JUPITER, Fla. (AP) _ Hideki Irabu seems to be responding to a change in scenery.

Irabu struck out five in five innings, allowing one hit as the Montreal Expos beat the Minnesota Twins 3-0 Wednesday.

Marty McLeary, Shayne Bennett and J.D. Smart finished the combined two-hitter.

Irabu, acquired Dec. 22 from the New York Yankees, retired his first 12 batters before Butch Huskey lined a single to left leading off the fifth. He then retired his final three batters.

``This is the best spring I have had,'' Irabu said through interpreter Go Ikeda. ``I don't know why. I just like it here.''

Irabu, 3-0 this spring, was 29-20 in 2 1/2 seasons with the New York Yankees, but was erratic and pitched only once in the postseason as they won consecutive World Series. - ``He was very impressive,'' Expos manager Felipe Alou said. ``He has been very good every time he has pitched. Today, he was very consistent with his split-finger pitch, and his changeup was outstanding. I hope he is as good every day when the season starts. I'd be glad to take my chances with him.''

Minnesota was 1-1 against Irabu last season.

``When his forkball is good, he is a different pitcher,'' Twins manager Tom Kelly said. ``Today, it was very good.''

Irabu has allowed just four runs _ two earned _ and nine hits in 12 innings. He's walked just one and struck out 12.

``He gets better each time out,'' catcher Chris Widger said. ``Today, he had his best splitter and he was able to throw it harder and get more dive on it. His location was better and it was easy to call the game. And he was able to reach back for a little more when he had two strikes on a batter.''

Montreal scored twice in the fourth off Eric Milton, getting a pair of RBI grounders after Milton Bradley's leadoff double and singles by Mickey Morandini and Vladimir Guerrero.

Guerrero was 3-for-3, raising his average to .444. Milton allowed two runs and four hits in four innings.

Notes: The Expos sent eight players to their minor league camp, which opened Wednesday: LHP Brent Billingsley, LHP Trey Moore, SS Tomas De La Rosa and 1B-OF Talmadge Nunnari were optioned to Triple-A Ottawa and LHP Matt Blank was optioned to Double-A Harrisburg. C Yohanny Valera, INF Jamey Carroll and OF Scott Hunter were sent to the camp for reassignment. .. After consecutive record crowds of 7,425 for Expos-Red Sox on Monday and 8,073 for Cardinals-Indians on Yuesday, the game at Roger Dean Stadium drew just 2,979.