[clari.sports.baseball] Expos 6, Pirates 5

clarinews@clarinet.com (POHLA SMITH, UPI Sports Writer) (09/22/89)

	PITTSBURGH (UPI) -- Mike Fitzgerald smacked a grand slam, Hubie
Brooks added a two-run homer, and Andres Galarraga went 3 for 5 and
scored twice Thursday night to lead the Montreal Expos to a 6-5 victory
over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
	Montreal snapped a three-game losing streak and stayed seven games
behind the National League East-leading Chicago Cubs, who defeated the
Philadelphia Phillies Thursday afternoon. Montreal, which snapped
Pittsburgh's five-game winning streak, has nine games left to play.
	Relievers Zane Smith and Tim Burke shut out Pittsburgh over 2 2-3
innings to preserve the victory for Dennis Martinez, 16-6. Burke came on
in the ninth with runners at first and third and none out and held the
Pirates scoreless to notch his 27th save.
	John Smiley, 12-8, gave up eight hits and six runs, walked two and
struck out two in 4 2-3 innings, breaking his personal three-game
winning streak.
	Martinez gave up seven hits, walked one and struck out two over 6
1-3 innings in reaching the 16-game victory mark for the third time in
his 12-year career. The right-hander was 16-11 in 1978 and 16-12 in 1982
at Baltimore.
	Fitzgerald slammed his third career grand slam in the first to give
Montreal a 4-0 lead. Tim Raines, who stole a team record-tying four
bases during the game, led off with a single and took second on a single
by Galarraga. Brooks walked, and Fitzgerald slammed Smiley's first pitch
off the wall supporting the left-field bleachers for his seventh homer
of the year.
	Pittsburgh pulled to within 4-1 in the fourth when Andy Van Slyke
singled, stole second and scored on Bobby Bonilla's single.
	Brooks followed Galarraga's fifth-inning leadoff single with his
12th homer of the year to increase Montreal's lead to 6-1.
	After Jay Bell's RBI single in the sixth, Mike LaValliere countered
with a three-run home run -- his first homer since Aug. 1, 1988 -- in the
seventh to pull Pittsburgh within 6-5. The blast to right off Martinez
scored R.J. Reynolds, who tripled with one out, and Gary Redus, who
walked and stole second.

clarinews@clarinet.com (POHLA SMITH, UPI Sports Writer) (09/22/89)

	PITTSBURGH (UPI) -- Tim Burke, called in with runners at the corners
and none out in the ninth inning, struck out Gary Redus and got Mike
LaValliere to hit into a double play Thursday night to preserve the
Montreal Expos' 6-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
	The triumph, just the Expos' fourth in 14 games, snapped their
three-game losing streak and the Pirates' five-game winning skein.
Montreal remained in fourth place in the National League East, seven
games behind first-place Chicago, with nine games left.
	Mike Fitzgerald led the Montreal offense with a first-inning grand
slam off John Smiley, 12-8, and Hubie Brooks added a two-run shot in the
fifth.
	Zane Smith also helped preserve the victory for starter Dennis
Martinez, who finally reached the 16-game win mark in his fourth try.
	Smith came in after Martinez gave up a three-run homer to
LaValliere with one out in the seventh, enabling the Pirates to pull
within 6-5. The left-handed reliever shut out Pittsburgh the rest of the
seventh and the eighth, but then gave up back-to-back leadoff singles to
Bobby Bonilla and R.J. Reynolds in the ninth.
	``In the ninth, I was thinking, `what's going to go wrong
tonight?''' said Martinez, 16-6, who had two losses and a no decision in
his last three starts. ``But Burke was able to come in and held then.
Sometimes you've got to realize it's a team game.''
	Martinez, who gave up seven hits, walked one and struck out two
over 6 1-3 innings, felt lucky that his teammates staked him to a big
lead.
	``I had to stay with my fastball all night because the changeup and
breaking ball weren't working,'' he said.
	LaValliere's home run -- his first since Aug. 1, 1988 -- came on a
2-1 fastball.
	``I really feel sorry for our pitchers,'' Fitzgerald said.
``They've thrown well in the second half, but have nothing to show for
it.
	``We just haven't scored any runs the past two months. Really, we
haven't been able to get key runs in since the All-Star break. This has
been one of my most frustrating seasons, and I've got to believe a lot
of the guys feel the same way.''
	Smiley gave up eight hits, including the two homers, walked two and
struck out two in 4 2-3 innings.
	``He didn't have anything,'' said Pittsburgh manager Jim Leyland.
``He says he's fine, but I'm concerned because he looks bad right now.''
	The loss was just Pittsburgh's second in 12 games. The Pirates,
below .500 all year, have gone 13-7 in September.
	Pittsburgh pulled to within 4-1 in the fourth on an RBI single by
Bobby Bonilla, who was 3-for-4. Jay Bell singled in the Pirates' second
run in the sixth.
	Andres Galarrage went 3 for 5 and scored twice for Montreal, and
Tim Raines stole a team record-tying four bases.