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Cubs Top D-Backs

POSTED: 7:34 pm EDT May 11, 2008

(Sports Network) - Daryle Ward's two-run pinch-hit double in the bottom of the eighth inning lifted the Chicago Cubs over the Arizona Diamondbacks, 6-4, to complete a three-game sweep at Wrigley Field.

The start of game was delayed for 58 minutes due to rain, and both scheduled starters, Randy Johnson and Carlos Zambrano, were scratched before the game due to the weather. Edgar Gonzalez started for Arizona, while Sean Gallagher got the call for the Cubs.

Reed Johnson hit a two-run home run for the Cubs, winners in four of their last five. Derrek Lee belted a solo shot, while Kosuke Fukudome went 2-for-4 and scored a run.

Carlos Marmol (1-0) earned the win as four Chicago relievers combined for 4 2/3 shutout innings, with Kerry Wood picking up his seventh save. Gallagher lasted 4 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on five hits while striking out six.

Conor Jackson tripled and drove in a pair of runs for the D-Backs, who have dropped six of eight. Miguel Montero and Eric Byrnes each doubled and scored, while Augie Ojeda and Justin Upton drove in a run apiece.

Tony Pena (0-1) took the loss after allowing two runs in 1 2/3 innings of relief. Gonzalez was solid for five innings, holding the Cubs to two runs on five hits.

The Cubs fell into a 4-2 hole through five innings, but rallied against a struggling Arizona bullpen.

With Juan Cruz in his second inning of relief, the Cubs finally reignited their offense in the seventh. Mike Fontenot drew a one-out walk, then Johnson turned on a Cruz fastball and launched it over the wall in left-center to force a 4-4 tie. A walk to Ryan Theriot chased Cruz in favor of Tony Pena, who got Lee to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Ramirez lined a single to left to start the home eighth, and with Fukudome at the plate, Ramirez stole second. Fukudome dropped a perfect bunt that died on the third base line for a single, and moved to second when Geovany Soto was retired on a grounder just in front of the plate.

After pinch-hitter Alfonso Soriano was intentionally walked, Ward then belted a long fly ball that fell in the gap for a two-run double to put the Cubs in front.

"(Pena) has good stuff, Ward said. "I wanted to jump on a first pitch fastball if that's what he was going to give me, and he did. He couldn't have thrown it any more down the middle."

Wood hit Jeff Salazar with a pitch in the ninth, but got Ojeda to ground into a game-ending double play to complete the sweep.

Chris Young worked a two-out walk in the first, and scored on Jackson's triple, but Mark DeRosa tied the game in the second inning when he singled and made it to third before dashing home on a wild pitch.

Lee put the Cubs on top in the third, launching a one-out solo homer into the seats in right-center.

Arizona couldn't put another run across until the fifth, when Montero led off with a double to start a three-run inning that including an RBI single from Ojeda and run-scoring walks to Jackson and Upton -- both walks were issued by Chad Fox, who came on in place of Gallagher.

"We took an early lead today, I felt good about it," said Arizona manager Bob Melvin. "They just played better than we did in the later innings the last couple of games."

But, the Chicago bullpen settled down and held the D-Backs without a hit over the final 4 2/3 innings.

Game Notes

Jackson's two RBI give him 30 for the season...Fox, Marmol, Wood and Michael Wuertz all threw at least one scoreless inning for Chicago...The Cubs stranded seven runners, while the D-Backs left six men on base...The Cubs continue their 10-game homestand on Monday with the start of a four-game set against the Padres...The D-Backs return home on Tuesday for the opener of a three-game series with the Rockies.

MLB Headlines

New York Mets
Mike Pelfrey threw seven shutout innings to win his fifth consecutive start, and Carlos Beltran blasted a three-run homer in the opening inning off Tim Lincecum, as the surging New York Mets beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-0, in the opener of a three-game series.


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