MONTREAL — The Expos era in Montreal ended with a 9-1 loss to Florida on Wednesday night, a game delayed for 10 minutes when players were pulled off the field after a fan threw a golf ball that landed near second base.
A crowd of 31,395 showed up at Olympic Stadium for a final farewell just hours after baseball announced that the 36-year-old franchise will be moved next season to Washington, D.C.
It was the largest crowd of the year and about four times the season average.
Fans were warned in the third inning that the game would be forfeited if anything else was thrown onto the field. Three plastic bottles were tossed into left field in the sixth, one near Florida's Miguel Cabrera. But the teams remained on the field.
With two outs in the ninth, a fan jumped onto the field near Florida's on-deck circle and was quickly escorted off by two security guards.
After Terrmel Sledge popped up for the final out, Marlins coach Perry Hill took the ball from third baseman Mike Mordecai and tossed it across the field to Expos manager Frank Robinson. Montreal coach Claude Raymond was joined by all the Expos as they waved goodbye to fans.
REDS 4, CUBS 3 (12): At Chicago, Austin Kearns tied the game with a two-out double in the ninth inning, then hit a two-run homer in the 12th as Cincinnati dealt Chicago a key loss in the wild-card race.
The Cubs began the day tied for the NL wild-card lead with the Giants and one-half game ahead of Houston. San Francisco played at San Diego later and St. Louis was at Houston.
Chicago, which has lost four of its last five, has four games remaining — one more with the Reds on Thursday before concluding the regular season with a three-game series at Wrigley Field against NL East champion Atlanta.
Kearns, who also made a great catch in right to rob Sammy Sosa of extra bases, hit a two-run homer off Jon Leicester (5-1) after a walk to D'Angelo Jimenez.
John Riedling (5-3), who retired Ben Grieve on a comebacker with Sosa at third in the 11th, got the win.
BRAVES 6, METS 3: At Atlanta, Bobby Cox became just the ninth manager in baseball history to win 2,000 games when Atlanta scored four runs in the seventh.
Of the eight managers who previously reached 2,000 wins, seven are in the Hall of Fame. The lone exception is Tony La Russa, still managing the St. Louis Cardinals. Cox's overall record is 2,000-1,530, and he has guided Atlanta to 13 straight division titles.
The Braves broke a 2-all tie in the seventh. Andruw Jones doubled in the go-ahead run, and 46-year-old Julio Franco drove in another with a pinch-hit single off Eric Heilman (1-3).
After Mike Stanton took over for Heilman, Marcus Giles hit a hard grounder that barely got under the glove of shortstop Kaz Matsui and nearly rolled to the wall for a two-run triple.
Braves starter Russ Ortiz (15-9) gave up two runs in the first but showed signs of snapping out of his slump with seven solid innings. John Smoltz pitched the ninth for his 43rd save.
ASTROS 6, CARDINALS 4: At Houston, Houston pushed closer to a playoff berth, winning a club-record 15th straight home game.
The Astros temporarily tied San Francisco for the NL wild-card lead. Houston also moved a half-game ahead of the slumping Chicago Cubs.
Roger Clemens was denied his 19th win — and almost certainly a chance at his seventh 20-win season — when he left with the score tied at 4 after the sixth.
But Jeff Bagwell had a run-scoring single in the seventh and Lance Berkman followed with an RBI double to help the Astros eclipse their best home winning streak set in 1980 at the Astrodome.
PHILLIES 8-8, PIRATES 4-3: At Philadelphia, Chase Utley had three hits and two RBIs, and Philadelphia rallied with a six-run seventh inning to complete a doubleheader sweep.
In the opener, Todd Pratt hit a three-run homer and the Phillies clinched consecutive winning seasons for the first time in 21 years.
Philadelphia's Bobby Abreu reached base in nine of his 10 plate appearances — eight straight before flying out in the fifth. He had four hits, four walks and reached on an error.
BREWERS 4, DIAMONDBACKS 1: At Phoenix, Geoff Jenkins homered and drove in two runs, and Luis Vizcaino worked out of a bases-loded jam with no outs in the ninth to help Milwaukee snap a three-game skid.
The defeat was Arizona's 110th, one shy of tying four other teams for the eighth-most losses in major league history.
Jenkins singled, homered and tripled in his first three at-bats. He missed hitting for the cycle in the eighth inning when he flied out to left field. Jenkins scored twice.
Jenkins homered for the second straight game. He teamed with Keith Ginter for back-to-back solo shots in the fourth against Casey Fossum (4-15).
Gary Glover (2-1) went a season-high six innings in his fourth start, holding the Diamondbacks to one run on five hits.
ROCKIES 4, DODGERS 1: At Los Angeles, Jeromy Burnitz's RBI single with one out in the ninth inning sparked a three-run rally, and Colorado beat Los Angeles. But the Dodgers' magic number was reduced to two when the Padres downed the Giants.
PADRES 4, GIANTS 3 (10): At San Diego, Mark Loretta hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly with one out in the 10th inning and San Diego beat San Francisco to knock the Giants out of first place in the wild-card race.