TREYS ARE WILD AS SEO PITCHES METS PAST EXPOS
Wigginton Extends RBI Streak to 9
MONTREAL, July 23 (AP) - Jae Weong Seo tossed eight innings of two-hit, shutout
ball as the New York Mets beat the Montreal Expos, 4-0, at Olympic
Stadium. The Mets have four shutouts this season and Seo (4-7) has been
involved in three of them, twice as a starter--he fired 8 1/3 scoreless innings
at the Expos at Shea Stadium on April 6--and once as a reliever. The
victory was the seventh in the last 11 games for the Mets, who still hold the
worst record in the National League.
Despite the low score, the game featured an offensive oddity as the teams
combined for four triples--three of them by New York, including two by Jeff
Duncan. The four triples in a single game tie the major league season
high; Pittsburgh and Arizona combined for four triples in the Diamondbacks' 8-3
victory on May 16 at Bank One Ballpark.
The Mets took the lead in the top of the second inning when belted a one-out
solo home run off Montreal starter Javier Vazquez.
The lead was extended in the third. Duncan led off with a three-base
hit--his second of the game--and scored when Jose Reyes blooped a double down
the left field line. Jason Phillips then grounded a single into right
field, scoring Reyes to give the Mets a 3-0 lead.
After the Phillips single, Vazquez, who had allowed three runs on six hits and a
walk in two innings plus three batters, found his footing. He retired the
next 18 consecutive batters he faced before being lifted for a pinch hitter in
the bottom of the eighth inning. The problem was that the Expos had
virtually no scoring opportunities against Seo. Until the bottom of the
eighth--the inning that saw Vazquez removed for a pinch hitter--the Expos didn't
have two baserunners in the same inning. With two outs in the eighth,
pinch hitter Henry Mateo drew a two-out walk from Seo and Jamey Carroll followed
with an infield single, putting runners on first and second. After a
conference at the mound, Seo retired Edwards Guzman on a fielder's choice
grounder to short to end the inning.
The Mets added an insurance run in the ninth off reliever Hector Almonte when
Cliff Floyd tripled into the right field corner and scored on Ty Wigginton's
single to right. The run batted in extended Wigginton's major league
season best RBI streak to nine games.
Edwin Almonte was brought in to mop up in the bottom of the ninth and pitched
around a one-out walk to Vladimir Guerrero to preserve the shutout.
7/23/2003, NYM03-Mon03, Olympic Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2003 Mets 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 9 0 5 1 2003 Expos 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 6 1 Mets AB R H BI AVG Expos AB R H BI AVG Duncan cf 4 1 2 0 .293 Carroll 2b 3 0 1 0 .275 Reyes,J ss 4 1 1 1 .280 Almonte,H p 0 0 0 0 1.000 Phillips,JL c 3 0 1 1 .274 Guzman,E 3b 4 0 0 0 .260 Floyd lf 4 1 1 0 .265 Cabrera,O ss 4 0 0 0 .276 Almonte,Ed p 0 0 0 0 .000 Guerrero rf 3 0 0 0 .300 Wigginton 3b 4 0 1 1 .247 Wilkerson 1b 3 0 1 0 .297 Clark,T 1b 4 1 1 1 .183 Schneider c 4 0 0 0 .296 Gonzalez,R rf 4 0 0 0 .275 Calloway,R lf 3 0 0 0 .205 McEwing 2b 4 0 2 0 .241 Chavez,En cf 3 0 1 0 .222 Seo p 3 0 0 0 .273 Vazquez,Ja p 2 0 0 0 .146 Cedeno ph 1 0 0 0 .275 Mateo,H ph 0 0 0 0 .283 35 4 9 4 29 0 3 0 Mets INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Seo W 4-7 8.0 3 0 0 3 3 105 63 3.81 Almonte,Ed 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 15 8 2.45 9.0 3 0 0 4 4 120 71 Expos INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Vazquez,Ja L 8-10 8.0 6 3 3 1 9 120 75 3.33 Almonte,H 1.0 3 1 1 0 1 20 15 12.41 9.0 9 4 4 1 10 140 90 NYM: Cedeno batted for Seo in the 9th Gonzalez,R moved to lf in the 9th Cedeno moved to rf in the 9th Mon: Mateo,H batted for Vazquez,Ja in the 8th Mateo,H moved to 2b in the 9th 2B-Reyes,J(7). 3B-Duncan 2(4), Floyd(4), Wilkerson(9). HR-Clark,T(5). RBI-Reyes,J(10), Phillips,JL(27), Wigginton(62), Clark,T(14). SB-Wigginton(7). K-Reyes,J, Phillips,JL, Wigginton, Clark,T 2, Gonzalez,R 2, McEwing, Seo, Cedeno, Guzman,E, Schneider 2, Calloway,R. BB-Phillips,JL, Carroll, Guerrero, Wilkerson, Mateo,H. GWRBI: Clark,T Temperature: 70, Wind: none. Attendance: 9,219 Game Time: 2:35