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Tuesday, Apr. 18 7:05pm ET
Cabrera trumps tough-luck Tapani | |||||
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MONTREAL (AP) -- Even hitting a home run could not help Kevin Tapani end his losing streak. Tapani lost his 11th straight decision Tuesday night as the Chicago Cubs fell to the Montreal Expos 4-3. Orlando Cabrera's two key hits for the Expos were enough to overcome home runs by Tapani and Sammy Sosa. Tapani (0-2) gave up nine hits and four runs while pitching his 25th career complete game. He is 0-11 in 14 starts dating back to last June 24. The last Cubs pitcher to lose 11 straight was Dick Drott, who did it from 1959 to 1961. "It'll come," Tapani said. "The big thing for the starters here is to get deep into the game and give us a chance. The more times we consistently do that, the better our chances will be." Sosa hit his fourth home run of the season, a towering shot to center field in the third. Tapani connected for his second career homer earlier in the inning. "We just stopped scoring runs," Cubs manager Don Baylor said. "We have no margin of error for a pitcher. We leave them no margin, and when they make a mistake, it costs us." Tied at 3, Cabrera singled off Tapani with two outs in the seventh to drive in Michael Barrett from second with the go-ahead run. Barrett singled past shortstop Ricky Gutierrez with two outs and advanced to second when center fielder Tarrik Brock misplayed it for an error. Cabrera, whose RBI double tied the game at 3 in the fifth, followed with a single in front of left fielder Henry Rodriguez. He is now 4-for-8 against Tapani, with a homer and four RBI. "I feel good because today is my daughter's birthday," Cabrera said. "I promised her I would hit two home runs, but two RBI, you know ... I always hit Tapani pretty good." Scott Strickland (1-0) struck out two while pitching a perfect seventh for his first career win. "It's nice," Strickland said. "I'm not expecting to get wins right now. I'm expecting to go out there and put up zeros, and get us back in the dugout. To get wins, that's kind of like the cherry on the cake. I'll take them, by all means, but I'm just happy I'm throwing the ball well and we're winning." Ugueth Urbina got the last six outs for his third save in five opportunities. His 105th save for the Expos put him in a third-place tie with John Wetteland on the team's career list. Gutierrez went 3-for-4, singling in each of his first three at-bats to extend his career-best hitting streak to 13 games. Montreal's Jose Vidro went 2-for-4, including a double, to raise his average to .423. Tapani, whose only previous home run was a grand slam off Atlanta's Denny Neagle at Turner Field on July 20, 1998, hit a solo homer off Javier Vazquez with one out in the third. Sosa added a two-run shot to center with two outs to give Chicago a 3-0 lead. Montreal drew to within one in the fourth with three doubles off Tapani, including RBI doubles by Rondell White and Lee Stevens. Trailing 3-2, the Expos tied it in the fifth on Cabrera's RBI double. Vazquez allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings. He struck out five and walked three. Game notesThe Cubs, who play 17 of their first 24 games on the road, began a nine-game, 10-day road trip. ... The Cubs haven't won a series in Montreal since winning two of three from Aug. 9-11, 1996. ... Chicago has now played in three countries this season, after opening the season with a two-game series against the New York Mets in Tokyo. ... Mark Grace walked twice and leads the Cubs with 14 walks in 16 games. ... Vladimir Guerrero is three homers shy of 100, and five RBI short of 300 for his career. Guerrero also has not struck out in his last 22 games, dating back to last Sept. 25 when he was struck out by Atlanta's Terry Mulholland. ... Dave Van Horne, the Expos' English-language play-by-play voice, broadcast his first game of the season on Tuesday night via the Internet. Van Horne, who has been broadcasting since the team's inaugural season in 1969, called the game which was made available exclusively via the team's Web site. The Expos still have no takers for their English radio rights. ... Barrett, who went 3-for-3, singled in the third to break an 0-for-17 skid. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Chicago Cubs Clubhouse Montreal Clubhouse RECAPS Tampa Bay 0 Baltimore 0
Montreal 4
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