Kerry Wood struck out 10 Reds. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        Six pitches into the game, Kerry Wood had something special going.

        He struck out the first two Reds on three pitches apiece, throwing a nasty fastball that they couldn't touch. When the inning ended, the strikeout total was three and players wondered how high it would climb.

        It stopped at 10 after five innings.

        Wood struggled with his control and had to settle for an impressive but abbreviated season debut Wednesday night. What little the Cubs saw from Wood gave them a warm feeling.

        “He was blowing some people away,” Sammy Sosa marveled. “What you saw today was a good sign. He's ready to go.”

Sammy Sosa homers. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        Three outs into the game, it appeared he was ready to make a run at his 20-strikeout game from his rookie season in 1998. The Reds were overmatched against his 95 mph fastball.

        “From center field, it looked like 105 mph,” Corey Patterson said.

        There was one problem: The breaking ball wasn't working. Wood started struggling so badly that Jesus Sanchez was warming up in the bullpen as the Reds scored twice in the second.

        “In the second inning, it seemed like I was behind in the count 2-0 to every batter,” Wood said. “It's a lot harder to pitch in those situations.”

        Wood threw 34 pitches in that one inning — only 14 of them strikes.

Todd Hundley (9) is restrained as teammates pour onto the field after Hundley was hit by a pitch in the ninth inning. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        “We made him throw a lot of pitches,” Reds third baseman Aaron Boone said. “He's one of those pitchers that it's no fun going out to face, especially on a night like this. We were able to scratch a couple of runs together, and then he settled in.”

        Wood struck out four of the next six to pull out of it, but his impressive strikeout total was overshadowed by his inflated pitch count. He needed 104 pitches to get through five innings — more than enough by manager Don Baylor's count.

        “I didn't want him going as far as he did, with the pitch count adding up the way it did,” Baylor said.

        That was about the only thing the Cubs didn't like as they rebounded from an opening 5-4 loss on Monday. An offense that stranded 14 runners in the opener got hits from up and down the lineup.

        Sosa and Todd Hundley hit two-run homers and Patterson went 3-for-4 as he drove in four. In two games, the free-swinging Patterson has patiently gone 5-for-7 with three singles, a double, a triple, three walks and five RBIs.

        “Right now, two strikes is no big deal to me,” Patterson said. “I've just got to be relaxed and be myself. If you pretty much swing at strikes, you'll be successful. If you chase balls, you're in trouble.”

        The lopsided game got heated in the ninth, when reliever Luis Pineda hit two Cubs and was ejected by plate umpire Mike Everitt. Both benches and bullpens emptied, but the players did nothing more than mill about for a few minutes.

        Pineda was ejected after hitting Todd Hundley in the side of the thigh with a one-strike pitch. Hundley started toward the mound, then stopped in pain.

        “I couldn't move,” Hundley said. “It was like a cramp. I couldn't do anything. It just surprised me. I just reacted.”

        Baylor couldn't tell whether Pineda tried to hit Hundley. Cubs reliever Jeff Fassero hit three Reds during Cincinnati's 5-4 win on opening day.

        “I don't know what those guys are thinking in that situation,” Baylor said. “We play them a few more times. That's uncalled for.”

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