Derrek Lee knew another loss could mean the Cubs would head into Milwaukee in second place in the NL Central. That wasn’t an option he liked.
Lee launched a game-tying home run and sparked a four-run, seventh-inning rally to help Chicago beat the Florida Marlins 9-6 on Sunday, putting the Cubs back in sole possession of the division lead.
Chicago split its four-game series with Florida and moved one game ahead of the Brewers, who lost 11-6 to Houston. The Cubs open a four-game series at Milwaukee on Monday night.
“Our bats came alive today,” manager Lou Piniella said. “Let’s hope these bats travel well to Milwaukee.”
At Milwaukee, Geoff Blum hit two home runs off Jeff Suppan to lead the Astros past the Brewers.
“I kept trying to make pitches and I wasn’t really getting them where I wanted them to,” Suppan said.
In other NL games Sunday, it was: New York 9, St. Louis 1; Colorado 11, Cincinnati 0; Philadelphia 12, Atlanta 10; San Diego 3, Pittsburgh 1; Arizona 7, San Francisco 2; and Los Angeles 2, Washington 0.
Lee homered and Mike Fontenot had a pinch-hit, three-run double during a four-run seventh inning for Chicago, and the Cubs’ first baseman then saw some things he hadn’t seen for a while with his slumping club.
High-fives. Smiles. And a sense of relief.
“It’s nice to see some excitement on the bench, guys coming in high-fiving,” Lee said.
Chad Gaudin (1-1) pitched a perfect seventh for the win, and rookie Jeff Samardzija retired all six batters he faced for his first save in as many chances.
The Cubs appeared headed toward their eighth loss in 11 games early on. Mike Jacobs hit a three-run homer in the second and a two-run shot in the third that made it 5-0 before Chicago’s struggling offense showed some life.
After scoring just two runs or less in four of the previous six games, the Cubs got a three-run homer from Alfonso Soriano to tie it at 5 in the fourth. And they answered after Dan Uggla made it 6-5 with a leadoff shot in the fifth.
Lee started the seventh with a drive to center off Mark Hendrickson (7-8), his 17th of the season. The Cubs loaded the bases with two outs, and Fontenot hit a 1-0 pitch from Joe Nelson over the head of left fielder Josh Willingham.
“We had the right guy in that situation,” Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “Just a flyball that Fontenot hit that just kept going, but that’s just the way it goes. Joe’s been pretty good against left-handers.”
Florida fell two games back of NL East-leading New York heading into their three-game series in Miami.
“It was a big game and it would have been nice to get out of here winning three out of four,” Jacobs said. “We have a big series coming up so we have to put this behind us. We have the Mets coming in and that’s who we’re chasing. Hopefully we can have a good series at home.”
Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun hit a two-run homer in the third to give Milwaukee a 4-1 lead. It was his 28th homer of the year and his eighth in the Brewers’ last 20 games.
But the Astros responded with a seven-run fifth. It began with an RBI single by Brad Ausmus, an RBI groundout by Kaz Matsui and a two-run single by Miguel Tejada off the glove of second baseman Rickie Weeks. The play originally was ruled an error by official scorer Tim O’Driscoll, but was changed to a single one inning later.
Lance Berkman followed with a single and Blum hit his second home run of the game and eighth this season to make it 8-4.
“It kind of just snowballed on him in the fifth inning,” manager Ned Yost said of Suppan (5-7). “He got to two outs and was one pitch away, and then Blum hits a three-run homer.”
Reliever Chris Sampson (5-3) pitched out of a jam in the bottom of the fifth and was credited with the victory when starter Randy Wolf couldn’t go five innings in his first appearance since being obtained in a trade from San Diego.
Mets 9, Cardinals 1
Johan Santana pitched his seventh complete game, Fernando Tatis and Ramon Castro hit two-run homers and the Mets pounded Kyle Lohse and St. Louis to wrap up another successful homestand.
Santana (9-7) allowed six hits and a walk in winning for just the second time since June 1, a maddening stretch during which he was tagged with four losses and four no-decisions.
Phillies 12, Braves 10
Pat Burrell hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the fifth inning and the host Phillies rallied for the win again.
Chris Coste, Shane Victorino, Jayson Werth and Jimmy Rollins also went deep for Philadelphia, which overcame a 5-0 deficit a day after coming back from a 9-3 hole.
Padres 3, Pirates 1
Jake Peavy struck out 10 in seven strong innings and Scott Hairston hit a go-ahead home run in the eighth for visiting San Diego.
Hairston hit a 2-0 pitch from John Grabow (5-3) into the left-field bleachers for his 17th home run of the season, and third in his last six games.
Rockies 11, Reds 0
Garrett Atkins and Jeff Baker homered, Ubaldo Jimenez turned in another terrific start and Colorado completed a three-game sweep.
Chris Iannetta also homered for the Rockies, who wrapped up their first sweep of a road series this season and first in Cincinnati since June 15-17, 2001.
Diamondbacks 7, Giants 2
Randy Johnson tossed seven shutout innings to win his fourth straight start and Arizona completed its first sweep in San Francisco in seven years.
Conor Jackson had three hits, including a home run for the NL West-leading Diamondbacks, who have won five of six to move two games over .500 for the first time since June 24.
Dodgers 2, Nationals 0
At Los Angeles, Clayton Kershaw (1-3) outpitched Jason Bergmann (1-8) for his first major league victory, leading the Dodgers to the win.
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