Wood Baffles Astros, Sosa Smashes Them

Once again, Kerry Wood dominated the Houston Astros.

Wood pitched a four-hitter and Sammy Sosa hit his major league-leading 18th home run, and the Chicago Cubs defeated the Astros, 5-1, Saturday at Houston for their fifth consecutive victory.

Wood improved to 5-0 with a 1.89 earned-run average in six career starts against the Astros, including a 20-strikeout performance as a rookie in 1998.

Wood (5-3), who usually puts up high pitch counts, set down the Astros with remarkable efficiency in his fifth career complete game.

He walked none, struck out three and threw only 101 pitches. Wood averaged nearly 13 strikeouts in his previous four complete games.

“I just tried to be aggressive in the strike zone and go after them,” Wood said. “I was keeping my fastball down and the ones that I did get up they didn’t get a hold of and were flyballs. My breaking ball wasn’t good so I relied on my changeup a lot.”

Wood allowed only one runner to reach second base until the ninth inning.

Montreal 13, Philadelphia 9--Jose Vidro hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 10th inning, capping the Expos’ final rally.

Phillie newcomer Jeremy Giambi homered in his first two NL at-bats, but Philadelphia blew a three-run lead in the eighth and a one-run lead in the ninth.

Vidro, who earlier had extended his hitting streak to a major-league high 19 games, homered on the first pitch he saw from left-hander Hector Mercado (1-1) with none out.

Cincinnati 6, Atlanta 4--Juan Encarnacion hit a three-run homer, and Adam Dunn and Aaron Boone each hit solo homers at Atlanta, and the Reds ended a two-game skid.

Atlanta starter Jason Marquis (3-3) retired the first 11 batters before giving up three consecutive two-out hits in the fourth, including Austin Kearns’ run-scoring single that cut Atlanta’s lead to 2-1.

St. Louis 6, Pittsburgh 3--Eli Marrero drove in four runs, and Albert Pujols hit a two-run homer in the first inning at Pittsburgh to help Woody Williams (2-0) win his seventh decision in a row dating to last season.

After a two-out walk to J.D. Drew, Pujols sent a pitch by Jimmy Anderson an estimated 445 feet to left field.

Florida 6, New York 5--Eric Owens hit a two-run triple against David Weathers (2-1) in Florida’s five-run seventh inning at New York, and the Marlins took advantage of more sloppy fielding by the Mets.

After stranding 11 runners in the first six innings against Pedro Astacio, the Marlins erased a 4-1 deficit in the seventh.

The Mets committed two errors in the inning--including one by Gold Glove second baseman Roberto Alomar that allowed the tying run to score--drawing loud boos from the crowd of 35,724. New York leads the NL with 47 errors.

Milwaukee 2, San Diego 0--Ruben Quevedo (2-5) pitched a three-hitter at Milwaukee for his first shutout in 41 starts.

Jeffrey Hammonds hit a homer in the first inning and Richie Sexson had a run-scoring single, and the Brewers handed the Padres their fifth consecutive defeat.