  Cubs power Maddux to win No. 298 &nbsp; Club hits cycle of homers ; Maddux goes the distance By&nbsp;Carrie Muskat&nbsp;/&nbsp;MLB.com CHICAGO -- It's 298 down and two to go for Greg Maddux. Aramis Ramirez belted a grand slam and Moises Alou hit a pair of home runs to back Maddux's 298th career win and power the Chicago Cubs to a 13-2 victory Thursday over the Cincinnati Reds. Maddux (9-7) is two wins away from becoming the 22nd Major League pitcher to reach 300 career wins. He gave up two runs -- both on solo homers by Javier Valentin -- on four hits in his second straight complete game. He struck out six. Maddux had tossed a six-hit shutout against Milwaukee in his last start. Mark Grudzielanek also hit a three-run homer for the Cubs, and the 13 runs scored is a season high. Ramirez connected on his slam in the sixth, the third by a Cubs player this year and fourth by the third baseman in his career. Both of Alou's home runs came on the first pitch he saw from Reds starter Cory Lidle (6-8). He led off the second with his 23rd and launched No.
24 with two outs and a runner on in the third for his 25th career multi-homer game and his second this year. Alou hit 22 home runs total last year for the Cubs. Alex Gonzalez and Paul Bako each singled in the Chicago fourth, and both scored on Grudzielanek's home run, his second. He had missed nearly three months because of a sore Achilles. Alou walked to open the fifth, although he had to dodge a curve ball that was a little close to his head during his at-bat.
It appeared that home plate umpire Bill Hohn issued a warning to both benches after the pitch. Derrek Lee followed with an RBI double and scored one out later on Gonzalez's double to open an 8-2 lead. &nbsp; urlLink Carrie Muskat is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. --------------------------------- 
