Saturday, May 30, 2009
Sports NewsMayfield's Mutterings: Springing into Mutterings

Cubs rally in 7th inning, edge Dodgers 2-1

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[May 30, 2009]  CHICAGO (AP) -- Koyie Hill homered and Kosuke Fukudome hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the seventh inning Friday, rallying the Chicago Cubs over the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1.

Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly (6-4) and the Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley (6-3) each opened with six scoreless innings.

Matt Kemp hit his fifth home run with two outs in the top of the seventh. The Cubs bounced back in the bottom half and ended Los Angeles' four-game winning streak.

Hill led off the Cubs' seventh with his second homer, just over the wall in right field. With one out, pinch-hitter Jake Fox, Alfonso Soriano and Bobby Scales each singled to load the bases for Fukudome, who hit a high flyball to center field.

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Kevin Gregg pitched the ninth, and held on for his eighth save in nine chances. Andre Ethier singled with two outs and Kemp reached on Scales' error at third base, but Gregg got pinch-hitter Mark Loretta to ground into a force play.

Lilly, who had lost his previous two starts, gave up four hits in seven innings, striking out five and walking three.

Billingsley lost his seconds straight start. He allowed both runs and eight hits in seven innings, striking out seven.

Playing with several substitutes in the starting lineup, the Cubs continued to waste scoring opportunities against the NL West-leading Dodgers. After blowing several late scoring chances in their 2-1 loss to the Dodgers on Thursday.

Derrek Lee led off the second with a walk and Micah Hoffpauir doubled him to third. But Mike Fontenot lined out to second, Hill struck out and Andres Blanco popped up.

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Fukudome led off the Cubs' sixth with a double and took third on Ethier's error in right field. Lee grounded back to the pitcher and Hoffpauir and Fontenot both failed to hit the ball out of the infield, prompting boos from the crowd.

Before Kemp homered, Lilly scattered three singles.

Notes:@ Soriano started and hit leadoff despite pain in his left knee. Cubs manager Lou Piniella said he might soon give Soriano a few days. ... Cubs P Rich Harden, currently on the disabled list, said his back is improving. There is still no timetable on his return. ... Hiroki Kuroda will return to the Dodgers' rotation Monday. The injured pitcher hasn't started for the Dodgers since opening day. ... Cubs SS Ryan Theriot was out with the flu bug that has been lingering this week. Blanco started in his place.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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