Surprising Expos Leading the East

Frank Robinson has taken the Montreal Expos somewhere they haven’t been this late in a season since 1996--first place in the NL East.

The Expos took over sole possession of the division lead Sunday, defeating the New York Mets, 6-3, in front of 11,672 at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium.

“We’re not happy we’re in first place, we’re happy we’re playing good baseball,” Robinson said. “Spirits are up, the guys’ attitude is up, and everything is as it should be.

“We understand it’s early so we’re not going to get too happy, but it was a nice series before the day off. We’ll go out and enjoy the day off and come back ready to go on Tuesday.”

The Expos haven’t led their division this far into a season since April 4 to May 18, 1996. After losing Thursday, Montreal won the last three games of the four-game series.

Bruce Chen, traded from the Mets to Montreal on April 5, got the victory. The Expos, who survived baseball’s off-season plan to eliminate them, improved to 11-8 and lead New York and Atlanta by one game.

“It’s too early to be looking at the standings,” said first baseman Lee Stevens, who homered and drove in three runs Sunday.

“We’re playing good baseball right now. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing and later on in the year, you start worrying about that. It’s better than being in last place right now, no question.”

Cincinnati 5, Chicago 3--Jose Rijo’s amazing comeback is complete.

Rijo, making his first start in nearly seven years, showed flashes of his old, dominating self, giving up only an unearned run for the Reds at Chicago.

He gave up three hits in five innings for his first victory since July 13, 1995, also against the Cubs. He walked one and struck out one.

Adam Dunn backed Rijo with a two-run triple, and Austin Kearns hit his first major league home run, a drive to left field against Juan Cruz (0-4) that landed on Waveland Avenue.

Houston 4, San Francisco 0--Dave Mlicki allowed one hit in eight innings and the Astros ended the Giants’ 11-game winning streak at Astros Field. The Giants hadn’t lost at Houston’s ballpark, which opened as Enron Field in 2000.

Only J.T. Snow, who had a single with two out in the second inning, reached base against Mlicki (2-2). The right-hander retired the next 19 batters.

Jeff Bagwell hit his third home in the first inning against Ryan Jensen (1-1). It was Bagwell’s 352nd homer, moving him past Dick Allen into 60th place on the all-time list.

Milwaukee 5, St. Louis 3--The Brewers, 3-12 when Davey Lopes was fired as manager Thursday, swept a four-game series for only the second time since joining the National League in 1998. They swept a four-game series against Florida that April.

Jose Hernandez homered and drove in two runs at Milwaukee, and the Brewers improved to 4-0 under interim Manager Jerry Royster.

Nick Neugebauer (1-2) survived a two-run first inning that included three walks. He gave up two runs, five hits and walked six in five innings.

Mike DeJean pitched the ninth to earn his third save of the series and fourth in five chances.

Pittsburgh 9, Philadelphia 3--Jason Kendall, in a slump nearly all season, hit a bases-loaded triple during a five-run second inning to help the Pirates win their sixth in a row.

Kendall drove in four runs and the Pirates, off to a 12-5 start a year after they lost 100 games, swept a three-game series from the Phillies at Pittsburgh for the first time since 1992.

The Phillies went 1-5 on a six-game trip and have lost four in a row and seven of nine. Last season they were 5-1 against the Pirates.

Kendall returned to the lineup after not playing for most of two games because of a concussion suffered when he was struck on the mask by a foul pitch Friday.

“Maybe that knocked me out of my slump,” he said.