Villone Stops Guerrero’s Streak at 31

Vladimir Guerrero didn’t get much to swing at Friday night, and it cost him his hitting streak.

Guerrero’s streak was halted at 31 games by Ron Villone, who pitched seven strong innings to lead the Cincinnati Reds over the Expos, 4-1, at Montreal.

“Maybe I had a pitch to hit in my first at-bat, but after that I never saw a good pitch,” Guerrero said through an interpreter. “I was trying to hit the pitches, but only if they were strikes.”

Guerrero went 0 for 2 with an intentional walk against Villone, ending the majors’ longest hitting streak in 12 years. He grounded to short in the second, was intentionally walked in the fourth and shattered his bat as he fouled out to first baseman Sean Casey in the seventh. He was on deck when Jose Vidro flied out to end the game.

“It’s a great thing for baseball that guys have hitting streaks, but as a pitcher I really don’t care,” Villone said. “One thing I’m not looking forward to is facing a guy with a hitting streak. My job is to go out there to get him out and keep my team in the game.”

Guerrero’s streak was the longest in the majors since Benito Santiago’s 34-gamer with San Diego from Aug. 25-Oct. 2, 1987.

Villone (7-4) gave up one run and three hits as Cincinnati pulled within a half-game of Houston, the National League Central leader. Danny Graves gave up one hit over the final two innings for his 18th save.

Villone, who was booed by the crowd of 8,257 at Olympic Stadium when he walked Guerrero, gave up Rondell White’s 19th homer of the season leading off the fourth.

Atlanta 2, St. Louis 1--Bret Boone singled home the go-ahead run in the ninth inning at St. Louis to extend the Braves’ season-high winning streak to eight games.

Former Cardinal Brian Jordan, making his first trip to St. Louis since signing with the Braves last November, scored the run after entering as a pinch-runner.

Brave starter Terry Mulholland gave up one run and eight hits in six innings.

Brave pitchers retired the final 16 Cardinals, 10 on strikeouts.

Mulholland was a replacement for 16-game winner Greg Maddux, sidelined by a chipped bone in his right wrist.

New York 6, Arizona 3--Octavio Dotel gave up four hits in eight innings and Rey Ordonez had three RBIs for the Mets at Phoenix.

Dotel (5-1) gave up one run, struck out six and walked one as New York ended Arizona’s winning streak at six games. New York has won 12 of its last 16 to stay 1 1/2 games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East.

Omar Daal (13-7), who had won his previous three starts, gave up single runs in the first and second innings and two runs on Ordonez’s bases-loaded single in the sixth. Edgardo Alfonzo was three for four for New York with two doubles and a run-scoring single.

Houston 3-1, Florida 2-3--Jose Lima earned his NL-leading 17th victory for the Astros in the first game of a doubleheader at Houston.

Lima gave up two runs and nine hits in seven innings and struck out nine. Billy Wagner pitched a perfect ninth for his 33rd save in 35 chances.

Former Astro first-round draft pick Ramon Castro, traded to the Marlins last year for Jay Powell, put them ahead with a run-scoring double in his first career at-bat in the second game.

Pittsburgh 4, San Francisco 1--Brant Brown slugged a two-run homer in the top of the sixth to break a 1-1 tie and send the Pirates to victory at San Francisco.

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Streaking Along

Longest hitting streaks since 1980: *--*

No. Player, team Year 39 Paul Molitor, Milwaukee 1987 34 Benito Santiago, San Diego 1987 31 Vladimir Guerrero, Montreal 1999 31 Ken Landreaux, Minnesota 1980 30 George Brett, Kansas City 1980 30 Jerome Walton, Chi. Cubs 1989 30 Sandy Alomar, Cleveland 1997 30 Nomar Garciaparra, Boston 1997 30 Eric Davis, Baltimore 1998 30 Luis Gonzalez, Arizona 1999 MAJOR LEAGUE RECORD 56 Joe DiMaggio, N.Y. Yankees 1941 NL RECORD 44 Pete Rose, Cincinnati 1978

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