Brewers Win Marathon With Cubs

Glenallen Hill hit the longest home run in the longest game but the Chicago Cubs came up short.

Mark Loretta went 5-for-5 and Jeromy Burnitz had three RBIs Thursday as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cubs 14-8 in the longest game in National League history.

"You don't ever worry about the clock," Milwaukee manager Davey Lopes said after the 4-hour, 22-minute game. "There's no slowdown time in baseball."

The game featured 35 hits and 19 walks as the teams tied the major league record for a nine-inning game set by Baltimore and the Yankees in a 13-9 game on Sept. 5, 1997. Cubs catcher Joe Girardi was behind the plate for that game, too, as the Yankees catcher.

David Weathers, the 10th pitcher, struck out Sammy Sosa with the bases loaded on the 434th pitch of the game to finish it.

"Today was one of the ugliest games," Cubs manager Don Baylor said. "Everything that you witnessed, that's what happens when you play sloppy baseball. It cannot continue to happen."

Steve Woodard (1-4) snapped a seven-game losing streak despite giving up a towerin490-foot homer to Hill that landed on the roof of a three-story building across Waveland Avenue behind the left-field bleachers.

"I guarantee that person who caught it had no idea they would end up with a souvenir sitting up on the roof," Baylor said.

It was believed to be the first time a ball landed on top of the apartment building.

"I've seen Sammy hit the building and break windows but I've never seen anyone hit the roof. Four-ninety? That was 790," Chicago's Mark Grace said.

Hill agreed that the distance estimate cheated him.

"When I hit the ball," Hill said, "I knew it was a home run and I knew that I hit it hard. When they told me it was on the roof, it didn't surprise me because I knew I crushed it. That's about 700 feet. Seriously."

Even the Brewers were impressed.

"I saw Dave Kingman play here and others like that a lot of sluggers," Lopes said. "I've seen them one-hop the side of the building but I've never seen it go on the roof."

Woodard gave up seven runs and 13 hits in five-plus innings for his first win since last July 16, spanning 17 games.

Burnitz hit an RBI double in the first, a run-scoring groundout in the second and a sacrifice fly in the seventh to finish with nine RBIs in the four-game series.

Lyle Mouton hit a two-run double in the sixth and an RBI single in the eighth.

With the game tied at 4, Milwaukee loaded the bases with one out in the sixth against Brian Williams (1-1) on a single by Loretta and walks to Burnitz and Charlie Hayes.

One out later, Jose Hernandez hit a two-run single and Mouton followed with a two-run double to make it 8-4.

Woodard allowed a three-run homer to pinch-hitter Shane Andrews in the bottom of the sixth, cutting the lead to 8-7. The Cubs loaded the bases against Juan Acevedo before Julio Zuleta struck out to end the threat.

Milwaukee added five runs in the eighth on Mouton's RBI single, Henry Blanco's two-run double, Ron Belliard's RBI double and an error by center fielder Damon Buford.

The Cubs finished the season-high 13-game homestand with a 5-8 record.

It was quite a four-game series. The two teams combined for 69 runs (Brewers 37, Cubs 32), 96 hits (Brewers 48, Cubs 48), and 17 home runs (Brewers 6, Cubs 11).

"We were glad to get two wins out of it," Mouton said.

The Brewers opened a 3-0 lead before Hill hit his roof-top home run, his fifth, with one out in the second to make it 3-1.

Scott Downs gave up four runs on seven hits and three walks over three innings.

Notes