Free Pass Is Cubs’ Ticket to 5-4 Victory

Jon Lieber was cruising.

The Chicago Cub starter endured a rocky third inning, had retired 14 Dodgers in a row at one point and had outpitched Dodger starter Kevin Brown.

But Dave Hansen made it all for naught as the Dodger pinch-hitter clubbed a tying solo home run in the eighth inning that hit the right-field foul pole, getting Brown off the hook.

It only delayed the inevitable. The Cubs pulled out a 5-4 victory in 10 innings in the final of the three-game series in front of 39,753 at Dodger Stadium Wednesday night.

Dodger reliever Antonio Osuna (2-5) walked Jeff Reed with the bases loaded in the 10th, forcing in Mark Grace, who had also walked. And the Dodgers couldn’t capitalize on base hits by the first two batters in the bottom of the inning off Chicago closer Rick Aguilera, making a winner of reliever Tim Worrell (2-3). Aguilera recorded his 27th save, getting Gary Sheffield to foul out with the bases loaded.

With the loss, the Dodgers (59-54) fell 5 1/2 games behind the first-place San Francisco Giants in the National League West Division.

Hansen’s 391-foot shot was his sixth home run of the year and came on a full count with one out. It was also his fifth pinch-hit home run of the season and his 10th career pinch-hit homer as a Dodger, setting a franchise record.

Brown entered the game with the second-lowest earned-run average in the National League at 2.34. He had held opponents to the lowest batting average at .200, but got caught early and often by the Cubs. Brown gave up four runs on nine hits in six innings. He struck out five and walked two.

Lieber, who was riding a career-best five-game winning streak, entered the game having pitched the most innings in the league, 177 2/3. He gave up four runs on five hits in eight innings while striking out eight.

The Cubs got on the board in the first.

With one out and Ricky Gutierrez on first, courtesy of a walk, Sammy Sosa hit a line drive through the infield that skidded to the wall in left-center, driving in Gutierrez. Sosa, trying for third, was thrown out by first baseman Eric Karros, who had taken the relay throw.

Todd Hundley tied the score with a 449-foot blast down the right-field line in the second.

Batting from the left side of the plate, the switch-hitting Hundley hit a ball that landed in the loge level in right field, his 18th home run.

Hundley, who had struck out four times Tuesday night and entered the game 0 for 18 with 10 strikeouts, also became only the third Dodger to reach the orange seats. He joined Raul Mondesi, who did it on April 12, 1996, and Frank Howard, the first player to hit a ball in the loge level when he homered on Oct. 6, 1963, the day the Dodgers beat the New York Yankees, 2-1, to complete a four-game sweep in the World Series.

But a pair of Hundley throwing errors contributed to a three-run third for the Cubs.

A double steal by Jeff Huson, from third to home, and Eric Young, his 38th stolen base of the season, preceded Hundley’s first error.

Hundley’s throw to second to get Young was off line, causing shortstop Alex Cora to get spiked on the left forearm by Young, who advanced to third when the ball squirted into shallow left field.

Young would score on a Gutierrez single.

Hundley’s second error of the inning came when Gutierrez stole second, the throw going into center field and allowing Gutierrez to scamper to third.

Mark Grace’s two-out double brought home Gutierrez and gave the Cubs a short-lived 4-1 lead.

The Dodgers cut the deficit to one in the third when Cora, who had tripled, scored on Mark Grudzielanek’s single, and Devon White, who was hit by a pitch, came home on a Shawn Green base hit.

The Dodgers had a chance to chase Lieber, but Sheffield, the major league home run leader, grounded into an inning-ending, 6-4-3 double play.

The Dodgers also had a chance to win it in the ninth against Worrell after Green led off with a double down the first base line. It appeared as though Green could have made it to third, but a fan reached over and grabbed the ball.

Worrell issued an intentional walk to Sheffield before Hundley struck out, his sixth strikeout in the last two games, and Karros lofted a fly ball to center for the second out.

Beltre followed with a slow roller to second but Chicago second baseman Young handled it cleanly and threw out Beltre, who was diving into first, to end the threat.