Adam Ulrey's Montreal Expos Diary

July 13, 2002 - Game 90
Colon pitches a complete game victory over the Braves

  The Montreal Expos gave their few diehard fans and a lot of newcomers something to cheer about. Brad Wilkerson, Vladimir Guerrero and Cliff Floyd each hit solo homers in the fifth inning, and Bartolo Colon pitched his first complete game in the National League to win his Montreal home debut as the Expos beat the Braves 6-3 in front of 17,335. It was the fourth-largest crowd of the year for the Expos.

"That one tonight was for the fans that have been coming out here and supporting us all year long, and the extra fans that came out tonight," Expos manager Frank Robinson said. "It really gave us a boost, seeing them all in the seats out there, and their cheering for us really made us feel good, picked us up."

All three homers came off Tom Glavine (11-5), who surrendered three homers in the same inning for the first time in his major league career. Colon (2-0), threw 118 pitches in going nine innings, giving up nine hits and three runs to bring his ERA to 3.86 in the NL. He threw 81 strikes and was in command the whole evening.

"I felt great, especially when I was warming up in the bullpen and they mentioned my name and the whole stadium gave me a nice round of applause - I felt welcome," Colon said.

Both Orlando Cabrera and Andres Galarraga contributed two hits each, helping lead the Expos eight hit attack. The win moved the Expos to within 10 1/2 games of the Braves and within 6 games of the Diamondbacks for the wild card spot.