Guerrero Does His Share for Expos

Vladimir Guerrero isn’t reading too much into the Montreal Expos’ strong start.

Guerrero had his second multihomer game and 15th of his career, leading the Expos over the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-2, Sunday.

“I can’t pinpoint anything, but we’re just playing well and I hope we continue to do it,” Guerrero said.

Guerrero and Lee Stevens hit consecutive homers against Matt Morris (4-2) during a four-run fourth inning. Guerrero homered again in the fifth.

“It’s still early,” Guerrero said. “There are a lot of games left with five months to go, and we just have to keep on going out there and doing the good job we’ve been doing so far.”

A crowd of 9,780 came to Olympic Stadium despite a storm that dropped at least five inches of snow in Montreal.

The Expos, who lost their previous two games, went 9-4 on their season-high 13-game home stand, raising their record to 15-10. They retained a share of the NL East lead with the New York Mets.

Guerrero, who homered twice against the Chicago Cubs on April 16, has 28 runs batted in, one more than the team’s previous April record, which he shared with Henry Rodriguez.

Tomo Ohka (3-2) gave up two runs and seven hits in 71/3 innings, matching the longest outing of his career. He struck out a career-high seven and walked none.

New York 9, Milwaukee 6--After two days of pitching duels at Shea Stadium, the Mets and Brewers got offensive.

Mo Vaughn’s run-scoring double highlighted a six-run rally in the sixth inning and Jeromy Burnitz homered against his former club, helping the Mets complete a sweep of the three-game series.

The Brewers finished 0-6 on their trip. They lost the first two games against the Mets, 1-0 and 2-1.

San Francisco 5, Cincinnati 4--Reggie Sanders and Benito Santiago homered through a gusting wind at Cinergy Field and the Giants ended the Reds’ seven-game winning streak.

San Francisco went 5-7 on its longest trip in three years, dropping out of first place in the NL West.

Barry Bonds, who was bothered by a sore hamstring and managed only one homer on the trip, singled, grounded out and walked twice Sunday.

The Reds’ longest winning streak this season ended with a flash of anger that emptied the benches.

With the Giants ahead, 4-1, reliever Felix Rodriguez hit Sean Casey in the back of an arm with his first pitch in the eighth inning. Casey slammed down his helmet and yelled at Rodriguez, clearing both dugouts and bullpens. No punches were thrown.

Six pitches later, Adam Dunn homered, cutting the lead to 4-3. Dunn hit a homer in the ninth against Robb Nen.

Arizona 5, Florida 4--Curt Schilling struck out 13 in seven innings, and Steve Finley, Damian Miller and Mark Grace hit consecutive home runs in the sixth inning at Miami, helping the Diamondbacks win their fifth consecutive series.

In a span of nine pitches, Finley, Miller and Grace hit two-out home runs against rookie Josh Beckett (0-2). The homers turned a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead for the NL West co-leaders.

Schilling (5-1) gave up four runs and six hits, including home runs by Cliff Floyd and Kevin Millar.

Holding on to a one-run lead, he struck out Millar with the bases loaded to end the sixth.

Pittsburgh 3-2, San Diego 2-7--The Padres split the doubleheader at Pittsburgh mostly because Ryan Klesko didn’t strand many runners--and, for a change, because Brian Tollberg didn’t put many runners on.

Tollberg, in danger of being demoted to the minors, held Pittsburgh to two runs in six-plus innings and the Padres turned a five-run third inning in the second game into a doubleheader split.

Brian Giles hit a go-ahead triple in the seventh and the Pirates--held to a run by Ben Howard in his major league debut--rallied against San Diego’s bullpen to win the first game.

Klesko drove in five runs in the second game.

Colorado 4, Philadelphia 2--The Rockies remained undefeated under new Manager Clint Hurdle.

Jason Jennings pitched seven shutout innings and Todd Helton hit a two-run homer at Coors Field for the Rockies, who had lost five in a row and were 6-16 before Buddy Bell was fired. Hurdle has won three in a row.

Houston 7, Atlanta 1--Carlos Hernandez pitched seven shutout innings and the Astros broke the game open with a four-run eighth inning at Turner Field.

Hernandez (2-0), facing the Braves for the first time, gave up four hits and one walk, and struck out six. The 22-year-old left-hander has a 2.28 earned-run average in four starts this season.