Expos Need Only One Guerrero

Since the all-star break, Vladimir Guerrero has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball.

Guerrero went two for four and drove in three runs Saturday night to lead the Montreal Expos to a 4-2 victory over the San Diego Padres.

“He’s incredible,” Expo Manager Felipe Alou said. “He’s such a force.”

Guerrero hit a two-run single in the first off Mark Langston (4-4) and an RBI double in the third to increase his team-leading RBI total to 75 as Montreal won for only the fourth time in 16 games.

Guerrero is 37 for 93 (.398) with 11 homers and 29 RBIs in his last 24 games.

“Numbers don’t lie and one thing he’s been showing is that he can put up some big numbers for us in every category,” said Montreal’s Miguel Batista, who started in place of the traded Carlos Perez and pitched four innings. “He’s a big key for our offense and our defense. You could say that Vladimir is the battery of our offense right now.”

Guerrero had to wait to be reunited on the field with older brother Wilton, whom the Expos obtained from the Dodgers on Friday for Perez and shortstop Mark Grudzielanek in a seven-player deal.

Alou decided not to start Wilton because his flight from New York arrived only three hours before the start of the game.

Shane Bennett (4-4) gave up one run in 2 2/3 innings of hitless relief, and Ugueth Urbina pitched a perfect ninth for his 24th save. It was Urbina’s first save opportunity in 18 games.

San Diego went ahead, 1-0, in the first when Ken Caminiti doubled in Tony Gwynn from first. Montreal took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning on Guerrero’s two-run single.

“He’s having a good year,” San Diego Manager Bruce Bochy said. “[Langston] pitched him pretty tough and it looked like he hit a pretty good pitch.”

Montreal added a run on Guerrero’s 25th double of the season in the third.