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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
MONTREAL (AP) – The Montreal Expos are getting a taste for
winning.
Sammy Sosa homered twice for the Cubs, but Jose Vidro hit a
tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning to lift Montreal over
Chicago 7-5 Monday night for their fourth straight win.
|  | | Sammy Sosa connects for his second home run, but his power alone couldn't lift the Cubs past the Expos. |
The Expos, who swept the New York Mets over the weekend, are 6-1
and off to their best start since 1974.
"It feels pretty good," Vidro said. "It's the first time for
me and for everybody on our team to go out there and think about
winning every game."
Vidro homered off Manny Aybar (0-1) to give the Expos a 6-5 lead
in the seventh. Vladimir Guerrero scored an insurance run later in
the inning.
"I hit it pretty good," Vidro said. "The ball was a line
drive. It went out for us and that's good. They were down 5-1 and
they came back to tie it, and right away we scored some runs. That
takes the energy down."
Sosa hit a pair of two-run homers. He has three home runs this
season and 389 in his career, tying him with Johnny Bench for 37th
place on the career list.
"With all the respect that I have for those guys, I don't
really have time right now to sit back and relax and think about
it," Sosa said. "I've just got to continue to play my game and
try to do the best I can."
Trailing 5-1, Sosa connected off Britt Reames in the fifth. He
homered again with two outs in the seventh off reliever Mike
Johnson to tie it at 5.
"It's just a matter of bad selection of pitches," Expos
manager Felipe Alou said. "(Johnson) threw a changeup to Sosa. He
had hit a changeup earlier against Reames and (Johnson) came back
with the same pitch."
Graeme Lloyd (2-0) replaced Johnson and pitched 1 1/3 innings
before giving way to Ugueth Urbina, who pitched the ninth for his
fourth save in as many opportunities.
"I knew we had a good team," Lloyd said. "It's just coming
together and it's 6-1, not 60-10. We've got a lot of season to go,
but if we keep the intensity that we have right now, that's a sign
we're going to keep going."
Rondell White homered in his first plate appearance at Olympic
Stadium since being traded by Montreal to the Cubs last July 31 to
open the scoring in the second.
"It felt good to get a hit. It would have been nice to win the
game," White said. "But it felt good to come here and see
everybody, and the city and everything."
Montreal got to Kerry Wood for four runs in the bottom half.
Geoff Blum's RBI single tied the game and Lee Stevens scored on
Todd Hundley's passed ball to make it 2-1.
The Expos loaded the bases as Orlando Cabrera was hit by a pitch
and Michael Barrett singled, advancing Blum to third.
Wood got the next two outs and seemed to be ready to escape the
jam when second baseman Eric Young misplayed Vidro's grounder,
allowing Blum to score. Fernando Tatis followed with a bases-loaded
walk to make it 4-1.
Blum scored Montreal's fifth run in spectacular fashion in the
third, barreling into Hundley at the plate, and then reaching back
to touch home to increase the lead to four as the Cubs catcher lay
stunned on the ground.
"I saw Hundley reach for the ball," Blum said. "At the last
second, I just lowered my shoulder. It's just one of those
plays."
Game notes
A moment of silence was observed for Willie Stargell before
the game. The Pirates slugger, who died earlier in the day, hit the
longest home run in Olympic Stadium history when he launched a
535-foot drive off Wayne Twitchell on May 20, 1978. The drive
struck a seat in the stadium's middle deck and a spotlight shone on
the bright yellow seat that has marked the spot since while
Stargell's memory was honored. ... Sosa has 45 career multihomer
games. ... It was the Cubs' first night game of the season. ...
Wood is 0-4 with an 8.18 ERA against the Expos in five career
starts. He lost in his major league debut at Olympic Stadium. ...
Expos leadoff man Peter Bergeron went 0-for-4 with three
strikeouts. He has struck out 13 times in 30 at-bats. ... The 1974
Expos got off to a 7-1 start.
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RECAPS
Toronto 8
Tampa Bay 1
Chi. White Sox 9
Cleveland 2
NY Yankees 13
Kansas City 4
Minnesota 11
Detroit 5
NY Mets 9
Atlanta 4
Cincinnati 8
Pittsburgh 2
St. Louis 3
Colorado 2
Montreal 7
Chicago Cubs 5
Philadelphia 5
Florida 4
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