Adam Ulrey's Montreal Expos Diary

August 14, 2002 - Game 119
Green and Ishii lead Dodgers past Expos 5-2

Shawn Green crushed his 35th homer of the year and Kazuhisa Ishii got his first win since July 14th to lead the Dodgers past the Expos 5-2. Green, who is second in homers to Chicago's Sammy Sosa, broke open a 2-2 tie with a solo shot off Bartolo Colon (5-2) in the third for his eighth homer in his last 14 games. Ishii (13-7), who the Dodgers paid a ton of money for, finally put together a solid start after going a month without a win. He allowed three hits in six innings, while striking out four to lower his ERA to 4.00.

Ishii allowed the Expos to get off to a quick start with a Jose Macias leadoff double and Troy O'Leary's RBI single to help get the Expos early 2-0 lead. The only other hit Ishii gave up was Vladimir Guerrero's double in the third. The Japanese rookie retired 11 in a row after Guerrero was easily thrown out at third base when he tried to stretch his double. Alex Cora added three hits for the Dodgers and Marquis Grissom, Adrian Beltre, Dave Roberts and Paul Lo Duca all had two hits to lead the Dodgers 14 hit attack. Colon wasn't bad, but he was not his usually sharp self, giving up 10 hits in seven innings, while striking out eight. His ERA sits at 3.14 with the Expos. The Expos who ended with only four hits on the night just couldn't get anything going against Ishii or the three relievers that followed. Eric Gagne came on in the ninth to earn his 40th save.

The Expos saw their record drop to 59-60 to fall below the .500 mark again.