No Knocks on Wood After One-Hit Effort

Looking like the pitcher he was in 1998, Kerry Wood gave up only one hit and struck out 14 Friday to lead the Chicago Cubs past the Milwaukee Brewers, 1-0, at Chicago.

“Just one of those days everything was working for me from the start of the game,” Wood said. “Even in the bullpen I had good stuff, and we just stuck with it.”

Wood (3-4) took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning before giving up a leadoff single to Mark Loretta.

Most of the 26,526 fans rose to their feet as Geoff Jenkins, the last batter, came to the plate. After Wood threw two strikes, fans started chanting, “Ker-ry! Ker-ry!”

There was a huge roar as Jenkins swung mightily for the third strike and final out.

“When he’s on, he’s as good as anyone in baseball. And that’s what he was today,” said Joe Girardi, who caught Wood on Friday and also was behind the plate for David Cone’s perfect game in 1999 and Dwight Gooden’s no-hitter in 1996.

It was the second one-hitter in as many days for the Cubs. Jon Lieber needed only 79 pitches to one-hit Cincinnati on Thursday, breaking the Reds’ streak of games without a shutout at an NL-record 208.

It’s only the seventh time since 1900 that a team has had back-to-back complete game one-hitters. The last team to do it was Texas in 1996, with Ken Hill and Roger Pavlik on May 3-4.

The last NL team was Houston in 1972, with Jerry Reuss and Larry Dierker.

“Two amazing days,” Cub Manager Don Baylor said. “Truly amazing.”

It was Wood’s second one-hit shutout. The other one was his 20-strikeout game against Houston on May 6, 1998 in only his fifth major league start.

Arizona 7, San Diego 1--Mark Grace hit a three-run homer at San Diego as the Diamondbacks scored six unearned runs in third inning to snap the Padres’ six-game winning streak.

The Padres, who had been alone atop the NL West for one day, committed three of their season-high five errors in the third.

Colorado 6, San Francisco 1--Mike Hampton gave up five hits in seven innings as the Rockies ended a 13-game losing streak at San Francisco.

Hampton (7-1) improved to 10-0 in 16 regular-season appearances against the Giants. The Rockies slowed Barry Bonds’ homer binge, though he extended his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games.

Atlanta 1, Pittsburgh 0--Greg Maddux pitched a seven-hitter for his ninth consecutive victory over the Pirates, and Rafael Furcal had an RBI double in the eighth at Atlanta.

Maddux (4-4), who struck out six and walked two in his second shutout of the season and 33rd of his career, hasn’t lost to Pittsburgh in 13 starts since April 30, 1994.

Philadelphia 10, Montreal 8--Travis Lee’s two-out three-run homer in the ninth at Philadelphia lifted the Phillies over the Expos.

With Philadelphia down 8-6 in the ninth, pinch-hitter Rob Ducey led off with a walk against Ugueth Urbina (0-1). After Doug Glanville and Jimmy Rollins struck out, Bobby Abreu walked and Scott Rolen singled to cut it to 8-7. Lee then homered on an 0-2 pitch.

New York 4, Florida 3--Timo Perez singled with two outs in the 10th inning at New York, giving the Mets their first three-game winning streak this season.

Pinch-hitter Lenny Harris hustled for a one-out double in the 10th off Dan Miceli (0-3), and Perez singled into the right-field corner.

St. Louis 5, Cincinnati 4--Craig Paquette hit his first career pinch homer, a three-run shot off Danny Graves with two outs in the ninth at Cincinnati.