Sosa and Prior Put Hurt on Dodgers

The Chicago Cubs overwhelmed the Dodgers with star power and averted being swept Sunday with a 3-1 victory at Dodger Stadium.

Sammy Sosa hit two towering home runs (Nos. 27 and 28) against ace Kevin Brown to support the stellar pitching of former USC All-American Mark Prior, who tossed a five-hitter with nine strikeouts in his first appearance against the Dodgers.

Sosa provided more highlight-tape moments and silenced a sellout crowd of 51,729 in the first with a two-run shot to center estimated at 465 feet. It was the first homer Brown had allowed since May 20, a streak of 80 1/3 innings.

And Sosa tormented Brown again in the fourth after Dave Roberts’ run-scoring single in the third had cut the lead to 2-1, leading off with a 448-foot solo shot to right-center.

The totals: 913 feet of homers for Sosa, and one big headache for Brown.

“I made two bad mistakes to Sammy, and he took advantage of them,” said Brown (11-6), who is 1-5 in his last eight starts despite a 2.66 earned-run average during that span.

“I needed to do a great job today, I think that was pretty obvious, and I wasn’t as sharp as I have been.”

Prior was razor-sharp.

The second-year All-Star proved to the Dodgers that he’s as good as advertised in a show of precision and power from start to finish, ending their winning streak at six games. Prior’s crackling fastball was clocked at 94 mph in the ninth; his wide-breaking curveball remained sharp.

The Cubs turned a double play in the sixth, and shortstop Augie Ojeda made a dazzling play in the ninth to rob Roberts of a single.

Manager Dusty Baker went to the mound after Shawn Green singled with two out in the ninth, and then let the rising young star finish what he had started.

Prior (10-5) struck out slumping cleanup batter Jeromy Burnitz for the third complete game of his career. The Cubs (60-56) salvaged a game in the three-game series, pulling even with the Dodgers (60-56) in the National League wild-card race, 3 1/2 games behind co-leaders Florida and Philadelphia.

“I thought I was done, [Baker] said it was my game to lose,” Prior said of the brief mound conference with Baker. “But it was Sammy who put us on his shoulders, and we rode him.”

Guess who impressed Sosa?

“I had a great day, but Prior’s pitching was good, obviously,” said the future Hall of Famer, who had his third multi-homer game of the season and 61st of his career.

It was all about Sosa and Prior -- not necessarily in that order.

“Prior’s got great stuff,” said Roberts, who had two of the Dodgers’ five hits and his 29th stolen base. “It’s just hard to put a bunch of hits together against him.

“They say he’s a control pitcher. That’s saying something about a guy who’s throwing 94, 95, 96 [mph], with a curveball like that.”

Prior, who attended high school in San Diego, didn’t disappoint a large contingent of family and friends in the stands. He threw 84 strikes in 116 pitches and walked one in his second consecutive victory.

The right-hander retired the side in order in the second, fourth, fifth and eighth. Prior was in command throughout in outdueling Brown, who again had nothing good to show for a quality start (seven innings, five hits, seven strikeouts).

“We got two pitches to Sammy Sosa that, if we could have them back, we possibly could have won the game, 1-0,” said Manager Jim Tracy, whose team went 5-1 on the home stand. “There’s nothing to say from a hitting standpoint, other than the fact that the guy [Prior] was that good.

“He has shown that all year long. He’s going to become one of the stars in this league. There’s no question about it. He did a fantastic job, but so did our guy.”

Ojeda made a fantastic play in the ninth on Roberts’ grounder into the hole at short, leaping to his feet after a diving stop and nailing the speedy runner at first.

Although he protested when first-base umpire Mike DiMuro made the call, Roberts later said TV replays confirmed he was out.

“We didn’t have any big opportunities,” Green said. “You’re not going to score runs if you don’t have guys on base.”

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Vintage Sosa

Sammy Sosa’s hitting has picked up considerably since returning from his suspension for using a corked bat:

*--* BEFORE AFTER 45 G 47 290 AVG 313 6 HR 22 27 RBI 49

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Good Company

Sammy Sosa hit two home runs Sunday against the Dodgers. Players with the most multi-homer games:

*--* Babe Ruth 72 Mark McGwire 67 Barry Bonds 63 Willie Mays 63 Hank Aaron 62 Sammy Sosa 61

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