Adam Ulrey's Montreal Expos Diary

August 4, 2002 - Game 111
Saarloos keeps his winning ways, beating Expos 5-4 

Kirk Saarloos, the NL rookie pitcher for the month of July, continued his hot pitching. He picked up his fourth straight win, beating the Expos 5-4. He also contributed with the bat, hitting a two-run double to get his first RBI of his career.

There was a fairly good crowd of 20,027 because of Gary Carter bobblehead day on Sunday afternoon. Saarloos (4-2) hit one of four Houston doubles off Javier Vazquez (8-7) with runners at first and second and two outs to open the scoring in the second. The Astros tacked on another run in the fourth behind Geoff Blum's RBI single and then added two more when they got three straight hits leading off the fifth, including Daryl Ward's RBI single that chased Vazquez to an early shower. Saarloos allowed just four hits through five, but gave up three straight hits to start the sixth with one out, leaving after Jose Vidro's RBI single made it 5-1. Ricky Stone relieved and got Andres Galarraga to hit into an inning ending double play, but Stone allowed a three-run homer the following inning to pinch-hitter Jose Macias in the seventh as Montreal drew to within one. The Expos managed to get 12 hits on the day, but just couldn't put any rallies together besides the big hit by Macias. The Expos finished only 5-5 for this homestand.

"We spotted them five and didn't make it all the way back," Expos manager Frank Robinson said.

Vazquez had a rough outing going just four innings, giving up 10 hits and 5 runs, all earned to see his ERA rise to 3.80 on the year. Jim Brower, rookie Zack Day and Matt Herges did a terrific job over the next five innings, not allowing a run and only one hit to give the Expos a chance to come back.

Carter, who played for Montreal from 1974-84 and 1992, was on hand as the Expos drew their fourth-largest crowd of the season. He signed autographs before the game, three baseballs to the crowd before making a ceremonial first pitch and was given a standing ovation when he was shown on the video scoreboard during the game.

The loss dropped the Expos under .500 at 55-56 for the season, with a road trip this week to St. Louis and Milwaukee.