Sosa Hitless in Four At-Bats as Thurman, Expos Beat Cubs

Mike Thurman thought it was a decent deal.

The Montreal Expo pitcher was sporting a large ice pack on his left elbow after being hit by a pitch in the third inning, but also wound up with the victory Thursday as the Expos beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-2.

“It didn’t feel good,” he said. “It’s a fair trade for the win.”

Chris Widger homered and drove in four runs as the Expos won for the fifth time in six games and completed a 5-2 trip, their best since going 7-2 in August 1995.

The Cubs have lost 10 of 13.

Sammy Sosa, who started the day tied with Mark McGwire for the major league home run lead with 42, went 0 for 4 with a walk. McGwire hit two homers against the San Diego Padres on Thursday night at St. Louis and has 501 for his career.

Mark Grace had a run-scoring single with two outs in the ninth and Sosa hit a long fly ball to left with two runners on for the final out. Ugueth Urbina gave up Grace’s single and retired Sosa for his 23rd save in 29 chances.

“[Wednesday] I had a better swing,” said Sosa, who hit his 42nd homer that day. “Today, I had a one-handed swing. On a different day, it would’ve been out.”

Widger had a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, an RBI single in the sixth and a two-run homer in the eighth.

Thurman (4-7), winless in his previous seven starts, earned his first victory since June 22. He struck out a career-high seven in six innings.

The key inning for Thurman was the first. With runners at first and second and one run already in, the pitcher got Sosa to ground into a double play.