| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
Dodgers 3, Cubs 0
Monday August 18, 2003CHICAGO (AP) Eric Gagne is doing his best to keep the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL wild-card race.
The All-Star closer got the final three outs for his 41st straight save of the year as the Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs 3-0 on Sunday to improve to 10-4 in their last 14 games.
Gagne's streak is the longest to start a season in major league history. He has saved 49 in a row dating to last Aug. 28, second to Tom Gordon, who converted 54 in a row for Boston in 1998-99.
``In order to do stuff like that you are pretty much unbelievable,'' Dodgers left fielder Jeromy Burnitz said. ``I don't think you would rather have anyone else on the mound in a close situation other than him.''
Gagne also extended his scoreless streak to 21 innings, the longest by a Los Angeles pitcher this season. He retired three straight batters, striking out two, after allowing Aramis Ramirez's leadoff double off the ivy in right-center.
The Dodgers and Cubs are tied for fourth in the wild-card race, five games behind Philadelphia. Chicago is a half-game behind Houston in the NL Central, while Los Angeles is 9{ behind San Francisco in the West.
Dodgers starter Hideo Nomo (14-9) allowed four hits over seven innings, striking out three and walking four. He's 5-1 in his last seven starts, the only loss coming Aug. 1 at Atlanta.
Paul Quantrill pitched a scoreless eighth before giving way to Gagne.
``The bullpen has been phenomenal all year long,'' catcher Paul Lo Duca said. ``If we get to the bullpen we're going to win a lot of games.''
Randall Simon went 1-for-4 in his first game for the Cubs since being acquired in a trade with Pittsburgh on Saturday. He made a diving stop at first base to rob Nomo of a hit and also made an error.
The Dodgers scored twice in the fourth inning on RBI singles by Adrian Beltre and Jolbert Cabrera. The Cubs intentionally walked Robin Ventura to get to Cabrera, who delivered a sharp single to center that brought home Beltre.
Los Angeles added a run in the eighth off reliever Mark Guthrie. Dave Roberts singled, went to second when a pickoff attempt got by Simon, and was sacrificed to third. Burnitz then singled to right to bring him home.
The Dodgers had seven singles and no extra-base hits.
``We got a couple of opportunities and cashed in,'' manager Jim Tracy said. ``We did just enough hitting to win.''
The Dodgers took the three-game series from the Cubs and went 4-2 against Chicago this year.
The Cubs consistently got men on base but couldn't push a run across. They stranded runners in each of the first five innings and left nine on overall. Sammy Sosa came up in his first three at-bats with runners on but struck out twice and grounded out.
``Nomo was pitching great today, no question about it,'' Sosa said. ``We went up there and tried to do what we could but good pitching is going to stop good hitting, and that's what happened today.''
Carlos Zambrano (11-9) was effective for Chicago but had his five-game winning streak snapped. It was his first loss since July 13 in Atlanta. He gave up five hits and two runs over seven innings, striking out five and walking three.< ^Notes:@ The Cubs and Astros will begin a three-game series in Houston on Tuesday. ... Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne sang during the seventh-inning stretch, drawing cheers and chants from the crowd.
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