Adam Ulrey's Montreal Expos Diary

July 6, 2002 - Game 86
Galarraga and Tatis lead Expos to 5-3 victory 

Andres Galarraga and Fernando Tatis each launched home runs, and Brad Wilkerson homered in his third straight game to help lead the Expos to the 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. The Expos, winners of three straight and four of five, have outhomered their opponents 20-9 during their 12-game road trip. The Phillies, who left 13 runners on base, have lost four of their last five.

Galarraga and Tatis put on a dazzling power show in batting practice, including two long upper deck shots by Galarraga, who is showing no signs of slowing down even though he's 40-years-old. "The wind was blowing out (in batting practice) so we had a little game to see who could hit it in the upper deck," Galarraga said. "We were tied, so we had to settle it in the game. It was nice to carry that over to the game." Tatis started the fourth with his 12th home run of the year - a 411-foot blast - giving the Expos the 2-0 lead. Tatis, who had an 11-game hitting streak snapped on Friday, went 2-for-2 with three walks and two runs scored. After the Phillies got to within 2-1 in the fift6h, Galarraga, not to be outdone by the younger Tatis, crushed a two-run shot off the facing of the upper deck in left-center field in the sixth. It was his second homer of the season, a monster blast that traveled 414 feet. Wilkerson, who has been the hottest hitter in the lineup, had two more hits and hit his 9th homer in the first off of Phillies starter Brandon Duckworth, to give the Expos the early 1-0 lead. Orlando Cabrera and Vladimir Guerrero each had two hits and for Cabrera his bat is finally heating up, his average is up to a season high .272.

The Phillies tried to come back as Jeremy Giambi hit a solo homer off of Matt Herges to get the Phillies two within two, but that would be as close as the Phillies would get. Javier Vazquez was very effective in his five innings giving up just one run and five hits to earn his 6th victory of the season. T.J. Tucker came into the game in seventh and shut down the Phillies for 1 2/3 innings. He then gave the ball to the closer Scott Stewart who went 1-2-3 to gain his 12th save of the year. The win improved the Expos to 46-40.