Saturday, August 07, 1999
Astros split doubleheader
CHICAGO - Houston manager Larry Dierker was dazzled last May by Kerry Wood's 20-strikeout performance. Another young Cubs pitcher impressed him one year later.
Andrew Lorraine pitched a three-hitter in his 1999 debut and Henry Rodriguez hit a three-run homer to lift Chicago to a 6-0 victory over the Astros for a split of their doubleheader.
“That's one of the most amazing games,” Dierker said. “I saw Kerry Wood last year strike out 20 guys. This is more amazing than that.”
In the opener, Carl Everett, playing his first game since being sidelined with a hamstring injury, had five RBIs and Jose Lima got his 15th win of the season as the Astros beat the Cubs 6-1.
In the second game, Lorraine (1-0), called up from Triple-A Iowa allowed just three singles and retired 13 straight at one point, walking one and striking out four in his first career complete game.
“I never spoke to him at all,” Cubs manager Jim Riggleman said of the 26-year-old left-hander. “His performance spoke for itself.”
It was the longest outing of Lorraine's 26-game career which includes 10 starts. His previous best was 6 2-3 innings on July 28, 1994, against Texas.
“The first couple of innings, I was nervous,” Lorraine said. “As I got into the game, I started to relax and it got back to normal.”
He was the first Cubs left-hander to throw a complete game since Steve Wilson did so on July 15, 1990, in a 5-1 win over Los Angeles, and posted the first shutout by a Cubs southpaw since Jamie Moyer on June 3, 1988, at New York.
“He did make it look easy,” Dierker said of Lorraine, who is expected to stay in the Cubs rotation. “But, I'm amazed we didn't knock him out early. His breaking stuff wasn't real sharp and he doesn't throw real hard.”
“I didn't think it was anything spectacular,” Lorraine said. “It was just a good outing.”
The Cubs now are 2-7 against the Astros at Wrigley Field over the last two seasons, and the only other win was Wood's game on May 6, 1998.
Sean Bergman (4-6) took the loss, his fourth in a row. Bergman, who had been on the disabled list since June 26 with elbow tendinitis, gave up six runs and eight hits while walking two in 4 1-3 innings.
“I definitely had some adrenalin early,” said Bergman, a Joliet, Ill., native. “I haven't been on the mound in a while and I had some people here. But I took the game no differently than the others.”
Gary Gaetti hit an RBI single and Mickey Morandini hit a two-run single in the Cubs second to take a 3-0 lead.
Rodriguez hit his 21st home run with one out and two on in the fifth to make it 6-0.
Sammy Sosa, who trails home run leader Mark McGwire 44-42 for the major league lead, went 1-for-7 with a walk in the two games.
In the opener, Lima (15-6) gave up six hits and struck out seven in 7 1-3 innings, allowing only Mark Grace's solo homer, his 12th.
Jay Powell came on in the eighth and struck out Sosa and Tyler Houston to end the inning with the bases loaded. Powell finished up for his third save.
Lima, who won for the fourth time in his last seven starts, is tied with teammate Mike Hampton and St. Louis' Kent Bottenfield for the NL lead with 15 victories.
“I think it would be great if all three of us won 20,” Lima said of teammates Hampton and Shane Reynolds. “Nobody's done that in a long time.”
Everett, who missed 20 games because of a strained right hamstring, went 4-for-5 with a three-run homer for the Astros.
Kyle Farnsworth (2-5) took the loss in his second start and fifth appearance since being recalled from Iowa on July 17. He gave up four runs and six hits while walking three over seven innings.
With two out and two on in the Astros first, Everett hit his 12th home run. After Grace's homer made it 3-1, Everett's two-out single in the fifth drove in a run. He added an RBI double in the ninth.
Everett's career high for RBIs is six, set June 20 against Montreal.
Russ Johnson hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
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