Cubs-Marlins: Carlos Zambrano Leads Chicago to 6-3 Victory

[via FoxyTunes / Steve Goodman]

The Cubs defeated the Marlins 6-3 on Thursday night. Carlos Zambrano gave the Cubs seven solid innings of pitching, while Henry Blanco and Ronny Cedeno highlighted the offense.

The Cubs fell behind early when Hanley Ramirez homered in the top of the third to give the Marlins a 2-0 lead.

But the Cubs came right back in the bottom of the third to score one run when Ronny Cedeno belted his second home run of the season to deep left.

Then in the bottom of the fifth with the Cubs trailing 2-1, they were able to put a four spot on the board.

Zambrano got the scoring started when he hit a double that drove in Mark DeRosa. With the bases loaded, Derrek Lee walked which brought home Zambrano. Aramis

Ramirez hit a two-run double that scored both Soriano and Theriot making the score 5-2. Henry Blanco scored the last run when he also hit his second home run of the season to make the score 6-2.

The Marlins added one more in the top of the eighth after Mark DeRosa made a spectacular play in right field on the sacrifice-fly by Luis Gonzalez which scored Alfredo Amezaga.

Carlos Zambrano allowed two earned runs on six hits while striking out six and walking none. With the victory Zambrano, improved to 11-4 on the season.

Carlos Marmol worked 1 1/3 innings to pick up the save. He struck out three but also walked three, but none of them scored.

Marlins starter Scott Olsen went six innings, allowing six earned runs on seven hits while striking out three. With the loss, Olsen fell to 6-5 on the season.

The Cubs' record now is 60-42. They maintain their one game lead on the Brewers, who beat the Cardinals 4-3.

Today, the Cubs will send Ryan Dempster to the mound. He is 11-4 with a 3.05 ERA, Josh Johnson will make his third start of the season. In his previous two starts, he has two no-decisions and a 3.86 ERA. Game time is set for 1:20 pm Central.