Cub Rally Falls Short This Time

Randy Johnson struck out 14 in his fourth consecutive victory and the Arizona Diamondbacks barely weathered a six-run eighth-inning rally by the Chicago Cubs to win, 8-7, Wednesday night.

Byung-Hyun Kim, Arizona’s 20-year-old South Korean pitcher, was thrown out of the game after the eighth inning because a bandage, possibly containing a foreign substance, had fallen out of the collar of his jersey on a pitch.

Matt Williams and Jay Bell homered in the third inning for the Diamondbacks, who shelled Cub pitchers for 17 hits but squandered almost all of an 8-1 lead. Bell also had a run-scoring double, and Travis Lee went five for five with a triple and double.

Johnson (8-2) was up, 8-1, after seven innings before the Cubs erupted in the eighth.

Sammy Sosa, who struck out three times, homered off Johnson’s first pitch in the eighth, a shot that traveled an estimated 443 feet to left. Glenallen Hill doubled, Mickey Morandini hit an RBI triple down the right-field line, Henry Rodriguez walked and Benito Santiago singled for the third time of the night to drive in another run.

Kim then relieved Johnson and got Mark Grace to pop out, but Taylor Houston doubled to drive in a run. Roosevelt Brown struck out, but Rodriguez scored on a passed ball and Manny Alexander singled in the Cubs’ sixth run of the inning to make the score 8-7.

Kim finally struck out Sosa on a 3-2 pitch to end the inning. Moments later, umpires threw Kim out of the game. Television replays showed a bandage flying out of his jersey on the passed ball that scored Rodriguez.

Vladimir Nunez pitched the ninth inning for the first save of his career.