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Friday, Jul. 14 7:15pm ET
Williams homers for third straight game | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Gerald Williams is not performing like a leadoff hitter. Williams homered for the third straight game and Albie Lopez worked seven strong innings as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Montreal Expos 8-5 on Friday night. "The object is to win, so whenever you do anything and make contributions, that's what the game is all about," said Williams, who is second among Devil Rays hitters with 54 RBI. "I just try and get the big hits if I can. I owe a lot of that to the guys that get on in front of me. There is no way I can have production offensively, and drive in guys, with no runners on." Williams, who went 2-for-5 with four RBIs, has driven in nine runs in the past three games. He had a two-run single during a three-run second inning and added a two-run homer in the sixth. "Gerald brings a lot of energy," said Tampa Bay's Greg Vaughn, who went 3-for-3 with two doubles. "He's going to do whatever it takes to help you win. At the plate, he's going to battle and put the ball in play somehow, someway." The homer was Williams' 11th this season. He also hit a two-run shot in Tampa Bay's 6-4 win over Montreal on Thursday. Lopez (6-6) gave up two runs and eight hits for Tampa Bay, which has won four of six. The right-hander induced four double plays. "Those were huge," Lopez said. "As the game goes on, I get stronger." Lee Stevens went 3-for-4 with a double and a solo homer for the Expos. It was the 100th homer of his career. "I've learned to keep things in perspective," Stevens said. "Yeah, I hit my 100th tonight, but Mark McGwire hit 70 in one year. But I'm happy to hit that mark and hopefully will continue to keep going." The Expos (42-44) fell two-games under .500 for the first time since opening the 2000 season with two consecutive losses. Montreal's Tony Armas (4-7) allowed seven runs and 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings. Armas has given up 11 runs over nine innings in his past two starts. Stevens' 18th homer of the season, coming in the second inning, gave the Expos an early lead for the second straight day. As was the case three times in Tampa Bay's win Thursday, the Devil Rays responded in the bottom of the frame. Felix Martinez had a sacrifice fly and Williams hit a two-run single to make it 3-1. The Devil Rays extended it to 4-1 in the third inning when Vaughn doubled and scored when Bubba Trammell hit into a double play. Peter Bergeron's RBI grounder cut the Montreal deficit to 4-2 in the fifth. However, the Devil Rays countered again in their half when Steve Cox doubled and later scored on third baseman Mike Mordecai's throwing error. Williams' two-run homer made it 7-2 and knocked out Armas in the sixth. The Expos went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring positions. "Anytime you see five runs, you think you should win the game," Expos manager Felipe Alou said. Montreal got within 8-4 in the eighth on run-scoring groundouts by Jose Vidro and Vladimir Guerrero. Terry Jones added an RBI double with two outs in the ninth before Roberto Hernandez came on and got Bergeron to fly out for his 14th save in 19 chances. Tampa Bay, which has an American League-worst 36-51 record, will be looking for its first series sweep since taking three games from Kansas City last August 20-22. "The last two days have been fun," Vaughn said. "There's too many games to get to high over the last couple. We've dug ourselves a big hole. We've got a lot of shoveling to right now." Game notesSt. Petersburg Fire and Rescue member John King, who performed the Heimlick Maneuver on ESPN's Dick Vitale on July 3 at Tropicana Field, threw out a ceremonial first pitch to the college basketball analyst. ... Montreal OF Rondell White (right hamstring strain) was placed on the 15-day DL, retroactive to July 8. INF Andy Tracy was recalled from Triple-A Ottawa. ... Expos SS Orlando Cabrera will miss 3-6 weeks after separating his right shoulder diving from Williams' second-inning single. ... Lopez is 6-1 in 22 career interleague games, including four starts. ... The Devil Rays are 8-6 in interleague play. They won just nine times (9-25) against NL teams in 1998-99. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Montreal Clubhouse Tampa Bay Clubhouse Jones, Greene win 100m heats at Olympic trials
Joyner-Kersee advances to long-jump finals
RECAPS NY Mets 6 Boston 4
Tampa Bay 8
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