CHICAGO -- Montreal Expos manager Frank Robinson isn't surprised at all with the dominating pitching he's seen from his team the past two days.
Tony Armas Jr. struck out a career-high 11 batters in seven scoreless innings as the Expos beat the Chicago Cubs 7-1 Thursday to avoid a three-game sweep.
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| Tony Armas Jr. fans a career-high 11 while not allowing a run in seven innings. (AP) |
"It's good to see it but that's what I expected," Robinson said. "I expected our pitching staff to be much improved over last season. Hopefully, we can continue it."
Armas (2-1) gave up a leadoff single to Mark Grudzielanek, walked Sammy Sosa two batters later and then retired the next 11. He gave up just two more hits and didn't allow another runner past first base.
"I've worked more this year mechanic-wise with our pitching coach and I think that's really helping me a lot," Armas said. "I feel like I can throw more strikes than I used to."
Robinson said one of the keys for Armas is he makes quality pitches when he gets behind in the count, which he attributed to the pitcher maturing.
"You can just see it out there. He's really matured from the first half of last year as a pitcher and as a person," Robinson said of the 24-year-old. "They go hand-in-hand."
Cubs manager Dusty Baker was impressed by Armas and the 26-year-old Vazquez.
"Those guys are strikeout pitchers and they're getting better. They're both young," Baker said.
Vladimir Guerrero homered and drove in three runs for the Expos.
Shawn Estes (0-1) had his second straight rough outing for the Cubs. The Expos scored four runs in the first on just three hits. The Cubs provided most of the help with three errors, including two by Estes.
Estes bounced a throw to first on Orlando Cabrera's grounder that got by Hee Seop Choi, allowing Wil Cordero to score from first and Cabrera to advance to third.
Fernando Tatis then dribbled one back to the mound and Cabrera broke for home, scoring when Estes' wild throw got by catcher Damian Miller.
"I've been around too long to make plays like that," Estes said. "It's pretty much the game when you've got a guy throwing the way Armas was."
Robinson said any team has to be ready to capitalize on such gifts.
"That's what you have to do. When other clubs give you a few extra openings, you have to take advantage of it," he said. "And that's what we did today."
The Expos got one run in the second on three consecutive singles by Jose Macias, Jose Vidro and Guerrero.
Estes settled down after that, giving up just two more hits and no runs, before being removed after the sixth. He allowed five runs -- two earned -- and eight hits.
Guerrero added a two-run homer in the seventh.
Miller dropped a foul popup in the seventh inning to give the Cubs four miscues on the day.
Chicago scored its only run in the ninth when Grudzielanek doubled, went to third on Rocky Biddle's wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Ramon Martinez.
Notes
- Armas has won six of his past seven decisions dating back to last year.
- His previous career high in strikeouts was 10, which he got on Aug. 19, 2001, at San Diego.
- Grudzielanek extended his hitting streak to eight games.
- Cubs shortstop Alex Gonzalez struck out in six consecutive at-bats over Wednesday and Thursday. He had been hitting over .500 going into Wednesday's game.
The Associated Press News Service
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