Cubs Finally Getting Used to Winning

The fun has just begun for Terry Mulholland and the Chicago Cubs.

Mulholland finally got enough offensive support to earn his first victory of the year--and Chicago’s first win by a left-handed starter in four seasons--as the Cubs defeated the Montreal Expos, 5-2, Monday night at Chicago.

“That zero in the win column gets real heavy,” said Mulholland (1-3), who gave up six hits in eight innings. “The zero for the team record was getting real heavy, too. Now that’s long gone, I’ve gotten rid of mine and some of the zeros in front of our batting averages are dropping, too.”

Chicago is 5-4 since its 0-14 start, the worst in National League history, and has won three of its last four games.

“If it’s September and we’re 9 1/2 games down, I might [be worried],” Mulholland said. “But we’ve got five months left. Nine games can be made up in one month. That would leave four months to really have some fun.”

Mulholland, the first Cub lefty starter to win since Greg Hibbard beat the Dodgers on Sept. 29, 1993, entered the game with the rotation’s best earned-run average (3.49) but had nothing to show for it because Chicago only scored nine runs in his first five starts.

The Cubs, however, quickly got him some runs this time, as Tyler Houston capped a three-run first inning with a two-run single.

Florida 12, San Diego 9--Moises Alou and Gary Sheffield hit grand slams for the Marlins, who blew a four-run lead and then rallied to hand the Padres their sixth consecutive loss with a victory at Miami.

Alou tied a career-high with five RBIs, giving him 29 with two games remaining this month. The National and major league record of 32 in April was set by Barry Bonds last year.

Florida has won four games in a row. The Marlins, 11-2 in Miami, have won their last four home games.

Greg Vaughn and Chris Gomez homered for the Padres against rookie Tony Saunders, who led, 4-0, but failed to get his first major league win in his third start.

Marlin rookie Felix Heredia (1-0) gave up one run in two innings. Robb Nen pitched the ninth for his sixth save.

Bobby Bonilla had four hits with two doubles and three runs scored for the Marlins. Their run total was a season high.

The Padres gave up 13 walks, tying a club record.

Showers delayed the start of the game for 1 hour 21 minutes, and there was a delay of 20 minutes in the seventh inning.

The two-grand-slam game was the Marlins’ first and the 47th in major league history. It has been done 23 times in the National League.

New York 15, Cincinnati 2--Todd Hundley and Butch Huskey homered to open a seven-run fifth inning as the Mets rolled to victory at Cincinnati.

New York batted around for five runs in the third inning, then sent 11 batters to the plate for seven runs in the fifth against the NL’s worst pitching staff. It was the Mets’ biggest inning since they scored eight against St. Louis on April 25 last year.

“It’s fun to have one of those nights,” Hundley said. “They don’t come very often. When you have them, you’ve got to enjoy them. I think everybody contributed.”

New York piled up 17 hits, its best total in five years and Rick Reed (2-1) pitched eight strong innings for his second victory over the Reds in a week.

St. Louis 5, San Francisco 2--Andy Benes, out since early in spring training with a rib-cage muscle injury, won his first start for the Cardinals at St. Louis.

“That’s a good first outing,” St. Louis Manager Tony La Russa said about Benes. “He really had to work for five innings, but [San Francisco] is really playing well.”

Benes, an 18-game winner last season, gave up two runs and six hits in five innings.

“I’m trying to look for good things I can get out of the game,” Benes said. “I should get better as time goes on. Anytime you throw 100 pitches in five innings that’s not anything to get excited about.

“Fortunately, the balls they hit hard were right at us.”

Tom Lampkin and John Mabry homered for St. Louis against Williams Van Landingham (1-2).

Mark Petkovsek worked 2 2/3 scoreless innings and Dennis Eckersley finished for his fifth save.

Colorado 7, Houston 6--Vinny Castilla homered with two outs in the 10th inning as the Rockies rallied for a win at Houston.

Castilla hit his eighth homer of the season off Billy Wagner (2-1), who gave up his first run in 15 innings this season. With their sixth win in seven games, the Rockies moved back into a tie for first place in the NL West with San Francisco.

Houston rookie Bob Abreu hit the first two homers of his career for the Astros, who have lost three consecutive games for the first time this season.

Jeff McCurry (1-0) pitched 1 1/3 innings for the win, and Bruce Ruffin got three outs for his sixth save.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

Player: Moises Alou

Team: Florida

Performance: 2 for 4, 5 RBIs, 3 runs, grand slam

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Bobby Bonilla

Team: Florida

Performance: 4 for 4, 3 runs, 2 doubles

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Ron Gant

Team: St. Louis

Performance: 3 for 4, 2 RBIs, 2 doubles, stolen base

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Joe Randa

Team: Pittsburgh

Performance: 3 for 6, 3 RBIs, 2 doubles, 1 run

Team’s Result: Win

PITCHING

Player: Andy Benes

Team: St. Louis

Performance: 5 innings, 2 run, 6 hits, 4 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Terry Mulholland

Team: Chicago

Performance: 8 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, 5 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win