Chicago Cubs: Win 9th Straight with 9-6 Win over San Diego Padres

The Cubs won their ninth straight game after defeating the Padres 9-6 lead by Alfonso Soriano who blasted a three-run home run and Mark Derosa who hit a two-run shot.

Sorinao's home run in the eighth inning proved to be very important as the Padres tacked on three runs of their own to put them within three runs at 9-6 in the bottom of the eight.

Once again the Cubs had to come from behind as the Padres got on the board first in the third inning when Wilfredo Ledezma was able to score on a throwing error by Marquis and Adrian Gonzalez singled in Jody Gerut to put the Padres up 2-0.

The Cubs then scored in the fourth on a Aramis Ramirez grounder that scored Sorinao. At that point the score was 2-1 when Khalil Greene hit a sac fly that scored Paul McAnulty in the bottom half of the fourth to put the Padres back up by two at 3-1.

The Cubs were then able to tie the game up in the fifth inning when Ryan Theriot walked with the bases loaded to score Reed Johnson. Later in the inning, Derrek Lee singled in Mark Derosa, tying the game at three.

The Cubs finally took the lead in the sixth when Geovany Soto hit a solo home run and Derosa hit his two-run shot to give the Cubs a 6-3 lead. They later added three more runs on the Soriano home run and led 9-3 until the Padres added three of their own to make the score 9-6.

They were able to score on a bases loaded walk, a single by Edgar Gonzalez that scored Paul McAnulty and a on a fielder's choice that allowed Kahlil Greene to score.

As for starter Jason Marquis, he was able to pick up his third win of the season despite walking five and allowing three earned runs on four hits in five innings of work.

Kerry Wood who Lou thought would be able to rest, had to come out in the ninth and was able to nail down his 16th save of the season.

Wilfredo Ledezma also had some problems with wildness as he to walked five and allowed three earned runs on three hits. The lost however went to Bryan Corey.

The Cubs' bullpen the last couple of days has had a hard time hanging onto big leads resulting in the Cubs having to use the tail end of their bullpen way too often. This is something the Cubs have to work on in order to continue their winning ways.

With the win, the Cubs assured themselves of a series win on the road their first since the beginning of the season against the Pittsburgh Pirates. They also improved to 38-21 on the season and maintained their 3.5 game lead in the division.

Tonight the Cubs will send Ted Lilly who is 5-4 with a 5.54 ERA to the mound as Greg Maddux who is 3-4 with a 3.69 ERA goes for the Padres.

Game time is set for 9:05 PM ct.