Thursday, April 25, 2002
Expos 5, Brewers 4, 15 innings
The Associated Press
MONTREAL — The Montreal Expos found yet another way to win Wednesday night. Milwaukee rookie center fielder Alex Sanchez dropped Jose Vidro's two-out liner in the 15th inning to allow the winning run to score, giving the Expos a 5-4 victory over the Brewers.
“He catches that ball 99 times out of 100,” Brewers right fielder Jeffrey Hammonds said. “Tonight was that one.”
The Expos won their fifth in a row and opened a two-game lead in the NL East.
“I feel good and I didn't do anything tonight,” Expos manager Frank Robinson said.
After both teams scored in the 12th, Mike Mordecai led off the Montreal 15th with a double against Jose Cabrera (1-3). Brad Wilkerson then sacrificed and pinch-hitter Michael Barrett was walked intentionally.
Barrett took second on defensive indifference before Peter Bergeron struck out for the second out.
Vidro followed with a liner, and Sanchez ran in to make the catch, but the ball glanced off his glove and dropped in behind him for an error as Mordecai crossed the plate.
“It's almost a shame to see the game end the way it did, on an error,” Mordecai said. “You'd like it to be a clean hit. But you know what, we'll take it any way we can get it.”
T.J. Tucker (1-0) pitched three scoreless innings for the victory.
The Expos' winning streak is their longest since they took six straight in 2000. The game drew 5,295 fans — only the fifth crowd over 5,000 in 12 games at Olympic Stadium this season.
“They did what they had to do,” Hammonds said. “They're in first place at home. We go up a run, they come back — three different times. What do you do? You tip your cap. We play again tomorrow. Period. Let's play some more baseball.”
Milwaukee took a 4-3 lead when Jose Hernandez led off the 12th with his fourth homer after Montreal failed to capitalize on scoring chances in the ninth, 10th, and 11th innings.
The Expos came right back in the bottom half to tie it at 4 as Vladimir Guerrero scored on Mordecai's perfectly executed bunt on a suicide squeeze with the bases loaded and one out.
Wilkerson was given Montreal's second intentional walk of the inning before pinch hitter Andres Galarraga struck out to end the threat.
Guerrero went 4-for-7, including an RBI double in the first to increase his NL-leading total to 24.
Hammonds went 3-for-4 with two walks as the Brewers lost their second in a row after winning their first four games under interim manager Jerry Royster.
Montreal ace Javier Vazquez remained winless in five starts after allowing nine hits and three runs — two earned — in nine innings.
Trailing 3-2 after the Brewers took the lead on Richie Sexson's sacrifice fly in the sixth, Montreal drew even for the second of three times in the game in the bottom half as Lee Stevens hit his fourth homer on Nelson Figueroa's first pitch of the inning.
Figueroa allowed six hits and three runs in seven innings in his third start.
Notes: Hammonds was a home run short of hitting for the cycle. ... The Brewers are 2-9 on the road this season. ... Wilkerson threw out Casanova at second in the fifth for his major league-leading seventh assist. He also had one of Montreal's three outfield assists in Tuesday's 5-4 win. ... It was the Expos' longest game by innings since they won at St. Louis 4-3 in the 15th on April 26, 2001.
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Expos 5, Brewers 4, 15 innings 
