Expos Find Way to Beat Johnson

Randy Johnson finally lost, and the team he started with beat him.

Johnson made his first start at Olympic Stadium in 11 seasons, and the Montreal Expos defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, 2-0, Tuesday night, becoming the first team to defeat Johnson in a regular-season game since Aug. 31.

“It’s nice coming back here,” said Johnson, who was traded by Montreal to Seattle on May 25, 1989. “I haven’t pitched here since I left. It brought back a lot of memories.”

But he didn’t add a winning one.

Rondell White hit a 440-foot homer in the seventh inning and Mike Mordecai singled in a run in the eighth.

“We kept scratching, and we pulled it out,” said White, who hit a 3-2 fastball for his fifth homer of the season.

Johnson (7-1) pitched his major league-leading fifth complete game, allowing one earned run and walking none. He struck out 12 to raise his league-high total to 110, reaching double digits for the eighth time this year and the 133rd time in his career.

“He certainly did his job and gave us as good a chance to win as you can,” Arizona Manager Buck Showalter said.

Johnson’s earned-run average, the best in the majors, rose from 0.95 to 0.97.

Javier Vazquez (4-1) held the Diamondbacks to five hits in eight-plus innings, striking out and walking two.

“Anytime you lose 2-0, the opposing pitcher pitched outstanding,” Johnson said.

Erubiel Durazo singled leading off the ninth. Vazquez was replaced by Steve Kline, who got Scott Finley on a fly ball to center. Dustin Hermanson then came on, walking Greg Colbrunn and Kelly Stinnett before getting Lenny Harris to ground into a game-ending double play. Hermanson got his second save in three chances.