NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Cub Rookie Doesn’t Let Crowd 71,329 in Denver Bother Him

Steve Trachsel refused to let Mile High Stadium get to him. Instead, the rookie right-hander for the Chicago Cubs pitched his first major league complete game.

Trachsel, a first-round draft choice in 1992 from Long Beach State, yielded seven hits and the Cubs roughed up David Nied in the first inning Sunday and beat the Colorado Rockies, 12-4.

“I wasn’t intimidated by this park. You can’t let it get to you,” Trachsel said. “I didn’t let it get to me and went out and pitched my game.”

Trachsel (2-1), making his seventh career start, struck out four and walked four before 71,329, the seventh-largest crowd in the Rockies’ history.

“I had to come out in the first inning to remind him he had to throw strikes for us to help him,” Cub Manager Tom Trebelhorn said. “After that, he pitched well.”

Chicago’s first five batters got hits, starting with Karl Rhodes’ 416-foot homer into the right field bleachers. The Cubs, who finished with a season-high 16 hits, scored four runs in the first, getting a run-scoring single from Derrick May, an run-scoring double from Sammy Sosa and a run-scoring groundout from Shawon Dunston.

“I’ve been hearing the people behind home plate asking if I’d hit another home run,” said Rhodes, who hit three on opening day.

“I’m a line-drive hitter who happened to get the ball up into the wind today and hit it out.”

Nied (2-2) gave up eight runs and eight hits in 2 2/3 innings, his shortest outing of the season. He walked four and struck out one.

Andres Galarraga drove in a run with a groundout in the bottom of the first, but Chicago made the score 8-1 in the third on Trachsel’s RBI single, Rhodes’ run-scoring double and Ryne Sandberg’s two-run triple.

San Diego 6, Philadelphia 5--Andy Benes stopped his nine-game losing streak, Tony Gwynn tied a club record with his eighth consecutive hit and Phil Plantier drove in three runs with a homer and double at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

Benes (1-4) won for the first time since last Sept. 1 against Florida, giving up five runs--four earned--and six hits in 7 1/3 innings. He struck out six and walked two.

Gwynn, who had five hits in five at-bats Saturday, was hit below the right knee on the first pitch by Curt Schilling (0-3). The two exchanged words and Schilling received a warning from plate umpire Bob Davidson.

“It all stemmed from last night. When I was on second base in the fourth inning, Ben Rivera thought I was giving signs to the hitter,” Gwynn said.

Gwynn said he tried to convince Rivera and catcher Darren Daulton he wasn’t stealing signs. “I can’t even read their signs,” he said.

Gwynn singled in the third and fourth before hitting into a double play in the sixth and singling in the eighth. The eight consecutive hits tied the record set by Dave Winfield in 1979. Gwynn also tied a team record--held by himself and Bip Roberts--by reaching base nine consecutive times.

San Diego, which held on after taking a 6-0 lead, completed its first three-game sweep since last Aug. 23-25 against St. Louis.