Phillies faces biggest deficit of season

Javier Vazquez is unbeatable these days, no matter what he throws.

Vazquez won his sixth start in a row to lead the Montreal Expos to a 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.

"It seems like I`m making good pitches, and when I don`t, they don`t hit them," Vazquez said. "I`m having some luck and the guys are playing great behind me."

The Phillies have lost five of six, dropping a season-high 3 1/2 games behind NL East-leading Atlanta. The Braves won 3-2 at Chicago earlier in the day.

"He`s been one of the best pitchers in the second half," said Phillies starter Brandon Duckworth, who lost for the first time in seven major league starts.

"It`s tough to scratch some runs up against him. You just try to go there and try and keep everything to a minimum. I just gave up a few too many tonight."

Vazquez (16-11), picked the previous day as the NL Pitcher of the Month for August, allowed four hits and two runs in eight strong innings to beat Philadelphia for the second straight start.

"Vazquez just dominates us," Phillies manager Larry Bowa said. "He throws quality pitches. He just dominates us."

Vazquez struck out nine to increase his team-leading total to 206.

"I don`t consider myself a strikeout pitcher, but I`m striking out people, so I don`t know," Vazquez said.

After allowing Pat Burrell`s single and Travis Lee`s walk to lead off the second, Vazquez retired 19 of 20 batters before Jimmy Rollins homered with one out in the eighth.

"He`s on some kind of roll," Expos manager Jeff Torborg said. "He`s got such great control. He hung a couple of pitches in the first, but he made the adjustment right away and got it right down. He really did a good job."

Scott Stewart got the last out for his third save.

Lee Stevens tied it at 1 with an RBI double to left field off Duckworth (2-1) in the second. Stevens continued to third on the play when Burrell threw to second with no one covering for an error.

Michael Barrett hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1. He added his sixth homer in the fourth to put Montreal up by two.

Vazquez singled in the seventh and scored on Vladimir Guerrero`s RBI double.

Duckworth allowed five hits and four runs in six innings.

Game notes:
With the city playing host to the Canadian Open this weekend, several golfers took in Friday night`s game, including Mark O`Meara and tournament leader Dicky Pride. ... Rollins will be the host on "This Week In Baseball" on Saturday. He`ll be the first rookie to do so. ... Vazquez became the sixth pitcher in Expos` history to reach 200 strikeouts. He was the first to do it since Pedro Martinez set the team record with 305 in 1997.

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News