Cubs’ Wood excels on mound, at plate

Kerry Wood is more than just a power pitcher. He can swing the bat, too.

The Chicago ace threw six dominant innings and homered Saturday, leading a Cubs split squad to a 10-0 rout of the Milwaukee Brewers in Phoenix.

In addition to his 95 mph fastball, Wood had excellent control of an overhand curve that buckled the knees of a few Brewers batters.

“I feel really good. I wish it was July,” Wood said. “The curveball has been good. I probably threw about 15 or 18 today. Usually, that’s the last pitch I go to in spring training. I wanted to work on it this year, so I made it the first.”

Wood improved to 3-0 in four spring starts. He gave up three hits, struck out five and did not walk a batter.

Sammy Sosa also homered for the Cubs, sending a mammoth drive over the 40-foot batter’s eye in center field. He hit five home runs in 43 at-bats against the Brewers last season.

An infield single by Wood set up an RBI single by Sosa in the second inning.

In the third, Wood led off and jumped on a first-pitch fastball from Orlando Hernandez, depositing the ball on the berm in left-center field.

Hernandez, trying to make the Brewers’ bullpen, then gave up a leadoff homer on a 3-0 pitch to Sosa in the fourth.

“I just didn’t want to walk him,” said Hernandez, who struck out six and allowed six hits and three runs in four innings. “I learned a lot today.”

It was a dreary day for the Brewers, who had five hits and four errors in losing their fifth in a row. The only bright spot was a scoreless debut by closer Dan Kolb, who made his first appearance of the spring after being slowed by shoulder soreness.

In other spring training games:

Expos 9, Marlins 3

At Viera, Fla., Zach Day struck out seven in five innings and Montreal got home runs from Jose Vidro, Valentino Pascucci and Luis Lopez.

Red Sox 9, Blue Jays 4

At Fort Myers, Fla., David Ortiz hit his spring training-leading sixth homer for Boston, which has scored 29 runs in its last three games. Tim Wakefield pitched four shutout innings.

Indians 6, Astros 3

At Kissimmee, Fla., Houston’s Tim Redding and Cleveland’s C.C. Sabathia each pitched impressively. Redding threw four shutout innings, extending his scoreless streak this spring to 10.

Braves (ss) 5, Tigers 4

At Lakeland, Fla., Atlanta rookie Adam LaRoche hit two home runs. Jason Johnson, scheduled to be Detroit’s opening day starter, gave up four hits and three runs in five innings.

Pirates 2, Yankees 1

At Bradenton, Fla., John Van Benschoten and Sean Burnett passed a tough test. Pittsburgh’s top two pitching prospects limited the Yankees to a run over five innings and the Pirates turned some uncharacteristically slick defense into a victory. Kevin Brown made his next-to-last start before pitching the second of the Yankees’ two regular-season games against Tampa Bay in Tokyo later this month.

Phillies 6, Twins 1

At Fort Myers, Fla., Eric Milton held his former team in check for five innings. Milton, traded by Minnesota in December, allowed one run.

Braves (ss) 6, Reds (ss) 3

At Kissimmee, Fla., Chipper Jones went 2-for-2 with three RBIs, and Horacio Ramirez gave up one run on three hits in four innings. Ken Griffey Jr. went 0-for-3 for the Reds. He’s hitting .125 (3-for-24).

Devil Rays 6, Reds (ss) 4

At St. Petersburg, Fla., Robert Fick hit a two-run homer for Tampa Bay. Fick is batting .366 with three home runs and eight RBIs in eight games this spring.

Cardinals 4, Orioles 3

At Jupiter, Fla., Matt Morris became the first St. Louis pitcher to go five innings. Morris, who will start opening day, gave up two runs in the first and blanked Baltimore after that.

Padres 11, Diamondbacks 8

At Peoria, Ariz., Khalil Greene homered and drove in four runs. Arizona starter Shane Reynolds yielded 11 runs and 10 hits in two-plus innings.

White Sox 14, Rangers 5

At Tucson, Ariz., Sandy Alomar Jr. had three hits and four RBIs for Chicago. Mark Teixeira homered off Mark Buehrle, who allowed two runs.

Athletics (ss) 5, Rockies 3

At Tucson, Ariz., Larry Walker might have aggravated a sore groin in his return to Colorado’s lineup. Walker, who hadn’t played since March 8, came out after going 0-for-2 and said he probably wouldn’t play today.

Giants 10, Angels 8

At Scottsdale, Ariz., Barry Bonds homered again and J.T. Snow, Pedro Feliz and Michael Tucker also connected for San Francisco. Bonds hit his first two home runs of the spring Friday.

Athletics (ss) 9, Cubs (ss) 8

At Phoenix, Joe Blanton pitched four strong innings, Nick Swisher drove in two runs and Bobby Crosby homered.