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No HR For Sosa, But Cubs Win


Sammy Sosa came up empty, just like the team that got him out.

The Cincinnati Reds prevented Sosa from hitting homer No. 60, but Henry Rodriguez hit his first in nearly a month and the Chicago Cubs withstood a ninth-inning rally for a 4-3 victory Tuesday night.

The Reds were trying to keep pace with Houston in the NL Central and wanted to make sure Sosa didn't hurt them. They pitched him tough Sosa went 0-for-4 and didn't get the ball out of the infield.

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Game Summary

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  • "Everybody knows my situation," said Sosa, who's gone 19 at-bats without a homer and failed to hit one over the weekend in Houston. "I've been facing teams in the pennant race and they've been taking care of me."

    "When they're in a pennant race, you've got to understand they're not going to give me too much to hit."

    Sosa went 0-for-3 against Pete Harnisch (14-9), then completed his night by grounding out in the ninth against Dennys Reyes, who gave up Mark McGwire's 60th homer last year.

    The Reds wound up losing anyway. Jose Nieves tripled home two runs to make it 4-1 in the top of the ninth, and a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning came up short.

    Cincinnati had its seven-game winning streak snapped and fell four games behind Houston, its biggest deficit since June 23. The Astros beat Philadelphia 12-2 Tuesday for their 12th straight win.

    "If they lose (any game), I'm surprised," said Jeffrey Hammonds, who hit a pinch two-run homer in the ninth. "You go into every game expecting them to win."

    ThReds are closer to a wild-card berth than a division title with 17 games left. They trail the New York Mets, who also lost Tuesday, by 2 1/2 games for the wild card.

    "Nobody cares how you get to the playoffs," Harnisch said. "You'd like to be the division winner. If not, we'll take the wild card. I don't know if they give you a banner you can fly for that, but we just want to be one of the four (playoff) teams."

    Chicago, which has two fewer wins than Sosa has home runs, ended its six-game losing streak with only its ninth victory in 43 games since Aug. 1.

    Kyle Farnsworth (4-9) gave up only three hits in six innings, including Barry Larkin's solo homer, to get his first victory in three starts this month.

    Rick Aguilera got out of a two-on, one-out threat in the eighth when Eddie Taubensee struck out and rookie Kerry Robinson was thrown out trying to steal third on the pitch.

    After Nieves' triple made it 4-1 in the top of the ninth, Terry Adams retired the first two Reds and then made it an adventure. Chris Stynes singled, Hammonds hit his first pinch homer and the next two batters recc`dd.

    Dmitri Young then hit a sinking liner to Nieves. The shortstop knocked it down, recovered and threw out Young, ending the comeback and giving Adams his 13th save in 16 chances.

    "Young hit that last ball well," Cubs manager Jim Riggleman said. "It's the type of ball that's been going for base hits against us all year. It was hit right at Nieves. He kept his composure and threw him out."

    A crowd of 23,353 that came to see Sosa swing away for No. 60 instead watched the Reds get their 1,000th loss to the Cubs.

    Sosa, who last year became the fourth player to hit 60 homers in a season, is trying to become the first to do it twice. He said he's not going to bat swinging for the homer everyone expects.

    "People might say I'm anxious, but I'm not," he said. "It's because they've been pitching me great."

    He got loud ovations and dozens of flashbulbs went off throughout the half-filled stadium every time Sosa came to bat. He struck out swinging in the first, shattered his bat on a groundout in the fourth and lined out to third baseman Aaron Boone in the sixth before grounding out in the ninth.

    The first three at-bats were against Harnisch, who gave up homer No. 59 five days earlier in Chicago. Harnisch is aving one of his finest seasons, but is 0-2 in four starts against the Cubs.

    Larkin, who went a career-record 72 games without a homer before breaking the streak last Friday, hit another in the bottom of the first to put the Reds ahead 1-0.

    The Cubs tied it with their first hit in the third. Nieves walked with one out, Farnsworth had a sacrifice bunt and Lance Johnson singled to left.

    Farnsworth got a double-play grounder from Taubensee to undercut a two-on, none-out threat in the fourth, and got Boone to ground out with runners on second and third in the sixth.

    Notes

  • The Cubs agreed to a one-year extension with outfielder Glenallen Hill that includes a club option for 2001.
  • Farnsworth has allowed 18 first-inning runs in his 19 starts for the Cubs.
  • Third baseman Shane Andrews made his second start since the Cubs signed him as a free agent Sept. 10.
  • The Cubs have 973 losses against Cincinnati to go with those 1,000 wins.
  • Taubensee had an eight-game hitting streak snapped.
  • Mike Cameron is 4-for-24 since returning from a hamstring injury.

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