Greg Maddux pitched and batted the Cubs to a 6-0 victory over the Astros Saturday night, snapping the Cubs` three-game losing streak.
The largest Astrodome crowd of the season-37,390-saw Maddux (8-6) shut out Houston on eight hits, have two hits himself, score once and single home the first run of the game.
Maddux`s shutout was the first by a Cubs pitcher this season. Mike Harkey shut out the Braves last August.
The Cubs scored three runs, two of them unearned, off Astros starter Darryl Kile, who lasted five innings. The Cubs added three more runs on four hits for a 6-0 lead off reliever Mike Capel in the sixth.
Kile, 22, is the youngest Houston pitcher to make the regular rotation since Floyd Bannister and Mark Lemongello in 1977. Kile was cuffed around in four previous games against the Cubs. His record against the Cubs was 0-1 with a 6.23 earned-run average.
Kyle looked a lot better than those numbers when he retired Chico Walker, Mark Grace and Ryne Sandberg on just 10 pitches in the first inning. He fooled Sandberg on a sharp-breaking called third strike.
It didn`t take long before Maddux had to pitch his way out of a jam. He succeeded in the first, thanks to a double play that was almost a triple play. Cubs tormentor Steve Finley led off with a single to center, and Craig Biggio`s swinging bunt went for an infield hit. Jeff Bagwell lined back to Maddux, who stabbed it on the mound. Finley scrambled back to second before Sandberg could reach the base for a throw. So, Maddux tossed to first, easily doubling Biggio.
Kile breezed through the second, registering successive strikeouts against George Bell and Dwight Smith. In the third, however, the Cubs scored two unearned runs without once hitting the ball hard, and they lost a chance for a really big inning.
Shawon Dunston led off the third by reaching by shortstop Eric Yelding`s error. On an excuse-me checked swing, Rick Wilkins blooped a single to left, chasing Dunston to third. Wilkins took second when third baseman Ken Caminiti bobbled the throw.
Maaddux suspected before the game his hitting might be needed, complaining, ”I haven`t had a hit in a month.” He broke that string, beating out an infield bleeder that scored Dunston with the game`s first run. Walker walked, filling the bases with nobody out. Grace dampened hopes of a big inning when he grounded into a double play that scored Wilkins for the 2-0 Cubs lead.
Maddux settled down after the first and retired eight straight batters until Luis Gonzalez stroked a two-out single in the fourth. Caminiti moved Gonzales to third with a single to right, but Maddux induced Eric Anthony to bounce to Grace to end the scoreless inning.
The Cubs stretched their lead to 3-0 in the fifth when Sandberg`s sacrifice fly scored Maddux, who singled for his second hit and moved up on Walker`s bunt single and Grace`s walk.
Making his second hit and scoring the run brought out the best in Maddux. He breezed through the lower third of the Astros` order in just six pitches in the fifth. Mark Davidson grounded out pinch-hitting for Kile, and Capel came in to pitch the sixth.
The Cubs kayoed Capel in two-thirds of an inning, scoring three in the sixth and doubling their lead to 6-0. Smith singled home Bell, who led off with a double. After Smith was out stealing, the Cubs loaded the bases when Dunston doubled, Wilkins walked and Maddux sacrificed and reached on a fielder`s choice.
Walker drove home Dunston with a sacrifice fly. Grace`s single scored Wilkins.
