SAN DIEGO, Sept. 28 (UPI) — Alfonso Soriano hit a three-run home run and the Chicago Cubs scored five runs in the final two innings Tuesday to upend San Diego 6-2.

The Cubs, who banged out 11 hits, trailed 2-1 heading into the eighth inning. Soriano’s shot to center in the eighth gave Matt Garza (10-10) the victory.

Garza allowed two runs on five hits and struck out eight through seven innings for his fourth straight win.

Chad Qualls (6-8) gave up Soriano’s home run and ended up with the loss.

Kyle Blanks knocked in both San Diego runs. The Padres lost for the third time in five games.

CHICAGO — Tyler Colvin’s RBI single in the 10th inning off Octavio Dotel lifted the Chicago Cubs to a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.

Geovany Soto led off the 10th with a single off Dotel (0-2), advanced to second on Marlon Byrd’s sacrifice bunt, and scored on Colvin’s hit to center field just hours after the Cubs fired general manager Jim Hendry.

Soto also had a game-tying RBI double in the eighth inning. Darwin Barney homered and tripled, and Starlin Castro added two hits for the Cubs. Sean Marshall (6-5) pitched a perfect 10th to earn the win.

Castro, who leads the NL with 162 hits, has 301 in his career. He is the fifth Cubs player to pass 300 in his first two seasons.

Chicago beat the rival Cardinals for just the third time in 10 games this season, delighting a home crowd of 42,343 — the largest at Wrigley Field since the home opener in 1978.

The Cubs responded in their first game following the firing of Hendry, who was let go about three hours before the game. He was replaced on an interim basis by assistant general manager Randy Bush.
Yadier Molina hit a two-run homer for the Cardinals, and David Freese added a solo shot.

Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia left with a 4-3 lead after he scattered nine hits in 6 1/3 innings. Garcia, who entered the game hitting .085, added an RBI single.

Chicago’s Randy Wells gave up four hits in seven innings and struck out five. He set down the Cardinals in order in four of his seven innings, but was hurt by homers by Molina and Freese.

The Cubs nearly won the game in the ninth, but ran themselves out of the inning.

Tony Campana reached first leading off the ninth when second baseman Ryan Theriot bobbled a routine grounder for an error, but he was doubled up when Castro flied to center on what appeared to be a hit-and-run play. Reed Johnson followed with a two-out single, and Aramis Ramirez walked, but the threat ended when Carlos Pena flied out to right.

After trailing for 7 1/2 innings, the Cubs tied it 4-4 in the eighth. Soto’s double into the left-field corner scored Pena all the way from first base.

Molina’s second-inning homer opened the scoring, and Garcia’s single up the middle scored Theriot to make it 3-0. Freese hit a solo shot in the fourth to put the Cardinals ahead 4-1. He has an RBI in seven of his last eight games.

Barney brought the Cubs within 4-2 with his second homer of the season, landing a shot just barely into the basket in the left-field corner. His previous homer was April 25 against Colorado.

Barney added a triple when Lance Berkman overran a blooper into the right-field corner in the seventh. He scored when pinch-hitter Blake DeWitt’s fly to center was misplayed by John Jay, and the ball rolled to the wall for another triple.

With DeWitt on third and one out, representing the tying run, Jason Motte relieved Garcia and worked out of the jam by striking out Castro and getting Johnson on a grounder.

Notes:St. Louis’ Allen Craig made his first career start in center field as manager Tony La Russa wanted to give the slumping Jay a break. Jay replaced Craig in the fifth inning. Cubs pitcher Andrew Cashner threw his third live batting practice session on Friday, the latest step in his recovery from a strained right rotator cuff that has had him on the disabled list since April 6. Larry King sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch. Edwin Jackson will start for the Cardinals on Saturday against the Cubs’ Matt Garza. Jackson will be making his first in Chicago since being dealt by the crosstown White Sox on July 27. He’s won both of his career starts against the Cubs. Garza is 1-1 with a 7.80 ERA in three career starts against St. Louis. The big crowd was entertained by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds practicing over Lake Michigan a few blocks east of Wrigley Field during the middle part of the game in advance of the weekend’s air and water show in Chicago.

CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Colvin’s RBI single in the 10th inning off Octavio Dotel lifted the Chicago Cubs to a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.

Geovany Soto led off the 10th with a single off Dotel (0-2), advanced to second on Marlon Byrd’s sacrifice bunt, and scored on Colvin’s hit to center field just hours after the Cubs fired general manager Jim Hendry.

