Cubs Win But Sosa Homerless

Sammy Sosa's stuck. Can't get off 58 homers but can't complain, either. Even when he doesn't get good pitches to hit.

"I can't go out there and think about home run all the time," Sosa said after his long-ball drought reached five games as the Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 Thursday night to stay tied in the NL wild-card chase.

"They pitched me well the last couple of days and didn't give me anything to hit. And if they want to walk me, I'll take it."

Sosa, trailing Mark McGwire by four homers with 15 games left, went 0-for-2 with a pair of walks.

"I've been doing my job all year long. Every player will go through a little slump," Sosa said.

"Right now I can't think about what is in the past. I got to come back and be disciplined. I'm not worried right now."

Chicago got strong pitching from Kevin Tapani and key hits from Mark Grace and Brant Brown in a five-run third inning.

Sosa hit a high fly to center and walked against Jose Silva (6-4). He walked again in the fifth against reliever Jeff Tabaka, producing boisterous booing from a disappointed crowd of 38,722 at Wrigley Field. Against Ricardo Rincon, Sosa struck out on a 3-2 pitch in the seventh.

"Boy, he stinks," Grace said sarcastically. "Probably in St. Louis we got caught up in the McGwire carnival atmosphere. But we have to worry about the wild-card chase now not the home-run chase."

Sammy Sosa's home-run drought reached five games Thursday night. (AP)

"Sammy is going to be fine. He did some good things. He took some walks and made some good defensive plays. Just because he didn't hit a home run doesn't mean he didn't contribute."

Sosa made a running catch in the fifth, going over the pitcher's mound in the bullpen to snag Lou Collier's foul fly. His best chance at a homer came in the first when he hit his high fly, just getting under the pitch.

"There is no different approach to Sosa. He knows what you are going to do, you just have to pitch to him," Pirates manager Gene Lamont said.

Tapani (18-7) raised his career record against the Pirates to 5-0, including four victories this year. He allowed eight hits in eight innings and won his sixth consecutive decision.

Rod Beck pitched the ninth for his 46th save.

Jose Hernandez walked to start the bottom of the third, moved up on Tapani's sacrifice bunt and scored on Lance Johnson's single. Mickey Morandini followed with a single and Sosa walked on a 3-2 pitch before Grace hit a two-run single to center for a 3-0 lead.

"That's what is beautiful. They walk me and Grace gets a two-run single," Sosa said.

Brown followed with a two-run double to left-center, and Grace scored the fifth run with a belly-flop slide at the plate.

Singles by Jason Kendall, Kevin Young, Jose Guillen and Freddy Garcia cut the lead to 5-2 in the sixth.

Silva gave up five hits and five runs in his first start since June 16, when he broke his arm against the Phillies.

Notes