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 Mark DeRosa was 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs, helping the Cubs finish their road trip 4-3 and avoid their first three-game losing streak. They are the only team in the majors that hasn't lost more than two in a row.
Carlos Marmol relieved Marquis with the potential tying runs on base, striking out Matt Kemp and retiring Blake DeWitt with the help of a sparkling play by three-time Gold Glove first baseman Derrek Lee, who made a diving stop in the hole and tossed to Marmol for the third out while still on the ground.
Marmol got another big out in the eighth, retiring Jeff Kent on a grounder to third for the force on lead runner Juan Pierre. Kerry Wood pitched a perfect ninth for his NL-leading 18th save in 22 attempts.
The defending Central Division champions, whose 40-24 record is the best in the majors, didn't get their 40th win last season until July 1 when they got back to the .500 mark.
The Cubs are 8-20 when scoring three runs or fewer. Their last four wins under those circumstances have come at the Dodgers' expense, including all three games of a series sweep last month at Wrigley Field in which they outscored Los Angeles 8-3.
Penny (5-8) threw 110 pitches over six innings, giving up three runs and six hits. The two-time All-Star, who hasn't won since beating Colorado on May 2 for his fourth straight victory, pitched with runners on base in each of the first five innings while walking three and striking out five. The Dodgers have totaled five runs in Penny's last four starts, getting shut out twice.
Chicago took a 3-1 lead with a pair of runs in the fifth. DeRosa followed Alfonso Soriano's leadoff double with an RBI single, advanced on a wild pitch and scored when Aramis Ramirez doubled inside third base for his team-high 42nd RBI.
Ramirez, who averaged 104 RBIs over the previous five seasons with Pittsburgh and Chicago, is trying to join Ron Santo as the only third basemen in Cubs history with four 100-RBI seasons.
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DeRosa, the second batter Penny faced in the game, hit his eighth home run into the pavilion seats in left-center on a 3-1 pitch. It continued a couple of disturbing trends for the right-hander, who has failed to get through the first three innings without giving up a run in nine of his 14 starts this season. He has retired the side in order in the opening frame just four times.
Los Angeles tied it in the bottom half on a groundout by Kent that scored Pierre, who led off with a single, stole second and continued to third when catcher Geovany Soto's throw bounced into center field. Marquis retired 12 in a row between Pierre's hit and James Loney's leadoff single in the fifth.
Shortstop Angel Berroa, acquired from Kansas City on Friday night, made his Dodgers debut and was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
Notes: When Joe Torre was managing Soriano in 2002 with the Yankees, he pulled out all the stops to give Soriano every opportunity to get the home run he needed to finish that season with the rare feat of 40 homers and 40 stolen bases. Before the Yankees began a three-game series in Baltimore that ended the regular season, Torre asked Orioles manager Mike Hargrove if it was OK with him Torre allowed Soriano to swing at a 3-0 pitch if the situation arose. Hargrove gave Torre his blessing, but Soriano came up empty in 15 at-bats that series
-- leaving him with a homerless drought of 47 at-bats over his final 11 games. He eventually joined the exclusive 40-40 club in 2006 with the Washington Nationals (46-41).
[Associated Press; By CHRIS DUNCAN]
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