Guerrero, Expos sweep Reds in twinbill
Published 12:00 am Saturday, April 19, 2003
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Vladimir Guerrero changed his hairstyle and his luck, homering and driving in five runs as the Montreal Expos beat the Cincinnati Reds 9-5 Saturday to sweep their day-night doubleheader.
Brian Schneider homered twice in the opener, including a leadoff shot in the 10th inning that lifted the Expos to an 8-7 win.
Javier Vazquez (2-1) struck out 11 as Montreal rolled to a 9-0 lead and sent Cincinnati to its fifth straight loss. Austin Kearns was Cincinnati's lone bright spot, homering in both games to give him a major league-leading eight.
The team that ranked last in the NL in pitching, fielding and hitting, the Reds continue to give up runs in bunches, having been outscored 54-20 during their skid.
Guerrero had been struggling, too, ever since the Expos came to their part-time home in the Caribbean. Superstitious or otherwise, he came to Hiram Bithorn Stadium with a frizzy Afro and left with shaved sides and a trim on top.
The All-Star right fielder began the day in a 4-for-24 slump this week in San Juan. He drove in a run and scored one in the opener, then broke loose in the second game.
Guerrero lined an RBI double to key a three-run first inning, and clapped his hands after reaching the second-base bag and ending an 0-for-14 rut.
Guerrero walked and stole a base the next time up and hit an RBI single in the fifth off Jimmy Anderson (1-2). The slugger capped his big day with a huge, three-run drive in the sixth.
Fernando Tatis hit his first homer and drove in three runs for Montreal. Kearns had a homer and three RBIs in each game.
Kearns and Juan Castro hit two-run homers in the seventh off Vazquez. The Reds made it 9-5 in the eighth on Sean Casey's first triple since 2000 and a single by Kearns.
The Expos wanted to build momentum going into their official home opener Tuesday back up in Montreal, and Schneider helped them do it in the first game.
Schneider hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth, then connected off Scott Williamson (2-1) to win it. The backup catcher's first career multihomer game ended the Expos' three-game losing streak.
Every Expos starter except Schneider, the eighth-place hitter, had scored a run or driven in one by the fifth inning.
Casey temporarily saved Cincinnati, hitting an RBI single with two outs in the ninth that tied it at 7. He returned to the Reds just in time after missing Thursday's game for the birth of his second child.
Luis Ayala (1-0) won his first major league decision.
The announced crowd of 10,296 for the opener was the smallest for the Expos' eight games so far in Puerto Rico. It was the makeup for Friday night's rainout, and this game was played in intermittent drizzle. The second game drew 13,109.