‘Spos take 2 of 3 from Braves in wild series

8/22 - Fulton county Stadium
Braves 4, Expos 0
Dennis Martinez vs Phil Niekro
With his knuckler fluttering around like a bunch of gnats on a hot Atlanta night Phil Niekro baffled the free swinging Expos for 9 hopeless innings.  Montreal would manage just 4 hits as Niekro went the distance with ease to nab the shutout and increase his record to 4-0 with a 1.51 ERA.  Atlanta scored all of their runs via the long ball.  Joe Adcock had two dingers and Hank Aaron had a 2 run shot.  Dennis Martinez pulled an oblique muscle and had to leave the game with 1 out in the 5th.  David Palmer went the rest of the way.

8/23 - Olympic Stadium
Expos 3, Braves 1
Warren Spahn vs Steve Renko
On paper this did not look to be a good matchup for the home team.  The good money would have been bet on the HOF'er Spahn, who truthfully pitched very well.  On most days Spahn would have notched himself a victory by going the distance and giving up just 2 earned runs.  Today was just one of those days where a guy like Steve Renko pitches like Christy Mathewson.  The Expos would get on the board with 2 outs in the bottom of the 1st thanks to a Gary Carter RBI single.  Carter would strike again 2 innings later with a two out RBI double to make it 2-0.  A Tim Wallach error in the 5th would lead to Atlanta's only run on the day.  Bob Horner would wind up on 2nd thanks to Wallach's miscue and two plays later would score on a Jeff Blauser sac fly to center.  Felix Millan's error in the bottom of the 6th helped Montreal bump their lead back up to 2.  The Expos capitalized when Delino DeShields singled home Wallach.  On the play DeShields came up lame rounding first and had to exit the game.  Initial reports have him out for a week to two weeks.  Tom Foley would pinch run and stay in the game to play second.  The top of the 7th was the turning point in the game.  Renko would get ther first two outs easily, but after giving up a seeing eyed single to Blauser began to unravel.  A wild pitch allowed Blauser to sneak into second and a walk to the opposing pitcher (Spahn) looked to spell doom.  Another wild pitch allowed the runners to advance 90 additional feet.  Pinch  hitter Bob Elliot was given an intentional pass once he ran the count to 3-0 and that spelled the end for Renko.  Tim Burke was brought in from the pen and Eddie Mathews was called on to pinch hit for Millan.  Burke won the battle as Mathews grounded out sharply to Foley at second to end the inning.  Burke would go on to pitch the final 2 innings and not allow a runner, while notching his first save of the campaign.   Three of Atlanta’s 4 infielders (Millan, Horner & Blauser) made errors.

8/24 - Olympic Stadium
Expos 5, Braves 3
Tom Glavine vs Steve Rogers
An 3 run opening inning salvo put the Expos immediately in the drivers seat.  With 1 out Tim Foli reached base on a throwing error by Blauser at short.  Back to back walks to Galarraga and Dawson loaded the bases.  Glavine picked the corners and finally got a call from the umps much to the chagrin of Gary Carter who was rung up for looking at a called strike 3 that might have been 3 or 4 inches off the plate.  Larry Parrish picked up his HOF catcher with a line shot to left center to score Foli and Galarraga.  Ellis Valentine cashed in with an RBI single of his own to make it 3-0.  A two run homer by Dale Murphy in the 3rd made it a 1 run game, but Larry Parrish's solo shot in the bottom of the 3rd put the Expos back up by 2.  Neither team could mount any offense over the next 4 innings.  The top of the 8th saw the Braves blow a golden opportunity to tie the score and possible take the lead.  Steve Rogers, who had been so good up until this point, gave up a lead off single to Tommy Holmes.  Bob Elliot's pinch hit triple made it a 1 run game with nobody out.  The Braves looked poised to tie the game up for sure with a runner on 3rd and nobody out and Hank Aaron strolling to the plate to pinch hit for the pitcher.  Aaron hit a bullet right back to Rogers who held Elliott at third and tossed to first to get Aaron for the first out of the inning.  Dale Murphy, who homered earlier off of Rogers, was given an intentional pass to create a force at second.  Tim Burke, who pitched so well the day before was brought on to face Rico Carty and got the enigmatic hitting machine to swing and miss at 3 pitches for out number 2.  With Eddie Mathews coming up it was time to go to the lefty, Woodie Fryman.  Fryman ran the ball in on Mathews hands, which was just enough to make Eddie's long fly  land in Valentine's glove just shy of the warning track.  Montreal dodged a bullet, then added a much needed insurance run in the bottom of the inning when Mike Jorgensen hit a pinch hit homer with 2 outs.  Jeff Reardon would come on in the 9th looking to close it out.  An error with one out by shortstop Tim Foli allowed Joe Adcock to reach base.  Felipe Alou and Bob Horner both flew out weakly and Reardon posted his second save of the season.