Soto also had a game-tying RBI double in the eighth inning. Darwin Barney homered and tripled, and Starlin Castro added two hits for the Cubs. Sean Marshall (6-5) pitched a perfect 10th to earn the win.

Castro, who leads the NL with 162 hits, has 301 in his career. He is the fifth Cubs player to pass 300 in his first two seasons.

Chicago beat the rival Cardinals for just the third time in 10 games this season, delighting a home crowd of 42,343 — the largest at Wrigley Field since the home opener in 1978.

The Cubs responded in their first game following the firing of Hendry, who was let go about three hours before the game. He was replaced on an interim basis by assistant general manager Randy Bush.

Yadier Molina hit a two-run homer for the Cardinals, and David Freese added a solo shot.

Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia left with a 4-3 lead after he scattered nine hits in 6 1-3 innings. Garcia, who entered the game hitting .085, added an RBI single.

Chicago’s Randy Wells gave up four hits in seven innings and struck out five. He set down the Cardinals in order in four of his seven innings, but was hurt by homers by Molina and Freese.

The Cubs nearly won the game in the ninth, but ran themselves out of the inning.

Tony Campana reached first leading off the ninth when second baseman Ryan Theriot bobbled a routine grounder for an error, but he was doubled up when Castro flied to center on what appeared to be a hit-and-run play. Reed Johnson followed with a two-out single, and Aramis Ramirez walked, but the threat ended when Carlos Pena flied out to right.

After trailing for 7½ innings, the Cubs tied it 4-4 in the eighth. Soto’s double into the left-field corner scored Pena all the way from first base.

Molina’s second-inning homer opened the scoring, and Garcia’s single up the middle scored Theriot to make it 3-0. Freese hit a solo shot in the fourth to put the Cardinals ahead 4-1. He has an RBI in seven of his last eight games.

Barney brought the Cubs within 4-2 with his second homer of the season, landing a shot just barely into the basket in the left-field corner. His previous homer was April 25 against Colorado.

Barney added a triple when Lance Berkman overran a blooper into the right-field corner in the seventh. He scored when pinch-hitter Blake DeWitt’s fly to center was misplayed by John Jay, and the ball rolled to the wall for another triple.

With DeWitt on third and one out, representing the tying run, Jason Motte relieved Garcia and worked out of the jam by striking out Castro and getting Johnson on a grounder.

NOTES: St. Louis’ Allen Craig made his first career start in center field as manager Tony La Russa wanted to give the slumping Jay a break. Jay replaced Craig in the fifth inning. Cubs pitcher Andrew Cashner threw his third live batting practice session on Friday, the latest step in his recovery from a strained right rotator cuff that has had him on the disabled list since April 6. Larry King sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch. Edwin Jackson will start for the Cardinals on Saturday against the Cubs’ Matt Garza. Jackson will be making his first in Chicago since being dealt by the crosstown White Sox on July 27. He’s won both of his career starts against the Cubs. Garza is 1-1 with a 7.80 ERA in three career starts against St. Louis. The big crowd was entertained by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds practicing over Lake Michigan a few blocks east of Wrigley Field during the middle part of the game in advance of the weekend’s air and water show in Chicago.

Marmol allowed the Astros to load the base before surrendering a grand slam to pinch-hitter Brian Bogusevic for a 6-5 loss that ended the Cubs’ three-game winning streak.

“When you’re not sharp sometimes you get beat,” Cubs manager Mike Quade said of Marmol’s performance. “His slider wasn’t as good as it usually is, and his fastball command left him.”

“One swing can beat you. It’s one of those things.”

Until the bottom of the ninth inning, the Cubs seemed poised to take the three-game series with a game to spare.

Tyler Colvin hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning, and Aramis Ramirez added a solo shot in the eighth as the Cubs built a 5-2 lead. Colvin, who has spent time in Triple-A this season and is hitting just .135, has homered three times in the last 13 games, including Tuesday’s blast that landed in the second deck in right field.

Houston starter Brett Myers exited after the seventh inning having yielded six hits and four runs in seven innings and hasn’t won since June 17.

The Cubs jumped to an early lead, getting Myers for two runs in the first inning.

Starlin Castro hit a leadoff single followed by a single by Darwin Barney. Ramirez hit the third single of the inning to score Castro and give Chicago a 1-0 lead. Carlos Pena walked before Marlon Byrd grounded into a double play and Barney scored to make it 2-0.

