Monday, September 13, 1999
Astros 7, Cubs 1
BY MICHAEL A. LUTZ
Associated Press
HOUSTON — The Chicago Cubs are glad to get away from Carl Everett, and Sammy Sosa is happy to leave the Astrodome for the final time.
Everett went 4-for-4 and Chris Holt won for the first time in nearly a month as the Houston Astros stretched their winning streak to 10, tying the team record by beating the Chicago Cubs 7-1 Sunday.
On Friday, Everett hit a 13th-inning, two-run homer that started Houston to the three-game sweep.
“Carl's hitting breaking balls, he's hitting fastballs, he's hitting everything to all fields,” Astros manager Larry Dierker said. “He's hard for anyone to defense against right now.”
Sosa went 2-for-4 but failed to homer for the third straight game and remained at 59 with 19 games remaining. Sosa, 3-for-14 in the series, hasn't homered in 15 at-bats but remained four homers ahead of Mark McGwire.
Sosa, who failed to homer for the first time in 10 series since Aug. 6-8 — also against the Astros — is happy Houston moves into Enron Field next season. Sosa has a .193 career average in the Astrodome with just six home runs and 20 RBIs in 171 at-bats.
“I've never liked the Astrodome,” Sosa said. “I think pretty much they can tear it down. I'm glad we're not going to be on the same field next year. I'm glad we're going downtown. That's something Houston has needed. This has been a pitcher's park.”
Houston, which maintained a three-game lead over second-place Cincinnati in the NL Central, won 10 straight five other times, most recently in 1989.
Chicago has lost six straight and 10 of 11, dropping to 15-43 since the All-Star break. Houston won the season series against Chicago 9-3 as Everett hit .522 (24-for-46) with six home runs and 20 RBIs.
“That club has hurt us in general every year,” Cubs manager Jim Riggleman said. “(Craig) Biggio and (Jeff) Bagwell have kind of taken turns hurting us, but Everett was the guy who just killed us this year. All year, no matter what we did against him, he killed us.”
Steve Trachsel (6-17), coming off his first consecutive winning starts of the year, allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings. He is trying to avoid becoming the first 20-game loser in the majors since Oakland's Brian Kingman in 1980.
Everett, who put Houston ahead with an RBI single in the first, matched his career best with his fifth four-hit game this season and the ninth of his career.
Holt (4-13), winless in four starts since beating Pittsburgh since Aug. 14, allowed one run, four hits and four walks in six innings, striking out seven. Three relievers completed the six-hitter.
He threw 10 consecutive balls starting the game, then retired 10 straight before consecutive singles by Mark Grace and Henry Rodriguez in the fourth. Jeff Reed's sacrifice fly scored Grace.
After Sosa singled and Grace doubled in the sixth, Holt struck out Rodriguez and Shane Andrews, then retired Reed on a groundout.
Holt attributed his slow start to a pulled muscle in his back, an injury sustained in his previous start.
“I knew that I was going to irritate it,” Holt said. “It started to tighten up on me, but then it loosened up and I was able to work through it.”
Biggio's 14th homer gave the Astros a 2-0 lead in the third, and Tony Eusebio's RBI grounder made it 3-1 in the fourth. Daryle Ward hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
Houston added three runs in the eighth off Terry Adams on Ken Caminiti's RBI double, Eusebio's run-scoring single and Russ Johnson's RBI groundout.
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