Jake Fox leads Cubs to 3-1 victory over Dodgers

[August 24, 2009]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Jake Fox went 4 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs, and the Chicago Cubs rallied for a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday to avert a four-game sweep.

Fox had the first four-hit game of his career while starting in place of outfielder Alfonso Soriano, given his second consecutive day off because of a sore knee.

The Cubs avoided being swept in a four-game series in Los Angeles for the first time since 1965 while closing out their West Coast trip with a 2-5 record. They return to Wrigley Field having lost 12 of 18 overall.

Ryan Dempster (7-7) allowed one run and three hits in seven-plus innings, struck out five and walked one to end a two-game slide.

Carlos Marmol pitched the ninth for his fifth save -- and first since replacing Kevin Gregg as closer.

Chad Billingsley (12-7) gave up three runs and nine hits in six innings, struck out five and walked one in losing for the first time since July 28 at St. Louis.

The hitting woes that plagued the Cubs in recent days transferred to the Dodgers, who managed three hits. Andre Ethier and Manny Ramirez each went 0 for 4 (Ramirez struck out to end the game), Casey Blake was 0 for 3 with two strikeouts and Matt Kemp went 0 for 3.

The Dodgers' run came on Tony Abreu's tying RBI single in the second.

Los Angeles threatened in the eighth, when Dempster issued a leadoff walk to Russell Martin before giving way to John Grabow, who walked Abreu.

Abreu was called out at second on a disputed play. Second base umpire Chad Fairchild ruled that second baseman Mike Fontenot was on the bag when he took a throw in the dirt from shortstop Ryan Theriot on Mark Loretta's grounder in the hole. Martin advanced to third on the play, but pinch-hitter Orlando Hudson grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Moments earlier, Hudson hit a popup that fell in short center field after Theriot lost it in the sun. Martin jogged home for an apparent run, but the play was nullified because third base umpire Wally Bell had called time.

The Cubs stranded runners in scoring position in three different innings before snapping a 1-all tie with two runs in the sixth.

Billingsley opened the inning by giving up three consecutive hits. Aramis Ramirez tripled and scored on Kosuke Fukudome's RBI double down the right-field line. Fox followed with a single up the middle, scoring Fukudome and giving the Cubs a 3-1 lead.

Chicago struck first for the first time in the series on Fox's ninth homer. He sent a 3-2 pitch from Billingsley into the left-field pavilion in the first.

NOTES: Dodgers manager Joe Torre said RHP Hiroki Kuroda might join the team on its road trip that begins Tuesday at Colorado. Kuroda, on the 15-day disabled list with a concussion after getting hit in the head with a line drive, has been throwing on flat ground and will throw from a mound this week. ... Torre said newly signed RHP Vicente Padilla is on schedule to join the Dodgers this week and make his first start Thursday against the Rockies. ... Cubs OF Reed Johnson, on the DL with a broken foot, probably won't return until Sept. 1, manager Lou Piniella said. ... Dodgers 3B Casey Blake turned 36.

[Associated Press; By BETH HARRIS]

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