HOUSTON – Alfonso Soriano finished a triple shy of the cycle and drove in two runs, and Travis Wood allowed one run in 72⁄3 innings to lead the Cubs to a 5-1 win over the Houston Astros Wednesday night.
Dave Sappelt had four hits for the Cubs.
Wood (6-11) gave up four hits and struck out six for his second straight win. Wood has allowed only one run in his last two starts, spanning 132⁄3 innings.
Fernando Abad (0-4) gave up a run on four hits in 31⁄3 innings with two strikeouts and three walks. In his four starts this season, Abad has not lasted longer than 41⁄3 innings.
In a scary moment, Houston reliever Mickey Storey left the game with a bruise to his right hand and the right side of his jaw after being hit in the side of the face by a Sappelt line drive in the top of the eighth inning. Sappelt’s liner appeared to have glanced off Storey’s right shoulder before hitting him in his jaw.
Storey fell to a knee and grabbed his jaw area as Astros personnel rushed to check on him. He was down for several minutes before walking into the Astros’ dugout with the help of Houston trainers.
Welington Castro gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the first with a two-out single.
Soriano hit his 29th home run of the year off Chuckie Fick in the fifth and extended the lead to 3-0 in the seventh with an RBI single off Fernando Rodriguez down the left field line.
Anthony Recker upped the Cubs’ lead to 4-0 in the eighth with a double to the right field gap off Jose Valdez.
Houston cut the lead to 4-1 in the eighth on a run-scoring single by Fernando Martinez off Shawn Camp, scoring Brandon Barnes, who had chased Wood with a two-out double. Jose Altuve then reached on a single and Jed Lowrie walked to load the bases, but Camp struck out J.D. Martinez to end the threat.
The Cubs made it 5-1 in the ninth as pinch runner Tony Campana stole third and scored on Chris Snyder’s high throw.
Wood walked one and did not allow a hit through the first four innings. Chris Snyder walked to lead off the third, but he was erased on an inning ending double play.
Justin Maxwell singled to lead off the fifth for Houston’s first hit, but he was doubled off first after Soriano made a leaping grab on Matt Dominguez’s shot at the wall and fired it in to get Maxwell at first.
NOTES: Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo is expected back Friday, manager Dale Sveum said before Wednesday’s game. “He just had a little soreness on his upper right side, but he took some swings in the cage today and he’s fine,” Sveum said. ...Rizzo collided with Astros 1B Brett Wallace during Tuesday’s game. Actor/comedian Cheech Marin threw out the first pitch before Wednesday’s game. Houston starts a four-game series against Philadelphia Thursday with Lucas Harrell taking the mound against Tyler Cloyd for the Phillies. Chicago is off Thursday before opening a four-game series against Pittsburgh at home with Chris Rusin starting against the Pirates’ James McDonald.