Rookie Jimmy Paredes’ RBI double in the bottom of the first inning got the Astros back in it.

But Houston failed to overcome the one-run deficit despite Myers shutting out the Cubs over the next four innings.

Cubs starter Ryan Dempster was partly to blame. Much like Myers, Dempster settled after giving up an early run. He shut out the Astros the next five innings.

By the time the Astros managed to score again — Humberto Quintero’s sac fly off Dempster brought home J.B. Shuck in the bottom of the seventh — the Astros had dug themselves in what looked like too big of a hole.

The run again cut the Chicago’s lead in half, only this time the score was 4-2 in favor of the Cubs.

Dempster left after the seventh inning having just allowed four hits and two runs, replaced by Kerry Wood, who pitched a scoreless eighth.

“That’s a bummer,” Dempster said. “We had a chance to win the series. It just didn’t work out. The guy came up, swung and missed two fastballs and he hits one out.”

Ramirez’s 22nd homer came off reliever Wilton Lopez in the eighth inning and pushed the lead to 5-2.

Then came Houston’s rally.

Shuck singled with one out in the ninth off Marmol (2-4) before advancing to second on a wild pitch. Clint Barmes singled and Matt Downs drew a walk to load the bases and bring up Bogusevic, who went deep to left center field for first career grand slam.

“Bad day, you know?” said Marmol of his eighth blown save. “I’ve been pitching good. Hopefully that continues tomorrow and (I) forget about today.”

Houston rookie reliever Aneury Rodriguez (1-4) struck out one in 2-3 innings for the win, his first in the majors.

“I was surprised (about Marmol),” Quade said. “We just didn’t get it done. We played well. Obviously you never know how many runs you’re going to need.”

NOTES: Houston OF Jordan Schafer, on the DL since July 20 with an injured left middle finger, was cleared to start a rehabilitation assignment at Triple-A Oklahoma City on Wednesday. If his rehabilitation goes well, he could join Houston on Monday in Colorado. Schafer was acquired from Atlanta in the Michael Bourn trade. … Bud Norris starts for Houston in Wednesday’s finale against Chicago’s Casey Coleman. … Norris didn’t allow a run in seven innings in his last start, but did not factor in the decision. … Coleman was recalled from Triple-A Iowa to replace Carlos Zambrano in the rotation. Coleman is 2-4 with a 7.23 ERA in 11 games this season for Chicago.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

“It’s good for us,” Bogusevic said. “We’ve been struggling a little bit. One of the good parts about being young is you’re not going to give up. We’re going to fight all nine innings and it doesn’t matter if we’re down one run or 10 runs, we’re going to keep going.”

J.B. Shuck singled with one out in the ninth off closer Carlos Marmol (2-4) before advancing to second on a wild pitch. Clint Barmes singled and Matt Downs drew a walk to load the bases and bring up Bogusevic.

“When you’re not sharp sometimes you get beat,” Chicago manager Mike Quade said referring to Marmol. “His slider wasn’t as good as it usually is, and his fastball command left him.”

Bogusevic, who called the hit a “thrill,” sped around the bases at first because he wasn’t sure he’d hit it out.

“I was (running fast) because I know that I’m the winning run and if it doesn’t get out, I’ve got to get myself into scoring position somewhere,” he said. “After I saw it land, I kind of slowed down a little bit to maybe soak it in a little bit.”

Houston reliever Aneury Rodriguez (1-4) struck out one in 2-3 innings for his first career win.

Astros’ manager Brad Mills was excited to see two of his young players come through in the victory.

“(Bogusevic) really did a good job,” Mills said. “That was just tremendous and I’m so thrilled for him and thrilled for Aneury Rodriguez to get his first win. Those things are cool.”

Kerry Wood pitched a scoreless eighth before Marmol blew his eighth save, which snapped a streak of nine straight saves for him.

“Bad day, you know,” Marmol said. “I’ve been pitching good. Hopefully that continues tomorrow and (I) forget about today.”

Tyler Colvin hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning and Aramis Ramirez added a solo shot in the eighth as the Cubs built a 5-2 lead. Colvin, who has spent time in Triple-A this season and is hitting just .135, has homered three times in the last 13 games, including Tuesday’s blast that landed in the second deck in right field.

