Juan Encarnacion reaches over the fence but can't bring back Sammy Sosa's two-run homer in the sixth. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        The Reds had Kerry Wood in trouble. Bases loaded, no outs in the second inning, with one run already in. The Reds would get only one more run in that inning — on pitcher Elmer Dessens' groundout. With the rally snuffed out, the Reds were pretty much done for the night.

        Wood settled down, the Cubs' offense got cranking and Chicago rolled to a 10-3 victory on a chilly night at Cinergy Field.

        “We had him on the ropes,” Reds manager Bob Boone said. “It could have been a lot more than 2-0.”

        Most of the 19,745 who came out were gone well before the last out of the ninth. Actually most of them left before the last out in the sixth. Who could blame them? The game took three hours, 40 minutes to play and the temperature dipped into the 30s.

The Reds were charged with one error (Aaron Boone's dropped pop-up), but another pop-up fell in left field in the seventh with Adam Dunn, Boone and Barry Larkin all in position to make the play.

Aaron Boone drops a pop fly for an error, allowing a run in the fourth inning. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

                “Those are freaks that happened that shouldn't happen,” Aaron Boone said. “I'd like to think they won't happen again.”

        In an odd twist, Luis Pineda, making his Reds debut, was thrown out of the game in the top of the ninth by home plate umpire Mike Everitt for hitting his second batter in the inning.

        Both benches and bullpens emptied after Pineda hit Todd Hundley. But no punches were thrown.

        The game was delayed six minutes while Scott Sullivan warmed up.

        “I wasn't trying to hit him,” Pineda said. “(Hundley was) standing on top of the plate. I pitch inside.”

Ken Griffey Jr. walks back to the dugout after striking out against Kerry Wood in the third. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        Dessens, the Reds' No.2 starter, didn't make it out of the fourth inning. He allowed four runs on five hits, walked four and struck out one.

        “Too many (walks), way too many,” manager Bob Boone said. “Too many deep counts. You can't get behind (in the count) in this league like that.”

        Especially against Wood. The 24-year-old right-hander came into the game 5-0 with a 1.07 ERA against the Reds in six starts. In the one game he got a no decision, he struck out 10.

        Wood struck out Todd Walker and Larkin and went up 0-2 to Ken Griffey Jr. to start the game. He ended up walking Griffey. That seemed to open things up a bit against Wood.

Barry Larkin looks to his glove after making a snowcone catch and tagging out Alex Gonzalez trying to steal second. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        Boone led off the second with a single to left. After Boone stole, Dunn walked. Juan Encarnacion muscled a 3-2 pitch the opposite way to right for a single. Boone scored and Dunn went to third. After Encarnacion stole second, Jason LaRue walked.

        That loaded the bases for Dessens. Dessens got a run home with a groundout to second. Walker ran the count full and then took a called third strike. Larkin grounded out to end it. The Reds led 2-0, but they had to feel the inning was an opportunity missed.

        The Cubs got back a run in the third and the lead didn't last through the fourth. Dessens seemed to be going to a full count on every batter. Alex Gonzalez led off the fourth with a single. Todd Hundley followed with a high drive that just got over Dunn's glove as he leaped at the left-center field wall.

        Dessens got the next two batters, but his night ended when he allowed a triple to DeShields.

Juan Castro tries to keep warm in the dugout. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        Jose Rijo came on in relief. Patterson greeted him by singling to right to make it 4-2.

        Rijo got Sosa to pop up on the infield. After some confusion, third baseman Boone finally called it. But it went off his glove for an error, allowing Patterson, who had stolen second base, to score.

        “I had it,” Boone said. “Then I looked to see if Lark was there. He wasn't. I tried to re-find the ball and I couldn't.”

        Wood ended up going five innings, allowing three hits and two runs. He struck out 10 (20th double-digit strikeout game of his young career) and walked four. He threw 104 pitches.

       In 47 career innings versus the Reds, Wood has struck out 71.

        The Cubs broke things open in the sixth with four runs off Jim Brower. The big blow was Sosa's first homer of the season, a two-run shot to right, that made it 9-2.

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