Friday, May 17, 2002
Dodgers 4, Expos 3
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Marquis Grissom atoned for a critical error with a game-tying RBI double in the eighth, and pinch-hitter Chad Kreuter singled home the go-ahead run two batters later as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Montreal Expos 4-3 Thursday night after getting shut out in their previous two games.
“That's the sign of hopefully good things to come,” Grissom said. “When you get those kind of hits, sometimes they shake you up and turn the team around. We've got to keep swinging the bats and make the pitcher beat our whole lineup, not just one or two guys.”
Expos right-hander Tomo Ohka, who had not pitched more than 7 1-3 innings in any of his 42 previous major league starts, took a 3-2 lead into the eighth before giving up the tying run on a couple of soft hits. He left after throwing 123 pitches.
“He showed me he still had enough, and he made pitches in the eighth inning to get hitters out. There's nothing you can do about what happened to him,” Montreal manager Frank Robinson said.
“It was just an unfortunate inning. You just have to keep your head up and understand that you did what you had to do, but it just didn't work out.”
Eric Karros got a bloop single between three Expos in short right field, and pinch-runner Cesar Izturis came all the way around on a flyball by Grissom that landed right on the left-field line.
Ohka (3-3) struck out Hiram Bocachica and departed after giving up 11 hits in 7 2-3 innings. He was charged with all four Dodgers runs after Graeme Lloyd came in and gave up a bloop RBI single to Kreuter on an 0-2 pitch.
“He pitched very well out there tonight and he deserved better,” Robinson said of Ohka.
“It was a very strong outing. You need to be rewarded when you pitch like that, and it just didn't happen. He needs to take a lot of positives out of that, just take that into his next start and do the same thing, and he'll be all right.”
Kreuter came through with his clutch hit while batting for Omar Daal (4-0), who earned the victory in relief of Kevin Brown with two perfect innings. Eric Gagne got three outs for his 13th save in 14 attempts.
Vladimir Guerrero hit a two-run homer in the first inning for the Expos, who lost their fourth straight and eighth in a row on the road.
Brown allowed three runs, seven hits and no walks in six innings while striking out five. Two of the runs were unearned, the result of errors by third baseman Adrian Beltre and center fielder Grissom, a four-time Gold Glove winner.
Guerrero put the Expos ahead 2-0 in the first with his 13th homer, sending Brown's 1-2 pitch an estimated 437 feet off the canvas at the base of the TV cameraman's tower in center field. The homer came after Jose Vidro reached on Beltre's two-base throwing error.
The Dodgers, who began the day tied for the best fielding percentage in the NL, committed their second error in the sixth when Grissom misplayed Lee Stevens' single to center. Vidro was held up at third, but continued home when the ball got away from Grissom to make it 3-1.
Another former Expo, Mark Grudzielanek, erased Grissom's blunder in the bottom of the sixth with a leadoff homer. It was the Dodgers' first home run since Brian Jordan's solo shot off Florida's Ryan Dempster last Sunday.
The Dodgers ended their 18-inning scoring drought in the first when Beltre doubled and scored on Karros' single. It was their first run since Jeff Reboulet's game-winning pinch-hit RBI single in the 13th on Monday night.
Notes: The Dodgers scored only three runs in 34 innings before the two-run rally in the eighth. It was only the second time in 16 games that they scored more than three runs. ... Grissom started in center for Dave Roberts, who missed his fourth straight game because of a strained right quadriceps. ... Jordan, who has missed the last three games with a lower back strain, said he will have an MRI exam Friday to determine whether he will have to go on the disabled list. ... Shawn Green grounded into his major league-leading 12th double play. The Dodgers have grounded into 51 double plays, also the most in the majors. ... The Expos acquired switch-hitting utilityman Jose Macias from Detroit for 3B Chris Truby, and sent OF Lou Collier outright to Triple-A Ottawa. Collier was designated for assignment May 11 when Montreal signed free agent Wil Cordero. ... Vidro extended his hitting streak to 12 games, two shy of his career best.
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Dodgers 4, Expos 3
