Expos Hold On to Beat Giants

Expos manager Felipe Alou didn’t like the way the game was shaping up: bottom of the ninth, one out, Giants runners on first and second, Matt Williams at the plate and Barry Bonds in the on-deck circle.

Montreal had taken a one-run lead on Moises Alou’s homer, but the manager had seen his team lose five games in the final at-bat. This time, though, the Expos held on for a 4-3 win.

After falling behind 3-1 to Williams, reliever Mel Rojas got the San Francisco slugger to ground into a game-ending double play Tuesday, breaking the Expos’ four-game losing streak.

“If we kept playing, we knew eventually we’d win one,” said Felipe Alou, whose team has lost four extra-inning games, including a 2-1 decision Monday night. “These guys were trying real hard through the losing streak.”

And Alou was proud that his son and his nephew, Rojas, figured prominently in ending the streak.

Rojas (1-0), who got the final four outs for the victory, serving as the closer in the absence of John Wetteland, knew he had to pitch carefully to Williams, who leads the Giants with 13 RBIs.

“I’m not going to throw a fastball,” he said. “I threw a split-finger.”

Twice, the Expos had led in the game only to have San Francisco come back. They went ahead for good on Moises Alou’s solo homer off Dave Burba in the ninth inning.

Alou, who went 3-for-4 and scored twice, was the first batter to face Burba (0-1) and drove a 2-2 pitch over the right-field fence for his third homer.

“We needed this one,” the younger Alou said. “I got a pretty good pitch and went the other way with it.”

Burba said he made the pitch he wanted to Alou, who’s 13-for-29 in the last seven games.

“I got beat with my best pitch,” Burba said. “I can’t feel bad about that. He got it pretty good, got the good part of the bat on it.”

The Giants, last in the league in hitting with a .233 average, continued to struggle at the plate, getting only six hits.

“We had a lot of opportunities, but it was just hard getting that big hit,” San Francisco manager Dusty Baker said. “Every time we’d get a lead, they’d come back. We had the right guys up in the right situation.”

San Francisco took a 3-2 lead in the sixth without a hit. Reliever Gil Heredia started the inning with back-to-back walks to Williams and Bonds, and both runners moved up on Todd Benzinger’s groundout.

After Royce Clayton was intentionally walked to load the bases, Williams scored easily on a groundout by Kirt Manwaring that trickled to short.

But the Expos came right back in the seventh when Darrin Fletcher led off with a single and was lifted for pinch-runner Tim Spehr. Spehr went to second on Alou’s single and scored on pinch-hitter Wil Cordero’s double to tie the game.