The Associated Press

CHICAGO - Dusty Baker understandably tempered his enthusiasm after watching his first-place Chicago Cubs hit four home runs in an easy win over Cincinnati.

The Cubs committed two errors, walked seven batters and hit two others with pitches Wednesday. They allowed the Reds to score twice on passed balls and once on a wild pitch.

"It wasn't a pretty game at all," Baker said.

Some of it was. Sammy Sosa hit his 502nd career home run, a three-run shot in the first inning, and Moises Alou added another three-run homer in the seventh to pad the lead in a 10-4 win.

"It was a big blow by Sammy in the first, and another big blow by Moises," Baker said. "We didn't play a great game, but the name of the game is to win and we won."

They got a lot of help from Reds pitchers, who walked a season-high 11 and threw three wild pitches of their own.

Starter Paul Wilson (0-1) gave up six runs, five earned, in 3 2-3 innings.

"My job today was to pick up this ballclub and I didn't do that," Wilson said.

Reds manager Bob Boone said having to remove his starting pitchers so early in a game is a big concern. He yanked Danny Graves after five innings in an 11-1 loss Tuesday.

"You can't go through a rotation of starters and take them out (so early)," he said. "When you do that you are going to have troubles no matter how great your bullpen is."

Carlos Zambrano (2-1) pitched six erratic innings for the win. He hit two batters, walked three others and made an error.

"He gutted it out, threw strikes when he had to and everything worked out," Baker said.

The Cubs scored four runs in the first inning on Sosa's homer, his third of the season, and a solo shot by Hee Seop Choi.

Baker said Choi's shot, a line drive that just cleared the wall in right field, was one of the hardest balls he'd ever seen hit. Choi said he thought he maybe had a double and started running hard.

"I'm lucky, maybe," he said.

The Cubs tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning. Damian Miller hit a solo home run and Mark Grudzielanek scored when reliever Kent Mercker walked the first batter he faced.

It was the third homer of the year for both Miller and Choi.

Miller scored again in the fifth when he walked and came home on Grudzielanek's single. Alou hit his three-run homer in the seventh, his first of the season.

The Reds scored one run in the third inning thanks to a couple of miscues by the Cubs. After reaching on an infield single, Felipe Lopez was caught off first but Choi missed Zambrano's pickoff attempt. Lopez went to third on a fielder's choice and scored on a passed ball.

The Reds scored again in the fourth, when Juan Castro came home on a passed ball by Miller, and added runs in the eighth and ninth.

It was an ugly game to the end. Mike Remlinger came in to pitch the ninth and gave up a hit, walked three batters and threw a wild pitch. He was replaced by Joe Borowski, who struck out his only batter to end it.

Notes: Sosa's home run drew him within two of Eddie Murray (504) for 17th on the career list. ... Sosa is hitting .400 lifetime against Wilson and has three home runs in 10 at-bats. ... The Cubs are 9-6. Their best record in 2002 came after just two games, when they were 1-1. ... The gametime temperature was 45 degrees, a drop of 34 degrees from the previous day. ... At 21, Zambrano is the youngest player to make a Cubs opening-day roster since Greg Maddux (20) in 1987.