Kent Burns Wood, Astros Drop Cubs

Jeff Kent again delivered against Kerry Wood, sending the Houston Astros to a victory over the Chicago Cubs on Monday night in the opener of a crucial four-game series at Wrigley Field.

Kent hit a two-run double to help the Astros win, 3-1. He is 11 for 23 with 12 runs batted in against Wood.

“You just try to get as many scrape runs as you can, because he’s not going to give you very many,” Kent said.

Craig Biggio homered for the first-place Astros, who maintained a two-game lead over St. Louis in the National League Central. The third-place Cubs fell 3 1/2 games behind.

Wood (11-9) struck out nine, reaching 1,000 strikeouts in his 134th game, faster than any major league pitcher.

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St. Louis 6, Pittsburgh 4 -- Albert Pujols and Bo Hart homered in the first inning in Pittsburgh and center fielder Jim Edmonds twice threw out runners at the plate, including Abraham Nunez in the bottom of the eighth with the potential go-ahead run on base.

Pujols’ homer was his 32nd, and his ninth in 21 games at PNC Park. He extended his hitting streak to 25 games.

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Montreal 3, Colorado 1 -- Vladimir Guerrero hit a two-run homer and Zach Day (6-4) struck out a career-high seven batters in six innings to lead the host Expos.

Guerrero followed Jose Vidro’s one-out double in the third inning against Jason Jennings (10-10) with a drive over the center-field wall.