Hershiser Finally Gets 200th

Orel Hershiser's first thoughts upon reaching the 200-win mark were of his wife, Jamie.

Hershiser reached the milestone Thursday night as the New York Mets hit a team-record six doubles in the second inning on their way to a 7-4 win over the Montreal Expos.

"I'd like to dedicate something like this to my wife," Hershiser said. "I think that she's been through a lot and I think the girls really stay off to the side and out of the limelight, and they really do an awful lot of work for us to come out here and play as well as we do and take care of our families."

Hershiser (10-7) became the 95th pitcher to win 200 games and the third active pitcher, behind Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux. He held the Expos to two runs and six hits in seven innings to win for the eighth time in his last 11 decisions. He also singled twice and stole third base on the front end of a double-steal in the seventh.

"I don't think I even thought about 200 when I was struggling at the beginning of the season because the eight wins seemed a long way off, as bad as I was pitching," Hershiser said.

Hershiser, who is 200-140 in his career, has 101 wins since undergoing major reconstructive shoulder surgery that almost ended his career in 1990.

The Mets' six doubles in the second inning fell one short of tying the 63-year-old major league record for doubles in an inning. The Boston Braves hit seven doubles in the first inning of the first game of a doubleheader with St. Louis on Aug. 25, 1936.

"I've never seen it in my life before," said Robin Ventura, who hit the first of the six Mets doubles in the second. "Neither in the majors, the minors or even little league."

Montreal, which lost its third straight to drop a season-worst 24 games under .500, hit four doubles in the game as the two teams combined for 10 doubles.

Ventura, Brian McRae and Roger Cedeno hit consecutive one-out doubles off Dustin Hermanson (3-9) to put the Mets ahead 2-1, with Cedeno advancing to third on left-fielder Rondell White's error.

Rey Ordonez's sacrifice fly made it 3-1 and Hershiser followed with a two-out single. Rickey Henderson, who has 999 career RBI, doubled Hershiser to third and Edgardo Alfonzo then doubled home both runners to make it 5-1.

John Olerud followed with New York's third straight double to drive in the Mets' sixth run of the inning. Olerud also had an RBI single in the ninth.

Orel Hershiser wins his 101st game since reconstructive arm surgery in 1990. (AP)

"You don't expect to do that to a pitcher like Hermanson," McRae said. "He was throwing the ball well and it looked like it was going to be a tough game but within a matter of minutes in the second inning we were able to put a bunch of doubles together and get on him early."

Alfonzo went 3-for-5 with two RBI to extend his hitting streak to 12 games. The Mets went 6-2 on their road trip and are a major league-best 29-13 since firing three coaches on June 6.

The Expos have gone nearly a month without a win from a starter, tying a team record in the process. Since Carl Pavano beat Florida on June 25, Montreal starters have gone 0-11 with a 6.38 ERA in 23 games.

Hermanson, who hasn't won since May 8 and is 0-5 in his last 13 starts, retired 14 straight after Olerud's double before Hershiser reached on an infield single with one out in the seventh.

Hermanson allowed six runs and nine hits in 6 2-3 innings. He struck out six.

"One bad inning for Hermanson -- a very bad inning," Expos manager Felipe Alou said. "There were a lot of hittable balls. Before and after that inning he was great."

Vladimir Guerrero hit a solo homer, his 21st, off Dennis Cook in the ninth. Chris Widger added an RBI double in the second for Montreal and Jose Vidro had an RBI double in the eighth off Jason Isringhausen.

Notes

• Hershiser, who won 134 games for Los Angeles from 1983-1994, has won 155 NL games. He won 45 games with Cleveland from 1995-97.
• The Mets hit a team-record eight doubles at Chicago on June 12, 1990.
• Mike Piazza flew to right for the first out of the second and struck out swinging to end the inning.
• Expos manager Felipe Alou is two games short of tying Gene Mauch's team record of 1,126 games managed.
• Montreal starters also went 23 games between wins from May 7 to June 6, 1969. Jerry Robertson's complete-game win on June 8 ended the Expos' team-record 20-game losing streak.

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