Wood Pitches Cubs Into the Lead

With a sellout crowd made up mostly of Chicago Cub fans cheering him on at Miller Park, Kerry Wood won for the first time in a month.

Wood gave up two runs and eight hits and struck out six to raise his major league-leading total to 234, and the Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 9-2, Sunday. It was their fifth consecutive victory and moved them into first place in the Central Division.

The Cubs are 7-0 in Milwaukee this season, and fans from Chicago helped the Brewers sell out all three games over the weekend.

Sammy Sosa hit a solo homer and Randall Simon homered twice and drove in five runs, tying a career high.

“That’s about as close as you’re going to get to a home crowd feeling being on the road,” Wood said. “The fans are great. They come out and support us and I think it’s great.”

Wood (12-11) had three losses in five starts since an Aug. 6 victory over San Diego.

Sosa hit his 34th home run to lead off the seventh, giving the Cubs a 7-2 lead. After Aramis Ramirez singled, Simon followed with his second homer and 15th this season. Both homers were against reliever Leo Estrella.

Simon’s homer in the third gave Chicago a 5-0 lead.

“It was one of the rare times, lately, we’ve gotten some runs for Woody early,” Manager Dusty Baker said.

“He held them to two runs. Two quality outings in a row for him. His confidence is growing and I can just see him getting better down the stretch.”

Doug Davis (2-1), 2-0 with a 0.93 earned-run average in his first four starts for Milwaukee, gave up five runs and four hits in four innings, including Simon’s homer in the third.

“It was probably a pitch I shouldn’t have thrown, that I would like back,” Davis said. “I pretty much threw it right down the middle for him. I just said, ‘Here, hit it.’ And he hit it.”

The Cubs took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a groundout by Sosa and a sacrifice fly by Ramirez, which was dropped by left fielder Brooks Kieschnick for an error.

Kieschnick, a relief pitcher who is also used as a pinch-hitter, was making his first major league start in the outfield. Sosa’s grounder drove in Tom Goodwin, who opened the game with a walk, and Tony Womack, who doubled, scored on the fly ball.

Milwaukee made it 5-1 in the fourth inning on a double by Bill Hall. Richie Sexson’s 38th homer to lead off the sixth made it 5-2.