Pitching to Lewis Is Costly to Cubs

After the fireworks’ smoke from Greg Vaughn’s two homers had cleared, the Chicago Cubs found itself with a second chance and a tough choice.

With the game on the line, they had to decide whether to pitch to Barry Larkin, who had beaten them with a ninth-inning double two days earlier.

They chose to walk him and wound up losing.

Mark Lewis followed with a tiebreaking double for Cincinnati, which scored three times in the seventh inning of an 8-5 victory Sunday that turned on Manager Jim Riggleman’s most important move.

“What looks like an obvious situation isn’t so obvious,” Riggleman said. “You get burned either way.”

Vaughn burned the Cubs early by hitting homers in each of his first two at-bats for a 4-1 lead. Chicago tied it, 5-5, when Tyler Houston drove in three runs with two singles.

That put the game on course to be decided by one move.

Terry Adams (0-1) relieved in the seventh inning, his first appearance since being disabled because of a sprained elbow. He walked Dmitri Young to open the inning, then got two strikeouts.

After pinch-runner Michael Tucker stole second base on Myers’ second pitch to Larkin, the Cubs had to decide whether to walk Larkin with first base open and Lewis on deck.

In the series opener, Rod Beck had pitched to Larkin with runners on second and third. Larkin pulled a double inside third base for a 3-2 win.

As he stretched on deck, Lewis thought along with Riggleman and reached the same conclusion.

“I wouldn’t want to face Barry in that situation, either,” Lewis said. “I’d have done the same thing.”

Lewis’ protective swing at a one-and-pitch pitch produced an opposite-field double.

“It was up and in. He fought it off and hit it down the right-field line,” Adams said. “I’m not sure he knows where he hit it or how. He put a swing on it and it found a place to sit.”

Brian Johnson followed with a run-scoring single, his third hit of the game, for the final margin.

Vaughn, in a five-for-40 slump, homered into the second deck in left field in each of his first two at-bats to extend a brief power surge. He homered and flied out to the wall in his last two at-bats Saturday, then hit homers that went 436 and 415 feet in his first two plate appearances Sunday.

Vaughn, who hit 50 homers last season for San Diego, is hitting only .204. He has seven homers, but only 14 other hits.