MIAMI -- Returning to Florida helped the Montreal Expos more than the Marlins.
Brad Wilkerson hit his ninth leadoff homer of the season and Montreal beat Florida 6-2 in the first game of a doubleheader Wednesday, despite having a runner picked off third by Mike Lowell's hidden ball trick.
Ryan Church hit his first career home run off Florida starter Carl Pavano (17-6), who was trying to become the National League's first 18-game winner.
"It's nice to beat him because he's been very tough on us," said Montreal manager Frank Robinson, whose team is 2-5 overall against Pavano.
"Last time, we jumped out to a 2-0 lead but the rain got us."
The teams resumed their five-game series in Florida after the Marlins won the first two games at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago. Those game were moved because of the threat of Hurricane Ivan.
At game time Wednesday, it was partly cloudy and 86 degrees.
John Patterson (4-5) gave up two runs and six hits in eight innings with seven strikeouts in his longest outing of the season for the Expos, who snapped a five-game losing streak.
The right-hander failed to work at least four innings in three of his previous five starts. His longest outing of the season had been seven innings against the Mets on April 10.
"I was fastball, slider all day," Patterson said. "I just mixed it up and had good location.
"It felt good -- I wasn't tired, I was kind of high on life."
Pavano had his five-start winning streak snapped, allowing four runs -- three earned -- and 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings. He balked in Montreal's fourth run with two outs in the seventh.
"The guy has pitched super all year long," Marlins manager Jack McKeon said. "He didn't do a bad job today. We didn't score any runs. A guy's entitled. It's not his usual outing."
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for Florida, which began the day two games behind front-running San Francisco in the NL wild-card race.
Lowell successfully completed the hidden ball trick to help the Marlins escape a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the fourth with Wilkerson due up.
Following Brian Schneider's RBI double and an intentional walk to Maicer Izturis, Patterson singled to left to load the bases. After Schneider stopped at third, Lowell faked throwing the ball to Pavano. When the Expos runner left third base, and before Pavano stepped on the mound, Lowell tagged Schneider for the final out.
"Give Mike credit," McKeon said. "You can't advertise. It was a good, smart play on Mike's part, and nobody called time. That was the key."
Wilkerson led off the game with his 29th home run, a 422-foot shot to right-center.
Florida's Juan Encarnacion had an RBI single in the second and a solo home run in the seventh.
Montreal's Juan Rivera hit a two-run shot in the ninth to make it 6-2.
Church homered to center in the sixth to give Montreal a 3-1 lead.
Notes
- The game began before a crowd of about 1,500 fans. The teams drew 4,003 and 5,457, respectively, for their two games in Chicago earlier in the week.
- Wilkerson made a diving catch of Juan Pierre's first-inning line drive.
- Florida right-hander A.J. Burnett will miss his scheduled start Friday night against Atlanta because of elbow inflammation. Burnett, who returned from reconstructive elbow surgery June 3, flew to Birmingham, Ala., and underwent an MRI on Wednesday. He was also examined by Dr. James Andrews, who performed the operation on Burnett's elbow in April 2003.
The Associated Press News Service
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