History was put on hold late Friday night for Sammy Sosa.
Sosa was stopped in 13 innings in his quest to become the first to reach the 60 home run plateau twice.
He went 0 for 6 as the Cubs and Houston battled deep into the night before Carl Everett homered for the second time to give the Astros a 6-4 victory.
Sosa remained stuck on 59 homers with 21 games remaining; he needs 11 to tie Mark McGwire’s record of 70.
Sosa had gone 0 for 4 through the first nine innings and was set to finish that way with the Cubs taking a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth. But closer Terry Adams coughed up the lead to send the game into extra innings and send Sosa back for bonus at-bats.
“If it doesn’t happen today, it can happen tomorrow or the next day,” Sosa said before the game. “I don’t worry about it.”
Standing on the verge of history, Sosa could do nothing against the Astros. Against starter Scott Elarton, Sosa struck out in the first inning, popped out in the third and flied out to right in the fifth. He struck out against Brian Williams in the eighth, lined out to right against Doug Henry in the 11th and struck out against Billy Wagner in the 13th.
Jon Lieber was three outs from halting a six-game losing streak when manager Jim Riggleman called on Adams to protect a two-run lead in the ninth. After a one-out walk and an infield hit, Adams failed to check the runners and the Astros pulled a double-steal on the next pitch.
Adams sent the next pitch to the backstop for a wild pitch that pulled Houston to within one and sent the tying run to third. Ricky Gutierrez then tied it up with a single to right, giving the Cubs bullpen their 22nd blown save of the season.
Saturday, Sosa faces right-hander Jose Lima, who will be shooting for his 20th victory. An old friend from the Dominican Republic, Lima has served Sosa four home runs in the past two years.
“I’ll pitch Sammy the same way I pitch him all year around,” Lima said. “I’m not going to change anything. If he hits a home run. . . . Congratulations. If we win the ballgame, it won’t bother me. If the Astros win, I’m a happy camper. If we lose, it’s a different story.”
Sosa’s quest to hit 60 homers in back-to-back seasons has made him a marked man in baseball circles. Houston pitchers were ahead of him in the count all night Friday and kept coming out on top. Manager Larry Dierker said he instructed his pitchers to go at Sosa the entire series, but to pitch to his weak spots.
“We’re going to do what everyone else does,” Dierker said. “We’ll throw high and tight as hard as we can . . . and low and away with hard breaking stuff. If he hits it out of the park, you tip your cap to him and hope not to put anybody on base in front of him. . . . But what happens is pitchers are competitors. We tell them to do certain things ’cause those things are smart. But sometimes when you’re competing, you’re not very smart and you go after the guy.”
Dierker doesn’t believe Sosa will be pitched around the rest of the season, as some have suggested.
“You know, Sosa and McGwire would never have hit 66 and 70 last year if everyone pitched around them,” he said. “The pitchers want to take the challenge.”
