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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Vladimir Guerrero emphatically ended Montreal's hitting slump and its losing streak with a pair of
400-foot homers.
|  | | Vladimir Guerrero mixed in some nifty defense with his 3-for-5, two-HR effort with the bat. |
Guerrero's solo shots provided the first and the last of
Montreal's runs and Jose Vidro drove in four more Wednesday night for a 10-4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
An offense reduced to a trickle during Montreal's six-game
losing streak poured out 16 hits, matching the Expos' season high.
As he has so often this season, Guerrero led the way with his third
multihomer game.
The right fielder has 15 homers, 44 RBI and a .386 batting
average. By comparison, the Reds' Ken Griffey Jr. has 14 homers, 38
RBI and a .212 average after going 0-for-3 Wednesday night.
"I've said it before: He's got a chance to be the most exciting
player in baseball in the next few years," Reds manager Jack
McKeon said. "He may be the best now. I like the way he hustles
out there."
While Guerrero got the offense jump-started, the Expos'
injury-ravaged pitching staff got a boost from reliever Mike
Johnson (1-0), who filled in for Hideki Irabu and gave up only two
hits in five innings.
Johnson, making his first start in the majors since last Aug.
13, had a career-high seven strikeouts and retired his last 13
batters, bailing out a beleaguered staff.
"That was really satisfying," Johnson said. "There was a
little pressure to give them some solid innings. I think I picked
the team up and kept them in the game and saved the bullpen a
little bit."
Dustin Hermanson took over in the sixth and kept the streak
going, stretching it to 21 Reds retired in order before Aaron Boone
homered in the eighth to start a three-run outburst. Hermanson will
move back into the rotation next week to fill in for Irabu, out for
a month after surgery Wednesday for torn knee cartilage.
"That was quite a game," manager Felipe Alou said. "For
anyone who knows what we're trying to accomplish (with the
injuries) and trying to start and to survive, that was a big
game."
Pitching hasn't been the Expos' biggest problem during their
longest losing streak of the season. Injuries, errors and a feeble
offense have done them in on a 2-6 road trip.
Montreal was outscored 42-13 in the first seven games of the
trip, stranding 50 runners. The low point came Tuesday night, when
22 Expos went down in order during a 4-2 series-opening loss to the
Reds.
The offense broke out Wednesday as Guerrero homered in the
second and ninth innings and Peter Bergeron had the first four-hit
game of his career.
Guerrero got it going with a homer off Steve Parris (2-7)
leading off the second inning, his 14th of the season and his first
since May 18.
Lee Stevens' double and Orlando Cabrera's two-out single put the
Expos ahead to stay 2-1 in the fifth, and Montreal knocked Parris
out of the game with two more runs in the sixth. Vidro doubled home
the first run and Stevens had a run-scoring single off Dennys
Reyes.
The Expos pulled away by batting around for four runs in the
seventh off Elmer Dessens. Vidro's double drove in two more runs
and gave him 23 multihit games, most in the NL. Guerrero added an
RBI double and completed Montreal's scoring with a leadoff homer in
the ninth.
It was the first time in Parris' career that he struggled
against the Expos. He had won his other three starts, allowing only
four runs for a 1.54 ERA.
Griffey went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts, leaving him
hitless in his last 14 at-bats. He is in a 4-for-40 skid.
Game notes
Hermanson made seven starts before moving into the bullpen
to fill in for injured closer Ugueth Urbina. He threw 40 pitches
Wednesday as Alou tried to get him back into starting shape. ... In
addition to putting Irabu on the 15-day DL, the Expos called up RHP
Matt Skrmetta from Triple-A Ottawa. ... RHP Mike Thurman will fly
to Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday so Dr. James Andrews can examine
his sore right elbow. Thurman went on the DL May 26. ... Johnson
hadn't started a game since last Aug. 13. ... Montreal has eight
pitchers and two catchers on the DL. ... The Reds will wear their
1975 double-knit uniforms against the Twins on Saturday as part of
their Big Red Machine reunion. ... The Reds announced in the ninth
that OF Alex Ochoa was taken to a hospital for an emergency
appendectomy and will be out three weeks.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Montreal Clubhouse
Cincinnati Clubhouse
RECAPS
Chi. White Sox 4
Seattle 3
Kansas City 9
Boston 7
Cleveland 7
Anaheim 3
Texas 13
Detroit 5
Oakland 8
NY Yankees 7
Toronto 4
Minnesota 2
Tampa Bay 4
Baltimore 3
Atlanta 0
Chicago Cubs 0
Pittsburgh 5
Florida 2
Montreal 10
Cincinnati 4
Colorado 8
Houston 6
Arizona 6
St. Louis 2
San Diego 9
Milwaukee 5
Los Angeles 4
NY Mets 3
San Francisco 10
Philadelphia 4
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