Houston starter Brett Myers yielded six hits and four runs in seven innings and hasn’t won since June 17.

“First inning I was struggling to get my rhythm,” Myers said. “Sixth inning, just one pitch cost me two runs. But that ninth inning made up for everything. I don’t even feel like I pitched tonight,”

Chicago starter Ryan Dempster allowed four hits and two runs in seven innings before being replaced by Wood.

Jimmy Paredes had two doubles and drove in a run for the Astros.

Ramirez’s 22nd homer came off reliever Wilton Lopez in the eighth inning and pushed the lead to 5-2.

Starlin Castro hit a leadoff single followed by a single by Darwin Barney. Ramirez hit the third single of the inning to score Castro and give Chicago a 1-0 lead. Carlos Pena walked before Marlon Byrd grounded into a double play and Barney scored to make it 2-0.

Jason Bourgeois drew a walk with no outs in the first for Houston before Carlos Lee walked with two outs. The double by Paredes, which landed in the corner of left field, scored Bourgeois, but Lee was out at home to leave it at 2-1.

Ramirez reached on an error by Clint Barmes and Pena walked in the third inning, but Myers didn’t allow another hit after the three first-inning singles until Barney singled with two outs in the fifth inning. Ramirez grounded into a force out to end that inning, before Pena doubled to start the sixth.

Then came Colvin’s two-out homer that scored Pena and pushed Chicago’s lead to 4-1.

Shuck doubled in the seventh inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by Humberto Quintero to make it 4-2.

NOTES: Houston OF Jordan Schafer, on the DL since July 20 with an injured left middle finger, was cleared to start a rehabilitation assignment at Triple-A Oklahoma City on Wednesday. If his rehabilitation goes well, he could join Houston on Monday in Colorado. Schafer was acquired from Atlanta in the Michael Bourn trade. … Bud Norris starts for Houston in Wednesday’s finale against Chicago’s Casey Coleman. … Norris didn’t allow a run in seven innings in his last start, but did not factor in the decision. … Coleman was recalled from Triple-A Iowa to replace Carlos Zambrano in the rotation. Coleman is 2-4 with a 7.23 ERA in 11 games this season for Chicago.

___

Kristie Rieken can be reached at http://twitter.com/kristieAP.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Starlin Castro homered and Matt Garza pitched seven shutout innings to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 1-0 win over the sliding Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night.

Castro’s solo homer leading off the eighth inning made a winner of Garza (5-8) as he combined on a four-hit shutout with Sean Marshall and Carlos Marmol, who worked the ninth for his 22nd save.

Castro hit a full-count pitch over the left-field fence off Chris Resop (3-3) for his fourth home run of the season to give the Cubs their first four-game winning streak of 2011. The shortstop went 3 for 4 and is 9 for 14 in the first three games of the four-game series.

Garza was lifted after walking pinch-hitter Matt Diaz to start the eighth. He allowed four hits, walked two and struck out seven for his first win in seven starts.

Marshall retired all three batters he faced in relief of Garza, leaving pinch-runner Xavier Paul stranded at second base when Neil Walker hit an inning-ending lineout. Marmol hit Derrek Lee with a pitch to start the ninth but escaped by striking out the final two batters.

Pittsburgh starter Charlie Morton pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. He has a 1.97 ERA in nine starts against NL Central opponents this season.

The Cubs’ Carlos Pena reached base in all four plate appearances with two doubles and two walks. Darwin Barney also had two hits. Castro, Pena and Barney combined for all seven Chicago hits, while the rest of the lineup went 0 for 22.

Pedro Alvarez had two of Pittsburgh’s four hits but struck out in a nine-pitch at-bat against Marmol in the ninth inning with one out and a runner on second. The Pirates were shut out for the ninth time.

Pittsburgh’s best threat against Garza came in the first inning when Andrew McCutchen led off with a single, stole second and went to third on a groundout. However, Lee lined out to shortstop to end the threat.

Chicago’s best chances against Morton came in the second and sixth innings.

Pena doubled to lead off the second but was left stranded at second base. The Cubs then loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth before Marlon Byrd grounded out.

Chicago right fielder Tyler Colvin and manager Mike Quade were ejected by home plate umpire Bob Davidson in the middle of the fifth inning. Colvin got a quick thumb for arguing a called third strike on the inside corner from Morton and Quade got tossed after coming out from the dugout to argue.

 

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(AP) — Starlin Castro homered and Matt Garza pitched seven shutout innings to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 1-0 win over the sliding Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night.

