Ramirez's 2 HRs help Silva, Cubs beat D-backs

[July 07, 2010]  PHOENIX (AP) -- Aramis Ramirez homered twice, Carlos Silva earned his first victory in five starts and the Chicago Cubs beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4 on Tuesday night to clinch their first road series in 1 1/2 months.

Ramirez, hittig .178 going into the game, had his first two-home run game since Aug. 23, 2008. He has 22 multi-homer games in his career.

Kosuke Fukudome also homered for Chicago as the Cubs won their first road series since taking two of three at Texas May 21-23. They had lost five straight series overall. Chicago can complete just its second three-game sweep of the season with a win on Wednesday night.

Silva (9-2) allowed two runs on four hits through six innings. The Cubs right-hander began the season 8-0 but lost his next two and had no decision in his last two outings. Carlos Marmol struck out five in 1 2-3 innings for his 16th save in 19 opportunities.

Kelly Johnson drove in two runs with a home run and single for the Diamondbacks, who lost their fourth in a row to fall to 1-4 since A.J. Hinch was fired and replaced on an interim basis by Kirk Gibson. Justin Upton also had two hits for Arizona.

Ramirez hit a two-run homer off starter Barry Enright (1-1) in the sixth to put Chicago up 3-1 and another two-run shot off reliever Aaron Heilman to make it 6-2 in the eighth.

The Diamondbacks got two runs, one unearned, in the eighth to cut it to 6-4, but the Cubs brought on Marmol. That put the strikeout-prone Diamondbacks against the best strikeout reliever in the game. Marmol now has 77 strikeouts in 40 2-3 innings.

Silva had not won since a 6-1 victory at Pittsburgh on June 7, even though he had allowed two runs in three of his last four starts and only three in the other.

Enright, in his second big-league start, blanked the Cubs through five innings but gave up a solo homer to Fukudome and a two-run shot to Ramirez as Chicago went up 3-1 in the sixth. Johnson's 14th home run of the season cut the lead to 3-2 in Arizona's sixth. The Cubs stretched it to 4-2 when Geovany Soto singled and moved to third on a pair of wild pitches from reliever Sam Demel. Ryan Theroit's two-out single brought Soto home.

Fukudome, who struck out three times, knocked a 2-1 pitch over the porch in center field to tie it leading off the sixth. Four batters later, Ramirez hit his seventh home run of the season, a two-run shot that made it 3-1 Cubs.

It could have been more. After Fukudome's homer, Theriot lined one past Chris Young in right-center and tried for a triple. But left fielder Gerardo Parra threw to shortstop Stephen Drew. Drew's perfect throw got to third just ahead of Theroit, who went head first into the base and was tagged out by Mark Reynolds.

NOTES: Chicago has 15 runs in its last two games, more than it has scored in consecutive contests since May 8, and that pair against Cincinnati included a 14-2 victory. ... The Diamondbacks have struck out 50 times in the last the four games. ... The only other three-game sweep for the Cubs this season was at home against Milwaukee April 13-15. ... Johnson has hit safely in 17 of his last 18 games. ... Theroit had his 25th multi-hit game of the season.

[Associated Press; By BOB BAUM]

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