Wood Puts Name in Record Book Again

Kerry Wood made his own place in the record book.

The 20-year-old Chicago Cubs phenom, who tied Roger Clemens’ mark by striking out 20 last week, set the major league record for strikeouts in consecutive games with 13 against the Arizona Diamondbacks in a 4-2 win Monday at Phoenix.

“I had no idea,” Wood said. “Great, I guess. To me, I had another good start and we won the ballgame. The record is great, but it’s just a bonus.”

The major league record for strikeouts in two starts was 32, set by Luis Tiant in 1968 and matched by Nolan Ryan (1974), Dwight Gooden (1984) and Randy Johnson (1997).

Woods needed only seven innings to reach his total of 33 and blow past those other four pitchers. And Wood did it faster than them, too.

Next up is the record for strikeouts in three consecutive starts--Ryan struck out 47 in 1974 and Gooden set the NL mark of 43 in 1984. Wood (4-2) is expected to make his next start this weekend at Cincinnati.

Wood, coming off his 20 strikeouts last Wednesday against Houston, gave up one run, five hits and one walk against Arizona. He also had two run-scoring singles before Terry Adams replaced him on the mound to begin the eighth.

Wood got his 33 strikeouts in 16 innings. To get 32, Tiant needed 19 innings, Ryan needed 17 2/3 innings and Gooden and Johnson each took 17.

Wood won his third straight game and extended his scoreless streak to 21 innings, a stretch in which he struck out 40 batters, before Kelly Stinnett homered in the seventh.

Brian Anderson (1-4) gave up eight hits and four runs in seven innings for the Diamondbacks, who lost their sixth in a row and their 12th in the last 13 games.

Atlanta 8, Cincinnati 1--Andruw Jones homered twice and Andres Galarraga added a three-run home run as the Braves set a franchise home run record in their win at Cincinnati.

Jones’ three-run homer in the first gave the Braves a franchise record 23 consecutive games with a homer. The NL record is 24 by the Dodgers in 1953, and the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers share the major league record of 25.

“I honestly never think of the record. I’m still not sure of it,” Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox said. “I really don’t care about the record. I care about winning the ballgame and home runs obviously have been helping us win a ton of games.”

The victory was Atlanta’s 12th in 14 games. Greg Maddux (5-2) won his third consecutive start.

Pittsburgh 5, Colorado 2--Jason Schmidt won his fourth consecutive decision and Keith Osik had his first two hits and runs batted in of the season to ruin Kevin Ritz’s first start in the Pirates’ win at Pittsburgh.

Schmidt (5-1) limited the Rockies to seven hits and two runs in seven-plus innings. He is already 2 1/2 months ahead of his 1997 victory pace, when he didn’t win his fifth until July 25.

Jose Guillen had three hits and is batting .563 (18 for 32) during an eight-game hitting streak.

St. Louis 7, Milwaukee 0--Todd Stottlemyre struck out 13 and Ray Lankford homered and doubled twice as the Cardinals ended a four-game losing streak with a win at St. Louis.

The Brewers lost in their first visit to Busch Stadium since the 1982 World Series.

Stottlemyre (4-3) gave up two hits in eight innings, retiring the final 18 batters, 11 by strikeout. He walked none.

Jeff Brantley pitched a hitless ninth, striking out one.

Lankford, who was in an 0 for 14 slump, hit a two-run homer and Brian Jordan and Ron Gant each hit their sixth home run.

Scott Karl (4-1) failed in his bid to become the first left-hander in Brewers history to start a season 5-0.

Houston 5, Florida 2--Bill Spiers drove in the go-ahead run after two sixth-inning errors, and the Astros overcame the first regular-season complete game of Livan Hernandez’s career to defeat the Marlins at Houston.

Hernandez (2-3), the MVP of last year’s World Series, struck out a career-high nine, giving up 11 hits and walking three. It was the 26th regular-season start for Hernandez, who did have one postseason complete game, a three-hitter against Atlanta in Game 5 of last year’s NL championship series.

Shane Reynolds (3-3) gave up eight hits in eight innings, struck out seven and walked two as Houston won for the 12th time in 15 games. Billy Wagner pitched a perfect ninth for his eighth save.

San Diego 2, New York 1--Kevin Brown outdueled former Florida teammate Al Leiter, and Wally Joyner’s bloop two-out single in the eighth inning lifted the Padres over the Mets at San Diego.

Brown (3-2) won for the first time in five starts, giving up one run and four hits in eight innings with six strikeouts and no walks. Leiter (3-2) pitched a five-hitter, striking out eight and walking three.

Both helped the Marlins win the World Series title, then were traded during the off-season as part of Florida’s payroll purge.

New York had won four in a row but hadn’t played since Friday because of consecutive rainouts at home. The Padres, coming off a 5-6 road trip, won for just the second time in six games.