Castro’s solo homer leading off the eighth inning made a winner of Garza (5-8) as he combined on a four-hit shutout with Sean Marshall and Carlos Marmol, who worked the ninth for his 22nd save.

Castro hit a full-count pitch over the left-field fence off Chris Resop (3-3) for his fourth home run of the season to give the Cubs their first four-game winning streak of 2011.

The shortstop went 3 for 4 and is 9 for 14 in the first three games of the four-game series.

Garza was lifted after walking pinch-hitter Matt Diaz to start the eighth.

He allowed four hits, walked two and struck out seven for his first win in seven starts.

(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

PITTSBURGH, Aug. 3 (UPI) — Matt Garza teamed with two relievers on a four-hitter Wednesday and Starlin Castro hit a homer in the eighth to give the Chicago Cubs a 1-0 win over Pittsburgh.

Garza (5-8) went seven-plus innings and allowed all the Pittsburgh hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.

Sean Marshall came in for Garza in the eighth to retire three straight batters after Garza had issued a leadoff walk.

Carlos Marmol worked the ninth, hitting Derrek Lee with a pitch to start the inning. Lee reached second on a sacrifice, but Marmol then struck out both Pedro Alvarez and pinch-hitter Ryan Doumit to claim his 22nd save.

Castro’s homer came on a 3-2 pitch off reliever Chris Resop (3-3). Starter Charlie Morton had given up five hits and struck out seven in seven scoreless innings.

Pittsburgh lost its sixth straight and has dropped eight out of nine. After climbing into first place in the National League Central last month, the Pirates have fallen 6 1/2 games behind Milwaukee and are below .500 for the first time since June 21.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Two timely double plays made it a big night for the Chicago Cubs’ bullpen and Kerry Wood had a beauty.

Sean Marshall snuffed out a potential rally in the seventh inning and Wood reached behind his back to snare a grounder to start a 1-6-3 DP in the eighth as the Cubs ended a five-game losing streak with a 6-3 victory Sunday night, preventing a three-game sweep by the St. Louis Cardinals.

“The bullpen did all the work, man,” Chicago starter Ryan Dempster said. “They made some big pitches in some big situations. It was fun to see them do it.”

The Cardinals had runners on first and third with none out in the seventh and newly acquired Rafael Furcal pinch-hitting when Cubs manager Mike Quade went to Marshall. Furcal hit into a force out and another pinch-hitter, Ryan Theriot, grounded into a double play.

Albert Pujols singled with one out in the eighth before Wood, who falls off to the left side, reached his glove behind his back and snared Matt Holliday’s grounder up the middle to start the highlight-reel double play.

“It’s become a natural reaction,” Wood said. “He goes up the middle and he hit in the right spot and I got it.”

St. Louis has grounded into 116 double plays, most in the majors.

Starlin Castro and Marlon Byrd had key hits as the Cubs broke up Jake Westbrook’s perfect game with a four-run sixth.

Lance Berkman’s three-run homer in the bottom of the inning made it interesting for the Cardinals, who completed a disappointing 4-3 homestand against the two worst teams in the NL Central. They trail the first-place Brewers by 2½ games heading into a three-game series in Milwaukee on Monday.

“Two out of three from the Cubs is nothing to sneeze at,” Berkman said. “I think if you want to poo-poo the homestand, one of those games against the Astros we should have won, and it would have been three out of four.”

Alfonso Soriano homered for the second straight game and Dempster (8-8) pitched six-plus innings for the Cubs, who beat the Cardinals for the second time in seven meetings this season.

Soriano homered off Kyle McClellan, moved to the bullpen after the Cardinals acquired Edwin Jackson last week.

“I was looking for a fastball away and he threw me a cutter and I made a good swing,” Soriano said. “That was a big homer and a big win for us. Now, maybe we can relax a little.”

Furcal got a standing ovation before his pinch-hit appearance. Theriot, who lost his starting job when the Cardinals traded for Furcal, had been 6 for 7 in the series.

Westbrook (9-5) needed only 44 pitches to get through five innings, then labored through 33 pitches in the sixth and left trailing by four. After he retired his first 16 batters, five straight Cubs reached safely with two outs, and Westbrook was done after Chicago batted around.

“I felt strong and was making pitches, I just wasn’t able to make any after that,” Westbrook said. “It hurt us, hurt us big-time.”

