cousins 8-3 Sunday in the rubber match of their interleague series. "There's some good players over there.
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| Montreal Expos shortstop Orlando Cabrera throws to first to complete a double play in front of a sliding Toronto Blue Jays Raul Mondesi during third inning interleague action in Toronto, Sunday, June 11, 2000. Jays Carlos Delgado grounded to second base to start the play. (CP PHOTO/Aaron Harris) |
"We've got to play them three more times. We're not going to do any bragging."
Toronto is now 11-5 all-time against the Expos, who they will face again in Montreal next month.
The Jays exploded for five runs -- including Tony Batista's second career grand slam -- in the eighth inning to break a 3-3 tie.
Despite Batista's fireworks, the key moment in the game actually came two batters earlier.
With Homer Bush and Raul Mondesi on base -- thanks to a walk and single off reliever Guillermo Mota -- Carlos Delgado strode to the plate.
Montreal manager Felipe Alou elected to bring in lefty David Moraga to face the American League's leading home run hitter, a man on a seven-game hitting streak with an average approaching .350.
Moraga was making his major-league debut. He joined the Expos on Sunday from double-A Harrisburg as a replacement for injured starter T.J. Tucker, the loser in Friday's 13-3 Jays win.
Surprise, surprise: With a full count Delgado lined a single to right for his 63rd RBI in 64 games.
"I didn't even know he was a rookie," said Delgado. "I was just trying to make him throw a strike."
The sizzling Delgado, who hit his 24th home run earlier in the game, has 16 RBIs in the last seven games and is hitting .429 in his last 24 games.
But, like Fregosi, he didn't want to gloat.
"I'm not bringing out the pom-poms or anything. It's still June."
After Delgado's single, Moraga walked Brad Fullmer and was pulled for righty Felipe Lira.
Batista hit his grand slam on Lira's first pitch, a slider that Batista was looking for.
Afterwards, Montreal manager Felipe Alou was asked about the wisdom of asking Moraga, a pitcher who has spent most of the last five seasons with single-A teams, to face Delgado.
"There's no easy spot in the big leagues," said Alou. "It's like when you jump in the ocean, the sharks are everywhere.
"The big leagues are dotted with Delgados and Griffeys. That's why they call it the big leagues."
Moraga was surprised to get called up by the Expos, who have seven pitchers on the disabled list.
"I thought I would be more nervous," he said of his debut. "The guys in the pen were saying once you get up here be prepared to pitch. So I was ready."
Billy Koch (4-0) got the win with two innings of sparkling relief. He struck out four batters. Mota (0-1) took the loss.
Montreal second baseman Jose Vidro had three hits for the second straight game.
The explosive finish obscured fine performances by the two starters.
Dustin Hermanson, making his second start after a stint in the bullpen, went six innings, giving up five hits and three runs while striking out four.
David Wells, who came into the game leading the American League in victories with 10, struck out 11 batters but gave up 12 hits and three runs in seven innings.
"They just kept coming at me," said Wells, who threw a season-high 126 pitches. "It was really frustrating. Those guys took a lot out of me."
Fregosi asked Wells how he was feeling after seven innings. Wells said he could keep pitching, but Fregosi told him he was done.
"Good," Wells told his manager, "because I'm out of gas."
"I can't say enough about the effort David gave us," Fregosi told reporters. "He had a great curveball, but all his other pitches they slapped around.
"He gave us everything he had."
Wells took little notice of Toronto's fine record against the Expos, nor the end of the first segment of interleague play. The Blue Jays went 5-4 against Montreal, Atlanta and Florida.
"It's nothing special to me. A team's a team. You have to put all that stuff aside."
Boxscore
MONTREAL (3) VS TORONTO (8) - FINAL
MONTREAL ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
W Guerrero dh 5 0 1 1 0 2 1 .262
Vidro 2b 5 0 3 0 0 2 2 .374
R White lf 5 0 2 0 0 2 1 .321
V Guerrero rf 4 0 1 0 0 1 3 .368
Widger c 4 0 1 0 1 2 3 .239
Stevens 1b 4 1 2 0 0 2 3 .263
O Cabrera ss 3 1 2 0 1 0 1 .246
Coquillette 3b 4 0 0 0 0 3 7 .237
T Jones cf 4 1 1 2 0 1 0 .189
Totals 38 3 13 3 2 15 21
BATTING: 2B - Stevens 2 (14, D Wells 2); T Jones (2, D Wells); V
Guerrero (15, D Wells). RBI - T Jones 2 (4), W Guerrero (8).
2-out RBI - W Guerrero. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out
- Widger 1, Vidro 1, Stevens 1, Coquillette 3, V Guerrero 1.
Team LOB - 11.
BASERUNNING: SB - V Guerrero (5, 3rd base off D Wells/A
Castillo). CS - V Guerrero (7, 2nd base by D Wells/A Castillo);
Widger (1, 2nd base by D Wells/A Castillo); Vidro (2, 2nd base
by Koch/A Castillo).
FIELDING: E - T Jones (1, bobble). DP: 1 (Vidro-O
Cabrera-Stevens).
TORONTO ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
S Stewart lf 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 .364
Bush 2b 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 .204
Mondesi rf 4 1 2 0 0 2 0 .267
C Delgado 1b 3 2 2 2 1 0 1 .349
Fullmer dh 3 2 1 0 1 0 1 .297
T Batista 3b 4 2 2 5 0 1 0 .274
Jo Cruz cf 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .245
A Gonzalez ss 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 .233
A Castillo c 3 0 1 1 1 0 1 .224
Totals 32 8 9 8 5 4 7
BATTING: 2B - T Batista (13, Hermanson); A Castillo (3,
Hermanson). HR - C Delgado (24, 2nd inning off Hermanson 0 on, 0
out); T Batista (14, 8th inning off Lira 3 on, 1 out). RBI - C
Delgado 2 (63), T Batista 5 (44), A Castillo (7). 2-out RBI - A
Castillo. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - S Stewart 2.
GIDP - C Delgado. Team LOB - 5.
FIELDING: E - Bush (5, catch).
--------------------------------------------------
Montreal - 020 100 000 -- 3
Toronto - 030 000 05X -- 8
--------------------------------------------------
MONTREAL ip h r er bb so hr era
Hermanson 6 5 3 3 1 4 1 5.40
Mota (L, 0-1) 1 1/3 1 2 2 2 0 0 8.64
D Moraga 0 1 2 2 1 0 0 0.00
Lira 1/3 2 1 1 1 0 1 6.55
Skrmetta 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 18.90
TORONTO ip h r er bb so hr era
D Wells 7 12 3 3 2 11 0 3.48
Koch (W, 4-1) 2 1 0 0 0 4 0 3.69
D Moraga pitched to 2 batters in the 8th.
WP - D Wells, D Moraga. HBP - V Guerrero (by D Wells).
Pitches-strikes: D Wells 126-82; Koch 26-18; Hermanson 86-57;
Mota 30-16; D Moraga 11-4; Lira 9-4; Skrmetta 1-1. Ground
balls-fly balls: D Wells 7-2; Koch 0-1; Hermanson 10-4; Mota
2-2; D Moraga 0-0; Lira 1-0; Skrmetta 0-1. Batters faced: D
Wells 35; Koch 6; Hermanson 23; Mota 7; D Moraga 2; Lira 4;
Skrmetta 1.
UMPIRES: HP--Jeffrey Kellogg. 1B--Eric Cooper. 2B--Laz Diaz.
3B--Mike Reilly.
T--3:06. Att--25,838. Indoors.
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