Hartford, CT (CP)--On Friday, the Royals opened up a 3-game set against the rejuvenated Whalers with a convincing 6-1 win. Mike Lansing and Rusty Greer each hit solo home runs, while Randy Johnson limited the Whalers to 3 hits over 4 innings, earning his 14th win of the year.
Last night, Montreal won 4-1, but it was 3 runs in the top of the 11th inning that decided the game. Mike Grace had another extraordinary outing, pitching 7 innings of shutout ball, but as is the usual story for Grace this season, his luck fell short. Joe Hetrick came into the game with the score 1-0, but Hartford managed to tie it up on a sacrifice fly by Rod Lewis.
In extra innings, Montreal exploded on Mimbs, scoring off hits by Tartabull, Palmeiro and catcher Art Maupin. Mesa got the win, improving his record to 4-3.
The Outlaws, meanwhile, were making shockwaves in Deadwood. The Outlaws took two wins from the Edmonton Oil Kings, and they now stand neck and neck in first place. "All this year we've been trying to catch up to Edmonton," said Darrin Fletcher. "But now we'll have to turn our attention to Deadwood, because they're a strong and focused team."
"The Outlaws may have helped us yesterday," said Royals GM Carbonetto, "but it's going to be even harder to fight for the division lead when there's two in front of us. Tomorrow, the best we can do is maintain our position, because both first place teams are player each other."
Thanks to the Outlaws, the Montreal Royals have diminished the margin to 4 1/2 games.
Rusty Greer A Threat to Higginson?
Not only does Higginson have a shot at making the Triple Crown, the odds are highly in his favour. He is leading the league in home runs, 13 ahead of Sammy Sosa and Geronimo Berroa. Higginson is first in RBIs (with 130), followed by Sosa who has only 109. Under batting average, Higginson still leads by a margin of 16 points, but Rusty Greer may very well be a threat.
The Royals' leftfielder has been on fire ever since, well, getting back from his one-month stint on the DL. Before getting injured, Greer hadn't reached the .300 all this season. Presently, he's hitting .331 and a batting title isn't that far from sight.
