Astros Are Struck Down by Prior

Mark Prior mowed down the Houston Astros and showed that the best way to pitch with the wind blowing out at Wrigley Field was to keep them from putting the ball in play.

The Cub rookie struck out 12 in only six innings Thursday at Chicago, including seven in a row to tie a club record, as Chicago beat the Astros, 6-4.

“I was aware of it, it felt good,” Prior said. “I’ve always been a strikeout pitcher. I think everybody considers me one. But it’s not my goal to strike out guys.”

Prior, whose season high of 13 strikeouts was set Aug. 4 against Colorado, got his first six strikeouts during the streak on missed swings. The seven in a row tied the Cub record shared by Jamie Moyer and Kerry Wood, and it was three short of Tom Seaver’s major league record.

Prior gave up three runs--one earned--five hits and one walk. He has 129 strikeouts in 100 innings since joining the Cubs earlier this season, including 43 in his last 27 innings--a span in which he has walked only three.

The Cubs hit five homers with Sammy Sosa lifting his major league-leading 41st in the eighth.

Holding a 1-0 lead in the second, Prior gave up a leadoff triple to Richard Hidalgo, an RBI single to Brad Ausmus and a double to Adam Everett.

Then he got on his strikeout roll.

“When Hidalgo got on base in the second inning, I just wanted to minimize the damage. Unfortunately, I gave up two more hits and I had second and third with no outs and so I went right after those guys and wanted to strike out the side and that’s what I did,” Prior said.

Prior then struck out pitcher Kirk Saarloos, Orlando Merced and Craig Biggio, and he fanned Lance Berkman, Bagwell and Geoff Blum in the third.

He threw a called third strike past Hidalgo to open the fourth for his seventh in a row before Ausmus walked to end the streak.

“I feel like I’m throwing well, making quality pitches whether it’s a strike or a ball,” Prior said. “I’m putting it in the spots where I want it to be.”

Saarloos, a former Cal State Fullerton standout who had won five consecutive decisions, gave up five runs and seven hits in seven innings, giving up four solo home runs.

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Arizona 7, Cincinnati 2--Randy Johnson recovered from a one-day illness and gave up only two hits in eight innings, striking out 11 at Cincinnati as the Diamondbacks swept the Reds.

Johnson (18-4) gave up Brandon Larson’s solo homer in the second and Sean Casey’s infield single as he extended his winning streak to five games. The left-hander has been dominant during that stretch--41 innings, five runs, 59 strikeouts.

Johnson has struck out at least 10 batters 12 times this season, and 183 times in his career.

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St. Louis 11, Pittsburgh 5--Pinch-hitter Eli Marrero hit a tiebreaking single and Tino Martinez had a three-run double in the Cardinals’ six-run ninth inning at Pittsburgh as St. Louis won its season-high sixth consecutive game.

The Cardinals extended their lead in the NL Central to four games over Houston by sweeping a four-game series in Pittsburgh for the first time since Aug. 12-15, 1971.

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Philadelphia 5, Milwaukee 0--Joe Roa scattered four singles over a career-high seven innings for his first victory in more than five years as the Phillies completed a three-game sweep of the Brewers at Philadelphia.

Roa (1-1) struck out two and hasn’t walked a batter in any of his four starts (22 innings) this season. His last victory came while pitching for the San Francisco Giants on June 14, 1997, at Anaheim.

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San Diego 5, New York 3--Tom Lampkin had three hits and two RBIs as the Padres capitalized on three Met errors to extend New York’s longest home losing streak in 22 years.

The Mets have lost five in a row overall and eight consecutive at Shea Stadium, falling a season-high four games below .500. It’s New York’s longest losing streak at home since the Mets dropped eight in a row in August 1980 on the way to a 67-95 season.

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San Francisco at Atlanta--Chipper Jones hit a two-out, two-run single in the ninth inning, then rain halted the game in the top of the 10th with the teams tied, 3-3.

The tie left the Giants one game behind Dodgers in the NL wild-card race.

The game will be replayed only if it has a bearing on the postseason race, possibly on Sept. 23--when both teams have a scheduled day off--or the day after the regular season ends.

Either way, Thursday’s game gets recorded officially as a tie, and all the stats count.

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Prior Restraint

Chicago Cub rookie Mark Prior reached the 100-inning mark for the season on Thursday, striking out 12 batters in only six innings against the Houston Astros. A look at his season statistics:

ERA ... 3.15

Wins ...6

Losses ... 3

Games ... 16

Innings... 100

Hits ... 5

Runs ... 37

Earned runs ...35

Walks... 33

Strikeouts ... 129