Westbrook had been 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA in his first three starts after the All-Star break.

Castro’s RBI double over center fielder Jon Jay’s head put the Cubs ahead. Carlos Pena drew a bases-loaded walk before Byrd finished the rally with a two-run single. Soriano, who hit a three-run homer in the first on Saturday, added a two-run drive for his 17th.

After managing just two hits off Dempster over the first five innings, the Cardinals climbed right back into it in the sixth on Berkman’s league-leading 28th homer to straightaway center.

Carlos Marmol worked the ninth for his 20th save in 27 chances.

Eighth-place hitter Koyie Hill walked on a full count with one out in the sixth for the Cubs’ first baserunner. Dempster’s two-strike sacrifice bunt gave them their first runner in scoring position and Reed Johnson’s sharp single to right with two outs ended the no-hit bid and put runners at the corners.

Daniel Descalso started at shortstop instead of Furcal, fatigued after a day of travel, plus just 6 for 38 for his career against Dempster, and made two exceptional plays early.

Descalso robbed Johnson to start the fourth on a grounder that deflected off third baseman David Freese’s glove, then snared Soriano’s grounder up the middle and made a strong throw to first from the grass to end the fifth.

Notes: The crowd of 43,960 was the Cardinals’ fifth sellout of the season. … Pujols is 17 for 52 (.327) against Dempster with seven homers, 14 RBIs, 11 walks and one strikeout. … The Cardinals also grounded into two double plays on Saturday. … The Cubs are 16-29 against the NL Central.

Pinch-hitter Jeff Baker’s game-winning single in the 10th inning helped Chicago complete its first three-game sweep at Wrigley Field in nearly two years as the Cubs beat the Houston Astros 5-4 on Sunday afternoon.

It’s Chicago’s first three-game winning streak this season.

Marlon Byrd led off the 10th inning with a deep fly ball to right-center. Astros right fielder Hunter Pence was in the area to catch it but apparently lost it in the sun. Byrd ended up on third with a triple.

Astros reliever David Carpenter (0-1) then struck out Geovany Soto, after intentional walks to Tony Campana and Darwin Barney, Baker ended the game with a liner down the left-field line.
Cubs reliever John Grabow (2-0) pitched a scoreless 10th inning to earn the win.

Chicago had to come back after the Cubs bullpen blew another impressive start by Matt Garza. In his third straight start, Garza left after seven innings with the lead only to have it blown by the bullpen.

On Sunday, Garza was done in by reliever Jeff Samardzija. With a 2-1 lead, Samardzija allowed a leadoff walk to Pence in the eighth, then gave up a two-run homer to Carlos Lee to give the Astros a 4-3 lead. Before Lee’s home run, Samardzija went 12 1-3 innings without allowing an earned run.

Lee has hit 36 home runs in his career against the Cubs with 101 RBIs.

The Cubs rallied in the bottom of the eighth. Byrd led off with a single off Astros reliever Wilton Lopez and he advanced to third on Soto’s single. Alfonso Soriano tied the game with a broken-bat single to left.

Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol pitched out of a one-out bases loaded jam in the ninth. He struck out Pence then ended the inning by getting Lee to pop out to center.

Soto and Barney had a pair of RBI doubles for the Cubs, who swept an opponent at home for the first time since taking three straight from Cincinnati on July 24-26, 2009.

The last time the Cubs won three straight overall was at San Diego and Houston on Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 2010.

Garza allowed two runs on five hits over seven innings, while striking out nine. He hasn’t won since July 27.

Clint Barmes also hit a solo home run for the major-league worst Astros, who have lost seven straight on the road.

Astros starter Jordan Lyles rebounded after a three-run second inning to pitch six innings. He allowed three runs and nine hits while strking out five. The 20-year-old rookie is still in search of his first major league win.

Trailing 1-0 in the second inning, Byrd led off with a double and scored on Soto’s double to center field. After Soriano struck out, Barney doubled down the right-field line to score Soto. Garza followed with a single to right to score Barney to give the Cubs a 3-1 lead. It was Garza’s first RBI in the majors.

Barmes’ first inning home run ended Houston’s streak of 27 consecutive hits without an extra base hit. Barmes connected on Garza’s 1-1 pitch in the first inning for his sixth of the season.
Notes: Astros C Carlos Corporan, who left the game after getting hit on the right foot by a pitch on Saturday, suffered a bruise, but isn’t expected to miss extended time.