Expos Give Another Blank Effort

The Montreal Expos have more shutouts than home games.

Javier Vazquez and two relievers combined on Montreal’s major league-leading fifth shutout and Vladimir Guerrero homered as the Expos beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 1-0, Thursday night at Montreal.

“The guys are getting ahead, we’re not making foolish errors, and we’re not walking a lot of guys,” catcher Brian Schneider said. “We’re just being more aggressive and we’re getting good outs and good defense. That’s all you can say.”

Vazquez (3-1) gave up six hits in seven innings to help the Expos blank Arizona for the second time in three days. Montreal (13-9) remained tied with Atlanta and Philadelphia for the NL East lead.

“Javy wasn’t as sharp as he was the last time out there, but he was pretty darn good tonight, and it was a nice time for the bullpen to return to form,” Expo Manager Frank Robinson said. “They did an outstanding job -- one big hit by Guerrero and we have a win.”

Joey Eischen pitched 1 1/3 innings and Rocky Biddle got two outs for his fifth save in six chances.

Atlanta 4, St. Louis 3 -- Andruw Jones hit a two-run single in the ninth inning, rallying the Braves over the Cardinals at Atlanta.

The Braves went to the ninth trailing, 3-2, but Rafael Furcal got things started with a leadoff single. Marcus Giles sacrificed him to second before Steve Kline (0-2) walked Gary Sheffield and Chipper Jones to load the bases.

Cal Eldred, seeking the first save of his career, came on to face Jones. The outfielder lined the first pitch to the gap in left-center, stopping after he rounded first as the tying and winning runs scored.

New York 7, Houston 4 -- Pedro Astacio returned to the rotation and threw six solid innings and Roberto Alomar doubled twice to spark the Mets at New York.

Alomar drove in two runs and scored twice as the Mets matched their longest winning streak of the season at two and their season high for runs. They did it without catcher Mike Piazza, who sat out because of a sore groin.

Philadelphia 9, Colorado 1 -- Chase Utley hit a grand slam in his first major league game as a starter, leading the Phillies to a three-game sweep of the Rockies at Philadelphia.

Utley became the first major leaguer with a grand slam for his first hit since Boston’s Creighton Gubanich against Oakland in 1999.

San Francisco 3, Pittsburgh 1 -- Damian Moss (4-0) shut out the Pirates over seven-plus innings, giving up five hits at Pittsburgh.

Barry Bonds singled his first two times up and drove in the first run in a three-run third inning against Kris Benson (2-3) after sitting out two games because of a stiff neck.

San Diego 2, Chicago 1 -- Oliver Perez (1-2), winless in his first four starts, struck out six in 6 1/3 scoreless innings, giving up six hits at Chicago.

Florida 4, Milwaukee 2 -- Mark Redman struck out a career-high 11 and pitched a four-hitter as the Marlins finished a three-game sweep of the Brewers at Miami.

*

Absolute Zero

A 1-0 loss to Montreal Thursday left Arizona in sole possession of last place in the NL West. It was the fourth time the Diamondbacks (8-13) have been shut out:

*--* Date Team Starting Pitcher Res March 31 Dodgers Hideo Nomo 8-0 April 2 Dodgers Kevin Brown 5-0 April 22 Montreal Tomo Ohka 4-0 April 24 Montreal Javier Vazquez 1-0

*--*