Sixth Time Is the Charm for Expos’ Pavano, 2-1

Ismael Valdes pitched well Tuesday night against the Montreal Expos.

Montreal’s Carl Pavano pitched better.

Pavano threw 7 1/3 impressive innings in the Expos’ 2-1 victory before an announced crowd of 5,846 at Olympic Stadium.

Pavano (1-4) earned his first victory in his sixth start, giving up four hits and striking out six with no walks. He was ahead in counts throughout, keeping the Dodgers guessing by mixing a moving fastball with a sharp changeup.

Valdes (3-1) was solid but couldn’t keep pace with Pavano. He gave up the Expos’ runs in the fourth inning on Vladimir Guerrero’s fifth home run and a run-scoring double by Orlando Cabrera.

Dodger catcher Todd Hundley continued his hot hitting with his fourth homer in the seventh against Pavano, cutting the Expos’ lead to 2-1.

But the Dodgers stranded Devon White, the potential tying run, at third in the eighth inning, and wasted Adrian Beltre’s one-out triple in the third.

In both cases, Mark Grudzielanek was the out man, striking out in the third and flying out to right in the eighth to end the threats.

Hard-throwing Montreal closer Ugueth Urbina worked the final 1 1/3 innings for his fourth save.

The Dodgers dropped to 15-12 overall and 6-2 on the nine-game trip that ends today.

The Dodgers pointed to Pavano as their biggest problem, acknowledging they were overmatched against the right-hander who began the game with a 7.83 earned-run average.

“It didn’t look like he struggled tonight,” Dodger Manager Davey Johnson said of Pavano. “From the start of the second inning, I don’t think he threw a ball. It was like, ‘Strike, strike.’

“He threw a lot of first-pitch strikes and he used a lot of breaking balls. You have to tip your cap to him.”

His players did.

“The opposing pitcher pitched a great game,” said Valdes, who gave up seven hits in six innings. “Sometimes you pitch a great game, you keep your team in the game and you lose.

“Sometimes, you get the win. That’s just part of baseball.”

In the fourth, Montreal had three extra-base hits against Valdes and had a runner thrown out at the plate.

With one out, Guerrero hit a towering solo homer to left on a fastball from Valdes. With two out, Valdes walked Shane Andrews, putting runners at first and second. Chris Widger scored from second on Cabrera’s double to make the score 2-0.

Hundley was among the few Dodgers who had success against Pavano. In his last four games, Hundley is batting .467 (seven for 15) with two homers, two doubles and seven runs batted in to raise his average to .217.

Hundley was impressed by the 23-year-old Pavano.

“He mixed it up and pitched a good game,” said Hundley, who crushed a 3-and-1 pitch from Pavano with two out in the seventh into the right-field seats.

“He had his changeup going and he was real tough to pick up. He throws hard and he has a good arm.”

The Expos acquired Pavano in the deal that sent Pedro Martinez to the Boston Red Sox before last season, and Pavano hasn’t endeared himself to the Expos’ remaining fans.

Pavano might have been headed to triple-A Ottawa if his performance Tuesday had been similar to that of his first five.

Pavano matched his career high in innings pitched and threw 69 strikes in 100 pitches.

He threw first-pitch strikes to 12 batters. This from a guy who had worked at least six innings only once this season, and had allowed 48 baserunners in only 23 innings before Tuesday.

The difference?

“The big change tonight was that I worked a lot faster,” said Pavano, who lowered his ERA to 6.23. “It helped me to get ahead. After that, I felt confidence on every pitch. I’m going to continue to work like that, and hopefully that will help.”

His new approach worked against the Dodgers.

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