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GAME LOG
MONTREAL (AP) -- Vladimir Guerrero is poised to raise his own
bar, once again.
Guerrero tied his club record with his 42nd homer and Javier
Vazquez struck out 11 as the Montreal Expos beat the Florida
Marlins 4-2 Wednesday night.
"He's going to break it soon," Expos manager Felipe Alou said.
"But he's going to have to break it again next year. He's putting
up some kind of numbers -- he's going to make it tough on himself."
Vazquez (11-7) gave up two runs and nine hits in 8 2/3 innings
as he won his third straight start. He also had two hits and tied
his career high for strikeouts.
"I've got two starts left here, so I've got to finish strong,"
Vazquez said. "We're not in a race or anything, but I'd rather
finish strong."
Guerrero's sixth-inning homer was his fifth in his last four
games, and the Expos' third of the game off Reid Cornelius (3-10)
to tie the team record of 172 homers set in 1997.
"I'd throw the same pitch again," Cornelius said. "I think he
went down and got it -- he's a darn good hitter."
Geoff Blum and Andy Tracy hit back-to-back homers in the first,
the fifth time the Expos have homered in consecutive at-bats this
season.
Florida's Luis Castillo had three hits for his 54th multihit
game of the season, tying Jeff Conine's team record set in 1994.
Scott Strickland relieved Vazquez after Ramon Castro hit a
two-out RBI single in the ninth. Strickland got one out for eighth
save.
Castillo doubled in the first, advanced to third on Mark
Kotsay's grounder to second, and scored on Kevin Millar's sacrifice
fly to put the Marlins ahead 1-0.
Blum's 11th homer with one out in the bottom half tied the game
and Tracy followed with his 11th to put the Expos ahead 2-1.
Guerrero's leadoff homer in the sixth was his 24th homer at
Olympic Stadium this season, breaking the team record for home runs
at home that he set last season.
The home run was also the 85th the Expos have hit at home,
breaking the team record set last year.
Montreal added a second run in the sixth as Orlando Cabrera
scored from third to make it 4-1 on shortstop Alex Gonzalez's 19th
error.
Cornelius, who has not won since his last appearance at Olympic
Stadium, allowed four runs -- three earned -- and eight hits in 5 2/3
innings. He is 0-8 in 13 starts since beating Montreal 2-1 on July
2.
"If you dwell on it, it's nothing but negative thoughts,"
Cornelius said. "Each game I've pitched, I think I've learned
something."
Game notes
Castillo's next stolen base will break the Marlins' single
season record of 58 he currently shares with Chuck Carr. Castillo
stole three bases Tuesday after going 12 games without a steal to
tie Carr's 1993 mark. ... CF Preston Wilson needs one more home run
to become the 23rd player in major league history to hit at least
30 home runs and steal at least 30 bases in the same season. Wilson
has 32 steals and 29 homers. ... The Expos have hit 87 homers on
the road, four off the record of 91 hit by the 1997 team with six
road games remaining. ... Blum, normally a switch-hitter, batted
left and singled against left-hander Armando Almanza in the
seventh.
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