MONTREAL -- Ken Hill became the first 15-game winner in the National League as the Montreal Expos beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 for their fifth straight win.


Sean Berry hit a two-run homer off Tom Urbani (2-7) in the first inning of Tuesday's matchup to spark Montreal to its 13th win in 14 games.


Hill (15-5) allowed six hits, including a two-run homer to Todd Zeile, three earned runs, struck out one and walked one over six innings.


"It's a good feeling, but I just happen to be on top," said Hill of getting his 15th win. "I still think (Atlanta's Greg) Maddux is the best pitcher in the game. I just want to be mentioned in the same breath."


Montreal, which has the best record in baseball at 67-38, moved 4 1/2 games ahead of Atlanta in the NL League East.


John Wetteland pitched the ninth inning for his 22nd save.


Moises Alou connected for his 20th homer in the seventh for Montreal. Alou and Will Cordero each went 3-for-4.


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Hy Vandenberg, a pitcher with the Chicago Cubs when they last made it to the World Series in 1945, has died of cancer. He was 88.


Vandenberg, who died Sunday at his home, pitched six scoreless innings in three games in the Series, which the Cubs lost to Detroit. In his six years in the majors, he also played with the Boston Red Sox and the New York Giants.


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Baseball owners did not make their payment to the players' pension plan, a move a union official said Tuesday was an "all-time low" that pushed the sides even farther apart.


Management negotiator Richard Ravitch said Tuesday night the move was understandable because no collective bargaining agreement had been reached. The payment of between $7 million and $8 million was due Aug. 1 and was based on revenue from the All-Star game.


Earlier in the day, union head Donald Fehr said he expected "no major breakthroughs" when the sides meet this week, just days before the union's Aug. 12 strike deadline, and resume discussions about management's demand for a salary cap.


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Baseball fan organizations, angry over the threatened players' strike and promoting a one-day boycott of major league baseball, have moved up the day they hope fans will stay away in droves.


Fans First and a handful of allied groups are calling for a fans' strike Aug. 11, one day before the strike date.


"Maybe the owners and players will know that there is some fan organization out there -- I don't mean just our organization, but fans in general -- and will listen," Frank Sullivan of Fans First said Monday.


Fans First initially planned an Aug. 13 fans' strike, but that date was set before the players' union scheduled its date.


"We'll quit on them before they quit on us," Sullivan said.


In Dallas, baseball fans at the home of the Texas Rangers are organizing a walkout of their own.


Fans, using a sports radio station to discuss the plan, are talking about walking out of the Texas Rangers' game against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday. (Reuters, AP)