Cubs Throw Away the Wild-Card Race Lead

The Houston Astros have come to expect to win in their last at-bat. They have done it 21 times.

Saturday night at Houston, they needed a little help. Pinch-runner Tim Bogar scored with two outs in the 11th inning, after Terry Mulholland’s throwing error off the glove of first baseman Mark Grace, and the Astros overcame a four-run deficit to defeat the Chicago Cubs, 5-4.

The loss, coupled with New York’s win at Phoenix, dropped the Cubs out of the lead in the National League wild-card race.

“All I had to do was stay calm, but I got excited and didn’t wait for Grace,” Mulholland said. “That’s why they call them errors. This one was just bigger than most. There are no excuses. I got in a hurry and didn’t make a crisp throw.”

Mulholland (3-3) walked Sean Berry leading off the 11th and Brad Ausmus sacrificed. One out later, Craig Biggio was intentionally walked and Ricky Gutierrez was walked unintentionally, loading the bases.

Derek Bell followed with a chopper back to the mound that Mulholland (3-3) threw off the top of Grace’s glove. Bogar was running for Berry, who injured his foot going back to second base on a pickoff attempt.

Bell, with a lifetime .555 average against Mulholland, just wanted to get the ball out of the infield.

“I was just trying to get it in the gap,” Bell said. “But I really hustled down the first-base line, and I think he saw that he had to make a quick throw.”

Sammy Sosa failed to hit a home run and remained at 46, one behind major league leader Mark McGwire. Sosa was two for five and drove in a run, giving him 118 RBIs, one short of his personal best and one behind Juan Gonzalez, who leads the majors. Sosa has failed to homer in his last 16 at-bats.

New York 5, Arizona 4--John Olerud had three hits, including a homer, and Tony Phillips drove in the game-winning run at Phoenix.

The Mets have won 10 of 14 games to take the lead in the wild-card race.

Olerud went three for four to raise his NL-leading batting average to .355. He has hit safely in 26 of 28 games and is hitting .500 over that span.

Phillips capped a seventh-inning rally by the Mets. Carlos Baerga doubled off Bobby Chouinard (0-2), the Diamondbacks’ third pitcher, and tied the game, 4-4, one out later on Matt Franco’s pinch-hit single to left. Phillips then doubled to left-field to score Franco and give the Mets the lead.

San Francisco 4, Florida 3--J.T. Snow had a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning as the Giants rallied at San Francisco.

The Giants tied the score with two runs in the sixth off Livan Hernandez, and won after Matt Mantei (3-3) walked Bill Mueller and Ellis Burks opening the 10th.

Mueller advanced on Jeff Kent’s fly to right field and scored without a play on Snow’s fly to medium left.

Jose Mesa (4-2) pitched one inning as the Giants won their fifth consecutive game over the Marlins, who swept them in the first round of the playoffs last year.

Hernandez gave up three runs and 10 hits in eight innings, striking out seven and walking four. San Francisco starter Russ Ortiz gave up three runs and six hits in six innings.

Cincinnati 6, Montreal 4--Jeffrey Hammonds had three hits and lined a ball off the side of Mike Thurman’s head, knocking the Expo starting pitcher out of the game.

Thurman (2-1) went to a hospital for precautionary medical tests after Hammonds lined a ball off his right temple to start the Reds’ second inning. A radar gun behind home plate clocked the liner at 108 mph.

Thurman turned his head and tried to block the ball with his glove, but it glanced off and rolled into shallow left field for a double.

The right-hander stood up, was examined by trainers and walked off the mound without assistance. He had a welt on the right side of his head as he was taken for a CAT scan, which came back normal.

Steve Parris (2-3) got his first victory since June 28, pitching seven shutout innings. Vladimir Guerrero hit his 29th homer, a three-run shot in the eighth.

Colorado 7, Philadelphia 3--Mike Lansing went two for three and drove in two runs and Darryl Kile won his matchup with Curt Schilling at Denver.

Kile (9-14) lasted seven innings and matched a season high with eight strikeouts. He gave up eight hits and three runs before leaving after Gregg Jefferies doubled to lead off the eighth inning. Schilling gave up 11 hits and three runs in six innings.

The Rockies scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning when Larry Walker reached on an infield single. He moved to third on Dante Bichette’s double to left field off Wayne Gomes (9-4). After Vinny Castilla popped out, Gomes intentionally walked Todd Helton. Walker then scored on Gomes’ wild pitch.