Cubs Blast Nomo, Dodgers 8-1

Rookie Kerry Wood pitched five shutout innings for his first major league win, and hit an RBI single during an eight-run first inning off Hideo Nomo as the Chicago Cubs beat Los Angeles 8-1 Saturday.

Wood (1-1), the Cubs' No. 1 pick in the June 1995 draft, gave up four hits and struck out seven. He walked three.

The 20-year-old right-hander, considered one of baseball's pitching prospects in recent years, was called up from Triple-A Iowa on April 12. He has 14 strikeouts in 9 2-3 innings in two starts for the Cubs.

All of Chicago's runs came against Nomo (1-2), who retired only two batters in the shortest start of his career.

Nomo gave up five walks and three hits, throwing 45 pitches -- 23 strikes -- before departing. He had walked six batters in 16 innings in his three previous starts.

The Cubs won for just the second time in seven games. The Dodgers were stopped in a bid for their first three-game winning streak this season.

Chicago sent 13 hitters to the plate in the first inning. Nomo walked five of the first six batters, walking Mark Grace, Henry Rodriguez and Jeff Blauser with the bases loaded to give the Cubs a 3-0 lead.

Two outs later, Wood singled for his first big league hit. Brant Brown followed with a two-run single that chased Nomo.

Mickey Morandini greeted Darren Dreifort with a single that drove in Wood, and the Cubs made it 8-0 when Sammy Sosa reached on an error by third baseman Todd Zeile.

Marc Pisciotta pitched three innings of hitless relief for the Cubs. Trenidad Hubbard homered for the Dodgers in the ninth off Terry Adams.

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