Cubs’ Johnson Wins It With Zeal : Baseball: After hearing about acquisition of Zeile, he beats Dodgers with two-run homer in ninth, 2-0.

Howard Johnson had already heard the news: The Chicago Cubs had acquired third baseman Tod Zeile, and Johnson’s already limited playing time might shrink even more--or worse.

Johnson tried not to think about it Friday.

“Your mind is a little bit not there, you’re a step behind everything,” Johnson said. “You’re in a zone and not sure where you’re at. For nine innings, it’s just concentrate, concentrate and concentrate.”

He did a lot of that in his last at-bat, hitting a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth ghat gave the cubs a 2-0 victory over the Dodgers.

It was Johnson’s fourth homer of the season. He has batted only 62 times and has a paltry .129 average, and he knows his future is uncertain once Zeile, acquired in a trade with St. Louis earlier Friday, arrives.

“I can’t control those things. . . . I just hope I can stay here,” Johnson said. “I feel we can win here and I knew all along I would be a backup.”

Mark Grace led off the ninth with a single off Rudy Seanez (0-1), who entered after Dodgers starter Tom Candiotti pitched eight shutout innings. After Jose Hernandez sacrificed Grace to second, Johnson homered to center.

“I’m not gonna give any credit to those guys [the Cubs],” Dodger Manager Tommy Lasorda said. “Why should I give them any credit? Our pitcher held them scoreless for eight innings. We couldn’t score any runs for him. . . .A pitcher throws a shutout, you’ve gotta win that game.”

Bryan Hickerson (1-2) pitched two-thirds of an inning for the win.

Candiotti, making his 300th career start, held the Cubs hitless or a 5 2/3 innings until Rey Sanchez singled to center on a 1-1 pitch.

Candiotti’s knuckler had the Cubs lunging and threw their timing off. The 37-year-old gave up only three hits, walked five and struck out five.

“I felt really good. I had a good knuckleball and I was changing speeds with it,” he said. “I had two or three pitches working.”

The Cubs threatened in the seventh when Grace singled and moved up on Hernandez’s sacrifice. Johnson worked Candiotti for a walk, but Ozzie Timmons hit into a double play.

A two-out walk to Brian McRae and another single by Sanchez gave the Cubs another scoring chance in the eighth. But with runners at second and third, Sammy Sosa bounced out.

Steve Trachsel, who had given up 15 earned runs in his three previous starts, gave up six hits and held the Dodgers scoreless through seven.

Mike Perez took over in the top of the eighth and worked 1 1/3 innings before he was replaced by Hickerson.

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Notes

Cubs batters have struck out 115 times in 15 games during June. They have only 35 walks this month and lead the majors in fewest drawn this season. . . .The Dodgers are 26-14 at Wrigley Field since 1988 . . . .Cub shortstop Shawon Dunston left after two innings with tightness in his back.