Brewers Outlast Expos

May 22, 1999 / 1:30 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Bobby Ayala's splitter didn't fool Ron Belliard.

Belliard hit a two-run double in the 11th as the Milwaukee Brewers overcame Montreal's second straight ninth-inning comeback to beat the Expos 5-3 Friday night.

Dave Nilsson hit a leadoff double against Ayala (0-4) and pinch-hitter Rich Becker walked. After Geoff Jenkins sacrificed, Belliard doubled to left-center field.

"I was looking for that pitch," Belliard said. "(Ayala) had been around home plate and before I went to hit they told me that he had a good splitter and that he was going to throw it to me to try to get me out."

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Bob Wickman (2-1) got the victory and David Weathers earned his second save as the Brewers prevented the Expos from winning three straight for the first time this season.

Trailing 3-1, Montreal rallied in the ninth. Hideo Nomo allowed his second homer of the game and Wickman failed for the second time in 11 save opportunities.

Nomo held Montreal to just three hits all for extra bases through eight innings before allowing Ryan McGuire's first homer on his first pitch of the ninth.

Wickman relieved and walked Rondell White before Vladimir Guerrero grounded into a double play.

Jose Vidro singled and scored the tying run from first when Michael Barrett hit Wickman's 3-2 pitch to the right-field corner for a double.

"Barrett had a big hit," Montreal manager Felipe Alou said. "He's a tough guy in the late innings."

Nomo's ERA is 2.21 after allowing two runs in eight-plus innings. He struck out and walked two in his third start for the Brewers since being released by both the New York Mets and the Chicago Cubs.

"He really established his curveball for a strike, spotted the fastball and then got the strikeouts with his splitter," Milwaukee manager Phil Garner said.

Sean Berry hit a two-run single off Carl Pavano in the fourth and Nomo added an RBI single.

Montreal's Mike Mordecai homered for the second straight game with two outs in the second.

"That's a tough one to lose after battling back the way we did,"> Mordecai said. "It's easy to say it's character-building but as a ballplayer, forget the character, you just want to win."

Pavano allowed three runs on six hits in six innings after allowing nine runs in two innings in his last start.

Notes:

Milwaukee's Jeff Cirillo remains one of only two NL players along with Chicago's Mark Grace to play every inning of his team's games this season. Jeromy Burnitz, who has also started each of Milwaukee's 40 games, saw his consecutive innings streak end Thursday night in New York when he sat out the last four innings of the Brewers' 10-1 loss in the second game of the Mets' doubleheader sweep.

White hit a towering pop up that struck Olympic Stadium's new roof. Brewers shortstop Lou Collier caught the ball, which struck the roof in fair territory, for the first out of the fourth.

Mordecai just missed homering for the second straight at-bat before fouling out in the fifth. His drive down the left-field line hooked a few feet left of the foul pole. Manny Martinez, pinch-hitting for Pavano in the sixth, also hit a long foul that missed the foul pole by less than Mordecai's drive before striking out.