MONTREAL (Ticker) -- Tony Armas Jr.'s first win of the season was a long time coming.

Armas, who missed more than a year following surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and labrum in his right shoulder, allowed just three hits in six scoreless innings as the Montreal Expos edged the Philadelphia Phillies , 3-2.

It was the first victory for Armas Jr. (1-2) since April 10 of last season. He walked three and struck out seven.

"I felt good," he said. "I can't complain about my arm, so I'm happy for that. I've been having trouble with my breaking pitches, my slider and my curveball," Armas said. It's (curveball) not my best pitch, so it's tough to pitch in the big leagues with just one pitch. I'm just happy that everything's coming together."

The righthander had to sweat out the eighth as Philadelphia closed to 3-2 on Jim Thome 's RBI double and Jason Michaels ' run-scoring single. But the Phillies missed a chance to tie when left fielder Brad Wilkerson threw out Thome trying to score on Mike Lieberthal 's fly ball for an inning-ending double play.

"That was a deep flyball to tie the game," Wilkerson said. "That guy (Thome) was gonna go and I had so much momentum to the plate. It was gonna be a strong throw. It was just a matter of me getting it on line. It was gonna be a bang-bang play. If it's off line at all, he's probably safe."

Thome knew the play was going to be close and he never hesitated from third.

"In that situation, we're tagging," Thome said. "You got to be aggressive. He made a good throw, that was it."

Chad Cordero tossed the ninth for his fourth save as the Expos won the rubber game of the three-game series.

In his first four starts since returning, Armas posted an 8.31 ERA while working only 17 1/3 innings. He did not get a decision in his last outing, surrendering six runs in four innings of a 17-14 victory over the Chicago White Sox .

"Armas was outstanding," Montreal manager Frank Robinson said. "I thought he was in midseason form. He had all his pitches working for him."

Tony Batista gave Montreal the lead with a two-run home run in the fourth off Eric Milton (9-2), who allowed only two runs and four hits in six innings Jose Vidro doubled ahead of Batista's homer to extend his hitting streak to an Expos' season-high 11 games.

The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for Milton, whose only other defeat was a 5-0 setback to the New York Mets on May 25.

"I gave up the home run and that cost us the game," Milton said. "That's the bottom line. I'm trying to win for the team, not get my 10th win."

The Phillies scored only four runs in the two losses to Montreal, and manager Larry Bowa continues to be frustrated by the lack of offense.

"I expect us to score runs with our lineup every day but it doesn't happen," Bowa said. "We're just inconsistent offensively."

Endy Chavez made it 3-1 with an RBI single off Roberto Hernandez in the seventh.

"These are the type of games you have to win, let's face it," Thome added. "They're playing well but coming in, our expectations were at least two out of three."