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Wednesday, Jun. 21 7:05pm ET
Vander Wal's two homers lift Pirates | |||||
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GAME LOG
MONTREAL (AP) -- On a night when both teams had a player homer twice, only John Vander Wal got to enjoy his personal accomplishments. Vander Wal homered twice, including a grand slam in Pittsburgh's season-high seven-run third inning, as the Pirates beat the Montreal Expos 8-3 Wednesday. "I'm just glad we won," Vander Wal said. "I believe that's the best game I've had in my career, and it's nice that we won, too." Montreal's Lee Stevens drew little pleasure from his eighth multi-homer game. "It really doesn't matter if you don't win the game," Stevens said. "I don't go out there to do anything personally. It would have been nice if they helped us win the game, that's the bottom line." Francisco Cordova (5-5) allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings as the Pirates won their second straight following a four-game losing streak. Chris Peters pitched three innings for his first save this season and second of his career. After getting Pirates owner Kevin McClatchy's assurance earlier in the day that he would manage through the end of the season, embattled Pittsburgh manager Gene Lamont was pleased with both pitchers' efforts, particularly Cordova's. "He pitched his way out of tough spots," Lamont said. "He could have gone seven innings, but Pee Wee came in and did a great job." Expos starter Tony Armas Jr. (2-5) set down six of the first seven batters he faced before allowing Pat Meares' double leading off the third. He struck out Cordova and then walked Warren Morris and Jason Kendall to load the bases. Armas threw three straight balls to Vander Wal -- making it 11 in a row overall -- before a called strike made the count 3-1. Vander Wal drove Armas' next pitch 400 feet over the wall just to the right of center to give Pittsburgh a 4-0 lead. It was Vander Wal's second career grand slam and his career-best seventh homer of the season. Pittsburgh added three more runs in the inning on Bruce Aven's RBI single and Aramis Ramirez's two-run single, with both hits coming off reliever Brad Rigby. Vander Wal hit a solo shot off left-hander Scott Forster with one out in the seventh, giving him a career-high five RBIs. He added a double in the ninth to complete a 3-for-5 performance. Armas allowed six runs and four hits in 2 1/3 innings, his shortest outing in the majors in nine career starts. He went just 3 1/3 innings in his last start, against Chicago. Expos catcher Charlie O'Brien suggested that the rookie pitcher may have been affected by a longer wait as the Expos loaded the bases, though failed to score, in the bottom of the second. "It happens, where you sit down a little longer or, all of a sudden, you just don't feel comfortable when you go out there," O'Brien said. "It's just one of those things that young kids go through. He's got to go out there and make some adjustments in the course of a game to keep him in the game, and keep us in the game." Stevens homered leading off the fourth and came home from third on Young's fielding error at first in the sixth to make it 7-2. Stevens added another solo shot in the eighth inning. Game notesVander Wal, who made his major league debut with Montreal and played for the Expos from 1991-93, hit six homers last season for San Diego. ... Pittsburgh had three six-run innings this season, the most recent on May 6 when they scored six in the ninth at Chicago's Wrigley Field. ... Stevens also homered twice on June 2 against Baltimore. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Pittsburgh Clubhouse Montreal Clubhouse RECAPS Boston 9 NY Yankees 7
Pittsburgh 8
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