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Tuesday, Apr. 10 7:05pm ET
Tapani, Cubs cool off Expos
RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

MONTREAL (AP) – Sammy Sosa's home-run bat and Kevin Tapani's arm stopped the Montreal Expos.

Sammy Sosa
Sammy Sosa's fourth home run of the year gives him 390 for his career.

Sosa hit his third homer in two games and the Chicago Cubs ended Montreal's four-game winning streak with a 4-2 victory Tuesday night.

"We feel good that we won against a team that's hot," Sosa said. "They're the hottest team right now in baseball and it feels good when you play against these guys and know you can compete with anybody."

Sosa hit a two-run shot in the sixth inning for his fourth homer of the season.

"In that type of situation, we needed that one," Sosa said. "We've been playing great. We came here and lost yesterday in a great game, but we came back today and played another great game."

Sosa's home run was the 390th of his career, moving him one ahead of Johnny Bench and tying him with Graig Nettles for 36th on the career list.

"I'm just trying to do my job," Sosa said. "I look forward to doing what I do."

Tapani (2-0) outdueled Tony Armas Jr. (0-2) for the second straight start.

"Tapani's a tough pitcher," Expos catcher Michael Barrett said. "He's an experienced veteran pitcher and he came out there with good stuff today."

Tapani allowed just one run -- on Lee Stevens' third homer of the season in the second -- and six hits in six innings.

"It worked out OK but it hasn't been easy," Tapani said. "The way Armas was throwing the ball tonight, after I gave up the home run to Stevens I thought one more could be out of reach for us so I had to battle the whole time to make sure we stayed right there. Fortunately, we were able to put the one inning together against him and it held up."

Tapani struck out five and walked two.

"He knew what he was doing out there," Chicago manager Don Baylor said. "He had outstanding control and great composure. Even though he gave up the home run, he made good pitches up against Stevens."

Geoff Blum homered off with one out in the eighth off Cubs reliever Kyle Farnsworth.

Jeff Fassero pitched the ninth for his third save in as many opportunities.

Armas held the Cubs hitless through five innings before Eric Young doubled leading off the sixth to end a personal 0-for-9 skid.

Sosa, who hit a pair of two-run homers the night before, homered one out later to put Chicago ahead 2-1. All four of Sosa's home runs have come in a span of four days.

Armas didn't last the inning as he walked Todd Hundley before Rondell White doubled.

"Tony's going to be excellent," Barrett said. "He's going to be a star for us in the future and we're just trying to keep him healthy, and we want him to continue to learn and get better every start he goes out there."

Pinch-hitter Julio Zuleta hit a run-scoring single off reliever Scott Stewart to put the Cubs up 3-1 and Gary Matthews Jr. made it a three-run lead with an RBI grounder.

Jose Vidro and Orlando Cabrera each had two hits for Montreal.

Game notes
Sosa's next targets on the road to 400 homers are Joe Carter (396), Dale Murphy (398) and Al Kaline (399). ... Farnsworth struck out the side in the seventh. ... Expos leadoff hitter Peter Bergeron went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. He has struck out 15 times in 33 at-bats this season. ... The crowd at Olympic Stadium was 8,314. The previous night, the Expos drew 5,776.

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RECAPS
Boston 10
Baltimore 1

Toronto 3
Tampa Bay 2

Chi. White Sox 8
Cleveland 7

NY Yankees 9
Kansas City 5

Minnesota 8
Detroit 2

Texas 7
Anaheim 5

Seattle 5
Oakland 1

San Francisco 11
San Diego 6

Chicago Cubs 4
Montreal 2

Philadelphia 7
Florida 6

Houston 3
Milwaukee 0

Arizona 2
Los Angeles 0





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