Cubs’ Wood One-Ups Park

The Dodgers ran into a big problem Friday night while trying to remain atop the standings in the National League West.

Namely, Kerry Wood.

The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Chicago Cub right-hander dominated for eight innings and outdueled Chan Ho Park in a 2-1 victory before 52,118 at Dodger Stadium that helped knock the Dodgers out of first place.

The Dodgers have lost five consecutive games and are now a half-game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks, who defeated the New York Mets, 7-0. The Dodgers are tied for second place with the San Francisco Giants, who pulled even by defeating the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2, for their ninth straight win.

“We let it slip away,” said Dodger outfielder Shawn Green, who gave the Dodgers a short-lived 1-0 lead in the seventh inning with his 31st homer. “It’s a game we needed to win.”

Wood (10-6), who missed the 1999 season recovering from reconstructive elbow surgery, made it nearly impossible.

The only hits he surrendered were a double to Green in the second inning and Green’s homer and a double to Eric Karros in the seventh. He struck out nine and walked only one.

It marked the 10th time this season that Wood has surrendered three or fewer hits.

“The weather out here is so nice, I didn’t really feel like I was breathing hard until the seventh inning,” Wood said. “I had a good fastball and I was getting my curveball over early on. Later I started mixing in some changeups.”

Wood’s performance helped the Cubs maintain their 3 1/2-game lead over the Houston Astros in the National League Central. It also improved the Cubs’ record to 4-0 against the Dodgers this season. They swept the Dodgers May 4-6 at Wrigley Field, the Cubs’ first three-game sweep of the Dodgers since 1995 and the first in Chicago since 1972.

Park (11-7) gave up two runs and four hits in 7 2/3 innings, but walked five and hit Sammy Sosa with a pitch that started the Cubs’ game-winning rally in the eighth.

The Dodgers were leading, 1-0, when a Park fastball grazed Sosa’s jersey with one out. Fred McGriff followed with a double to right and the next batter, Michael Tucker, hit a fly ball to center field, driving in Sosa and tying the score, 1-1.

Ron Coomer then worked the count to 3-and-2 before chasing Park with a run-scoring single to left that gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead.

Wood pitched the eighth then gave way to Tom Gordon, who struck out two in the ninth to record his 22nd save.

“Tonight’s game had the makings of a great pitching duel and it lived up to its billing,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said.

Park pitched out of several potential jams early.

In the first inning, Delino DeShields walked with one out and moved to second on Sosa’s groundout to shortstop Ricky Gutierrez. But Park then got McGriff to ground out to second.

The Cubs had a mild threat in the third inning when Park gave up a two-out double to Eric Young and then walked DeShields again, bringing up Sosa, who entered the game with 35 homers and 99 runs batted in.

Park, however, got Sosa to pop out to first base to end the inning.

The Cubs put a runner in scoring position in the fifth when Gutierrez singled to right with one out and moved to second on Wood’s sacrifice bunt. Park ended the threat by getting DeShields to hit a ground ball to second.

The Cubs missed a chance in the sixth when Park issued consecutive walks to Sosa and McGriff, who advanced on Tucker’s sacrifice bunt.

Coomer then hit a one-hopper back to Park, who threw to third baseman Adrian Beltre after Sosa broke down the line. Beltre threw to Chad Kreuter at the plate and Kreuter ran Sosa back to third where he tagged out McGriff, who was trying to advance.

With runners at first and third, Todd Hundley hit Park’s first pitch to the edge of the infield behind first base. But Dodger second baseman Mark Grudzielanek caught the ball on one hop and threw out Hundley.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Dodgers against a Cub pitching staff that leads the National League with 929 strikeouts. At their current pace, the Cubs would finish the season with more than 1,390 strikeouts. The major league record for strikeouts in a season is 1,245 set by the Atlanta Braves in 1996.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

NL WEST

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W L GB Arizona 61 48 -- Dodgers 61 49 1/2 San Francisco 61 49 1/2 San Diego 53 56 8 Colorado 46 63 15

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NL WILD CARD

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W L GB Dodgers 61 49 -- San Francisco 61 49 -- Houston 60 49 1/2 Philadelphia 59 50 1 1/2

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