Sosa Hits 35th, but Wood Hits Too Many

Sammy Sosa hit his 35th home run for the Chicago Cubs, but pitcher Kerry Wood hit too many Milwaukee Brewer batters.

Wood hit three batters, including Mark Loretta with the bases loaded, to break a seventh-inning tie and send the Brewers to a 6-5 victory Friday night at Milwaukee.

“It was nothing noble like me taking one for the team. I just couldn’t get out of the way,” said Loretta, who was hit in the ribs. “It felt like it went right through me.”

Sosa homered in the second inning, joining Ernie Banks as the only players in Cub history to hit at least that many homers in four consecutive seasons.

Sosa sent an 1-0 fastball from Scott Karl 428 feet over the left-center field fence. Sosa trails major league leaders Mark McGwire and Ken Griffey Jr. by two homers.

Sosa, who set a single-month record with 20 homers in June, has homered in both of the Cubs’ games since the All-Star game, which he missed because of a sore left shoulder.

Jose Hernandez hit a three-run homer with two out in the Cubs’ ninth. Bob Wickman gave up Hernandez’s 13th home run, but struck out Mickey Morandini to end it.

Wood (8-4), who gave up four hits and struck out nine and walked three in seven innings, hit Fernando Vina with his first pitch and Vina later scored.

In the seventh, the Wood hit Bobby Hughes in the left arm with one out and plunked Loretta in the back with a 2-2 fastball with two outs, giving the Brewers a 3-2 lead. Wood struck out Jeff Cirillo to escape further damage.

But Hughes added a two-run single against Terry Adams in the eighth, making the score 5-2, and pinch-hitter Marc Newfield doubled him home.

Rookie Bronswell Patrick (4-0) worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the victory.

Philadelphia 7, Pittsburgh 6--Curt Schilling withstood a five-run inning and offset an unusually low five strikeouts by helping himself with a key run-scoring single at Pittsburgh.

Bobby Abreu hit a sacrifice fly during a three-run fifth inning that Schilling finished with a single as the Phillies improved to 4-0 against the Pirates this season.

Desi Relaford went three for four with a walk and an RBI, and breakdowns by the Pirates’ defense led to two other runs.

Schilling (9-8), who pitched a major-league leading eighth complete game, entered the game with 185 strikeouts in 20 starts, an average of 9.47 strikeouts per start. He stayed on the pace set by Nolan Ryan during his record 383-strikeout season in 1973. Ryan also 185 strikeouts in his first 20 starts.

Schilling’s season low was two strikeouts in five innings May 28 against the Cubs, and he has struck out fewer than eight only five times.

Schilling gave up nine hits, including Manny Martinez’s three-run homer in the fifth.

The Pirates lost their fourth in a row, seventh in eight games and ninth in 11 games. They also have lost eight of their last 10 home games.

St. Louis 6, Houston 3--Brian Jordan’s eighth-inning RBI single against Jay Powell broke a 3-3 tie and Willie McGee added a two-run single as the Cardinals won at St. Louis.

Ray Lankford had a three-run home run for the Cardinals, who have won only three of 14 and are 12 1/2 games behind the Astros in the NL Central.

Matt Morris, activated from the disabled list before the game, pitched six scoreless innings for St. Louis in only his second start of the season. Morris, sidelined since mid-April by a strained right shoulder, struck out six, walked none and allowed only three singles.

Reliever Curtis King (2-0) gave up a game-tying two-run single to Craig Biggio in the eighth before getting the last two outs. Jeff Brantley pitched the ninth for his 13th save.

Mark McGwire was hitless in three at-bats.

Florida 3, Atlanta 1--Rookie left-hander Jesus Sanchez gave up five hits in eight innings at Miami as the Marlins ended the Braves’ nine-game winning streak.

Dave Berg broke a scoreless tie with a run-scoring single in the seventh.

Sanchez (4-6) ended a five-game losing streak with his first victory since May 18. He struck out five and walked one in matching his longest career outing.

Neagle (9-7) allowed one run in seven innings, giving up four hits and two walks with four strikeouts.

Montreal 8, New York 6--Mark Grudzielanek beat out a two-out single to tie the score and Shane Andrews followed with a two-run triple as the Expos rallied in the ninth inning at New York and sent the Mets to their fifth consecutive loss.

John Franco (0-4) took the loss for the second night in a row. The Met reliever was handed a three-game suspension Thursday for bumping an umpire last weekend at Atlanta, but appealed the penalty and remained eligible to pitch.

Shayne Bennett (3-3) was the winner and Ugueth Urbina pitched the ninth for his 22nd save.

Cincinnati 5, Arizona 4--Brett Tomko pitched seven shutout innings at Phoenix and won his fourth consecutive start.

Reggie Sanders led off the game with a home run and Sean Casey also connected, sending the Reds to their fifth consecutive victory and 10th in 11 games.

Tomko (9-6) gave up six hits and improved his earned-run average to 1.69 in his last four starts. He has not lost since St. Louis beat him 6-5 on May 15.

Tomko struck out five, walked two and hit a batter before being lifted for a pinch hitter in the eighth.

Rookies Danny Klassen and Travis Lee each hit two-run homers for Arizona in the ninth against Danny Graves.