Expos Turn On the Power and Light Up Mets

Olympic Stadium came alive Friday night, with a large crowd welcoming the Montreal Expos to yet another season with the future of the franchise in doubt.

Orlando Cabrera hit a three-run double and one of three home runs off New York reliever Brian Rose to lead Montreal to a 10-6 victory over the Mets.

The crowd of 45,183 was treated to a spectacular pregame show and then enjoyed more fireworks during the game as the teams each hit three homers.

“The crowd is like another player, and that showed tonight,” Cabrera said. “When Tim Raines was hitting, the noise was unbelievable.”

Raines, 41, made his first start for the Expos since 1990. He was given an ovation that rivaled the one accorded to standout right fielder Vladimir Guerrero when their names were announced before the game.

“Other than maybe the Metrodome, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a crowd as loud as I heard tonight,” said Raines, who was an all-star in seven of 10 seasons in Montreal. “And I’m just happy we were able to get a win for them.”

Peter Bergeron and Michael Barrett, who figured prominently in the pregame ceremonies, also homered off Rose, who gave up three solo homers in 1 2/3 innings of his Met debut.

Mike Thurman gave up seven hits and five runs in five innings. He gave up Mike Piazza’s two-run home run in the first and Benny Agbayani’s solo shot in the fourth.

Atlanta 7, Florida 5--Chipper Jones hit a three-run home run and Greg Maddux pitched five shutout innings as the Braves waited out two rain delays and kept the Marlins winless at Miami.

Florida (0-4) is off to the worst start in its nine-year history. The Braves’ bats awoke in the sixth, when they scored three runs on a single by B.J. Surhoff and a two-run single by pinch-hitter Javy Lopez against Jason Grilli.

Maddux showed no ill effects of a lacerated left big toe suffered in his final spring training start. The four-time Cy Young award winner gave up only three hits and no walks and threw 45 of his 59 pitches for strikes.

“Maddux was terrific,” Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox said. “Everything is the same.”

The start of the game was delayed 1 hour, 45 minutes because rain and there was a 26-minute delay in the second inning.

Houston 4, Pittsburgh 1--Craig Biggio went three for four with a two-run homer and three runs batted in and the Astros defeated the Pirates at Houston.

Houston is 4-0 for only the third time in franchise history, joining the Astros of 1968 and 1987, who set a team best by winning their first six.

Pittsburgh dropped to 0-8 at Enron Field, which opened last year, and 3-16 at Houston in the last three seasons. Octavio Dotel gave up an unearned run and five hits in seven innings for the Astros.

Houston’s Chris Truby, who had homered in each of his first three games, was hitless in three at-bats and failed to join Mark McGwire and Willie Mays as the only players to hit home runs in their first four games.

St. Louis 12, Arizona 9--In the Diamondbacks’ home opener at Phoenix, Fernando Vina went five for five with three RBIs, and rookie Albert Pujols had a home run, double and single as the Cardinals won their first game.

Vina had four singles before he tripled to drive in two runs in the seventh inning for the fourth five-hit game of his career.

Ray Lankford tripled to drive in three runs in the Cardinals’ eight-run fifth inning. Pujols, who played only one season in the minor leagues, drove in two runs with his first big-league home run in the fourth, then had an run-scoring double in the fifth.

Chicago 3, Philadelphia 2--The Phillies failed to start the season 4-0 for the first time since 1915 as they lost their home opener.

Julian Tavarez gave up one run in 5 1/3 innings and Julio Zuleta homered as the Cubs handed Larry Bowa his first loss as Phillie manager.

San Diego 10, Colorado 6--Mark Kotsay hit his first home run as a Padre and drove in three runs at Denver and Wiki Gonzalez added a three-run double to power San Diego to its first victory.

Kotsay went two for six and improved to .390 (23 of 59) lifetime at Coors Field with four homers and 15 RBIs.