Phils Shutdown Expos With Shutout

Randy Wolf`s first career shutout came at the most opportune time.

Wolf pitched a six-hitter as the Philadelphia Phillies won for just the third time in 11 games, 6-0 over the Montreal Expos on Saturday.

"September is usually when it counts, so if I could pick a time where I could throw this kind of game, this is it right now," Wolf said.

Wolf (7-10) retired nine straight at one point as the Phillies stayed within 3 1/2 games of NL East-leading Atlanta, which won 5-3 in Chicago.

"Wolf pitched great," Philadelphia manager Larry Bowa said. "That was a game we obviously needed. We haven`t been playing very good, but I think we did everything fairly good tonight. I`m grabbing onto anything right now that`s positive. We`ve got our work cut out for us."

Making his 74th career start, Wolf walked two and struck out five in going the distance for the third time this season. It was his fourth career complete game.

"The two things I really wanted to do coming into the day was get ahead of guys and throw my breaking ball for strikes," Wolf said. "This is a good fastball-hitting team, so it was very important for me to throw my curveball and my changeup a lot."

Wolf`s RBI bunt single capped a four-run sixth, giving each starter in Philadelphia`s lineup at least one hit.

The Phillies matched a season high with 18 hits.

Jimmy Rollins had his fourth four-hit game, including his third leadoff homer, to tie his career best.

Rollins hit his 11th homer -- connecting for the second straight game -- when he drove a 1-2 pitch from Tomo Ohka (1-4) into the net that serves as the foul pole just above the right-field wall at Olympic Stadium.

Travis Lee`s run-scoring grounder later in the inning staked Wolf to a 2-0 lead before he even took the mound.

Montreal`s Terry Jones doubled leading off the bottom half and, one out later, Vladimir Guerrero walked to give the Expos runners at first and third and one out.

But Wolf got Orlando Cabrera to ground back to him to begin an inning-ending double play.

"He was effective keeping the ball away, and then after he got ahead, he popped the ball inside," Expos manager Jeff Torborg said. "He was really pitching."

Ohka allowed two runs and eight hits in five innings.

Philadelphia got three straight hits off reliever Guillermo Mota in the sixth, including Johnny Estrada`s RBI single to make it 3-0.

Wolf bunted for a single off Joey Eischen to score the Phillies` fourth run, and Rollins laid down another bunt single.

"That was an excellent bunt by Wolf," Torborg said. "That ball was just perfectly placed. We were ready for it, but it was the perfect bunt."

Brian Hunter grounded into a bases-loaded double play to put Philadelphia up 5-0, and Bobby Abreu, who also bunted for a single in the third, hit an RBI single to drive in the fourth run of the inning.

"That was an ugly inning," Torborg said. "It`s one of those things that happens -- you put the ball down on the ground and make somebody do something with it."

Game notes:
Former Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick played the Star Spangled Banner before the game. ... Four Phillies have at least 80 RBI -- Abreu (98), Scott Rolen (93), Lee (82) and Pat Burrell (80). ... Rollins leads the NL with 11 triples and 42 stolen bases. He is trying to become the first player to lead the league in both categories in the same season since Lou Brock did it in 1968 with 14 triples and 62 steals for St. Louis. ... Philadelphia is 4-5 in Montreal this season, and 97-96 overall at Olympic Stadium. ... Expos SS Orlando Cabrera has gone 32 games without an error. He has made one error since June 25, when he began a 34-game errorless streak that ended on Aug. 3 in Houston.

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News