Dodgers beat Cubs 7-2 on Martin's grand slam

[August 21, 2009]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Russell Martin snapped a sixth-inning tie with a grand slam, propelling the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 7-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday night in the series opener.

Martin's second career grand slam provided some much-needed offense for the struggling Dodgers, who had scored three runs or less in five of their previous seven games. They'd lost each of those five games and saw their NL West lead shrink to 3 1/2 games over Colorado in that stretch.

Los Angeles still owns the NL's best record at 72-50, although the club is just 16-18 since the All-Star break, including an 8-11 mark this month.

The Cubs have their own problems, going 4-10 in their last 14 games to drop seven games behind NL Central-leading St. Louis.

Ronald Belisario (2-2) got two outs for his first victory since April 30. He walked one five days after coming off the 15-day DL.

Jeff Weaver made a spot start in place of right-hander Hiroki Kuroda, who is on the 15-day DL with a concussion after being hit in the head by a line drive last weekend in Arizona. The right-hander gave up two runs and five hits in 5 1-3 innings, struck out four and walked two.

Angel Guzman (2-3) took the loss, yielding four runs and three hits in one inning, while striking out one and walking one.

Tom Gorzelanny got off to a rocky start for the Cubs, giving up three hits and a run to the first four batters he faced and committing an error. Chicago rallied twice to tie the game before Martin's grand slam put it out of reach.

Like the Dodgers, Martin has struggled this month, hitting just .246. He went 0 for 3 against St. Louis a night earlier and hadn't homered since July 26 against Florida.

But he launched the first pitch he saw from Guzman just over the left-field fence, breaking a 2-2 tie and earning the catcher a curtain call.

Casey Blake's RBI single extended the Dodgers' lead to 7-2 in the seventh.

The Dodgers took a 2-1 lead in the second on Rafael Furcal's RBI single with two outs. Their first run came on Andre Ethier's fielder's choice in the first.

Kosuke Fukudome, who went 3 for 3 with a walk, tied the game at 1 on his career-high 11th homer in the second. The Cubs tied the game in the third on a single by Aramis Ramirez. They loaded the bases but Alfonso Soriano and Jeff Baker struck out to end the inning.

NOTES: Kuroda is eligible to return on Aug. 31, the start of a four-game series against Arizona. ... The Dodgers improved to 1,015-1,014 all-time against the Cubs. ... Martin's first grand slam came on April 27, 2007, against Pittsburgh at home. ... Penny Marshall was a pregame dugout visitor with Dodgers manager Joe Torre. Chicago native Jim Belushi got booed when he was spotted wearing a Cubs cap.

[Associated Press; By BETH HARRIS]

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