| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
GAME LOG
MONTREAL (AP) -- The Arizona Diamondbacks don't mind working for
their wins.
Greg Colbrunn homered and had three RBI as the Diamondbacks
beat the Montreal Expos 8-7 Tuesday night.
"Every game is important from here on out," Colbrunn said.
"It's been important all season. If it takes 3½ hours, 8-7, 10-9
or 1-0, we just want to win some ballgames."
Colbrunn hit a two-run homer in the fifth and an RBI single with
one out in the seventh to break a 6-6 tie as Arizona moved within
2½ games of first-place San Francisco in the NL West.
After Montreal tied the game on Michael Barrett's RBI double in
the sixth, Expos reliever Scott Forster (0-1) walked Tony Womack
and Danny Bautista to lead off the seventh.
Both runners advanced on Luis Gonzalez's grounder and Colbrunn
followed with a run-scoring single to make it 7-6. Arizona went
ahead 8-6 on Scott Finley's sacrifice fly.
Montreal closed to 8-7 in the bottom half on Vladimir Guerrero's
RBI single off reliever Byung-Hyun Kim.
"It was an offensive game tonight," Colbrunn said. "Any time
we'd jump ahead, they'd come right back."
Dan Plesac (4-0) relieved Geraldo Guzman following Barrett's
game-tying double with one out in the sixth to get the win. Matt
Mantei pitched a perfect ninth for his 11th save.
"Our pitchers finally got some people out and we were able to
hang on," Colbrunn said. "Matt came in and faced the heart of
their lineup and went 1-2-3, which is probably as impressive a
performance as he's had all year."
After Plesac struck out pinch-hitter Wilton Guerrero for the
second out, third baseman Matt Williams made a great diving stop to
his left to field pinch-hitter Fernando Seguignol's smash down the
third-base line and threw to first to end the Expos' threat.
"I made a pretty good pitch on a changeup that was down and
(Seguignol) just went out and hooked it, and hit it hard," Plesac
said. "Fortunately for us, Matty made the play -- that saved the
game. If that ball gets down the line, they take the lead."
The Diamondbacks scored four runs in the first off Javier
Vazquez on Bautista's RBI single, a wild pitch, and Craig
Counsell's two-run double.
Lee Stevens and Geoff Blum hit RBI singles off Geraldo Guzman in
the bottom half as the Expos cut the lead to 4-2.
Colbrunn's homer made it 6-2 in the fifth before Jose Vidro
brought Montreal back to within one with a three-run homer -- his
22nd -- in the bottom half.
"There was a lot of energy tonight," Vidro said. "We came up
short but we battled out there. We gave our best. We came back from
four runs down two times."
Guzman, who went 5 1/3 innings, allowed nine hits and six runs
in his eighth start for Arizona.
Vazquez, who hasn't won since July 23, allowed six hits and six
runs in five innings. He struck out five and walked one.
"It is frustrating," Vazquez said. "I think I've pitched some
good games and I haven't gotten the win, but there's nothing I can
do about that. I just got to keep pitching every five days."
Game notes
Williams batted sixth for the second straight game for the
Diamondbacks. Williams, who has been on the DL twice this season
and missed 58 games, has batted cleanup 62 times and fifth twice.
... Arizona manager Buck Showalter held a 30-minute team meeting
before the game. ... Milton Bradley went 3-for-5 and scored three
of Montreal's runs.
| |
ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Arizona Clubhouse
Montreal Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 8
Tampa Bay 0
Detroit 12
Baltimore 2
Kansas City 7
Minnesota 3
Cleveland 12
Texas 1
Anaheim 9
Toronto 4
Chi. White Sox 3
Oakland 0
Seattle 5
NY Yankees 3
Florida 3
St. Louis 1
Arizona 8
Montreal 7
Pittsburgh 8
San Francisco 0
Houston 11
NY Mets 1
Colorado 2
Philadelphia 1
Cincinnati 4
Atlanta 2
Chicago Cubs 7
San Diego 6
Los Angeles 7
Milwaukee 2
|
