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CHICAGO -- Glendon Rusch continued his surprisingly
strong pitching, adding to the Houston Astros' road miseries. Rusch logged eight stellar frames and Corey Patterson homered as
the Chicago Cubs posted a 4-1 victory over the Astros, who have
lost six straight on the road. Making his fourth start since Cubs' star righthander Kerry Wood
went on the 15-day disabled list May 1, Rusch allowed a solo
homer to Brad Ausmus in the top of the second inning but little
else. A 30-year-old lefthander, Rusch yielded five hits while striking
out six and walking one. He allowed just three singles after
the second inning and the outing was his longest since September
2002. Ryan Dempster got the last three outs for his third save for
Chicago, which has allowed five or fewer runs in 11 straight
games. The Cubs gave Rusch an early lead when Derrek Lee hit a
sacrifice fly against rookie Wandy Rodriguez - who was making
his first major league start - in the bottom of the first
inning. Patterson, who was 3-for-3 and has five hits in his last five
at-bats, led off the fifth with his ninth home run snapping a
1-1 tie. Jeromy Burnitz added a two-run shot in the sixth to cap the
scoring and chase Rodriguez, who gave up four runs and six hits
in 5 2/3 innings. The 26-year-old lefthander struck out six, walked one, and
singled in his second major league at-bat in the fifth. The Astros are a major-league worst 2-20 on the road and have
scored just 57 runs away from home this season.
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