Expos Finish Four-Game Sweep

Javier Vazquez and the Montreal Expos got Olympic Stadium rocking one more time before heading out on the road for a couple of weeks.

Vazquez extended his scoreless streak to 26 innings and Vladimir Guerrero homered for the third time in four games as Montreal finished a four-game sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies with a 4-0 win Thursday.

The victory moved the Expos into a virtual tie for the wild-card lead with the Phillies, Florida, St. Louis and Houston.

A crowd of 20,030 saw the Expos complete their third four-game sweep this season, and second in a row at home.

“It’s good because 20,000 here feels like 50,000,” Vazquez said. “We love it.”

Montreal has won nine consecutive home games, and five in a row overall.

The Expos, who are 36-17 in Montreal this season, will play only six of their 27 remaining games at Olympic Stadium.

To boost revenue, 22 of the team’s home games were moved to Puerto Rico, including six against Florida and Chicago from Sept. 5-11.

“We were scheduled for 22 and this is the last of the 22, but it certainly deprives us from playing in front of some of the best fans in baseball, where we get our energy,” said Manager Frank Robinson, whose team is 25-41 on the road.

Philadelphia lost its sixth in a row, falling to 1-9 on its season-high 13-game trip.

New York 3, Atlanta 1 -- At Atlanta, Met shortstop Jose Reyes became the youngest player in modern major league history to homer from both sides of the plate.

Reyes connected right-handed against Mike Hampton leading off the fifth and added a two-run shot from the left side off Trey Hodges in the ninth. At 20 years, 79 days, Reyes became the youngest player since 1900 to homer from each side of the plate.

The youngest player to do it previously was Texas’ Ruben Sierra at 20 years, 342 days on Sept. 13, 1986, at Minnesota.

The last-place Mets took two of three from the Braves, who have the best record in the majors.

New York has won four of five and 11 of 15 overall.

St. Louis 3, Chicago 2 -- Kerry Robinson hit his first home run of the year, connecting for a leadoff shot in the bottom of the ninth at St. Louis.

Robinson hit a 3-and-2 pitch from Mike Remlinger (5-5) over the right-center field wall.

The Cardinals won five of seven games against the Cubs at Busch Stadium this year and 13 of 16 over the last two seasons.

St. Louis hasn’t lost a home series to the Cubs since the final series of the 1999 season.

Pittsburgh 5, Florida 0 -- Josh Fogg pitched shutout ball for 7 2/3 innings and Jack Wilson drove in four runs as the Pirates held the slumping Marlins scoreless for the second straight game at Pittsburgh.

The Marlins got only three runs and 12 hits during three losses to the Pirates to finish 1-8 on a trip to Colorado, San Francisco and Pittsburgh.

Milwaukee 4, Cincinnati 3 -- Bill Hall’s two-run homer in the 10th inning at Cincinnati sent the Brewers to their 10th victory in a row.

Geoff Jenkins homered in his fourth consecutive game for Milwaukee before leaving in the seventh because of an injured left thumb.

The Brewers’ winning streak is their longest since joining the National League in 1998.

Colorado 6, San Francisco 1 -- Preston Wilson hit a grand slam, Jason Jennings pitched seven strong innings and the Rockies ended a five-game losing streak at Denver.

Wilson drove in five runs overall, boosting his major league-leading RBI total to 126, also a career high.

San Francisco’s Kevin Correia (1-1), who got the start when Dustin Hermanson was scratched because of back spasms, went five innings, giving up four hits and two runs.