Hill, Cubs edge Astros

Sep 13, 2007, 3:33 GMT

Houston, TX - Rich Hill tossed seven innings of three-hit ball as the Chicago Cubs eked past the Houston Astros, 3-2, to move back into a first-place tie with the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central.

Hill (9-8) allowed just a pair of singles and a solo home run in picking up the win, striking out seven and walking three. Bob Howry pitched a scoreless eighth, and Ryan Dempster came on for his 26th save despite allowing a run and a pair of hits in the ninth.

Cliff Floyd was 2-for-4 with a home run and scored twice, as the Cubs won for the third time in their last five games.

Chicago is now deadlocked with the Brewers, who lost 7-4 at Pittsburgh Wednesday afternoon, atop the NL Central.

Matt Albers (4-8) took the loss for Houston, going six innings and yielding three earned runs on seven hits, striking out three and walking one.

Mark Loretta was 3-for-3 with a home run, reaching base four times, and Hunter Pence went 2-for-4 for Houston, which has lost eight of its last 10.

The Cubs got on the board in the second thanks to Floyd's leadoff homer. Mark DeRosa and Jason Kendall then laced back-to-back singles, and Ryan Theriot brought home DeRosa with a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 edge.

Theriot drove in another run in the fourth with a two-out infield single that scored Floyd, who had led off the inning with a triple.

Loretta trimmed the lead to 3-1 with just the third Astros hit of the game, a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the seventh.

In the bottom of the eighth, Pence lined a one-out single, and Craig Biggio followed with a base hit to left. Cubs leftfielder Alfonso Soriano momentarily fumbled the ball, and Pence gambled by trying to take third. But Soriano recovered quickly and nailed Pence for the second out, and the Cubs ultimately escaped the inning unscathed.

Against Cubs closer Dempster, Loretta led off the ninth, and hit a seemingly harmless ground ball toward first baseman Derrek Lee. But the ball bounced off the inside edge of the first base bag and caromed into short right field, allowing for a leadoff baserunner. Pinch-hitter Mike Lamb then roped a ball into the right-center field gap, and when centerfielder Felix Pie misplayed it, pinch-runner Josh Anderson scored and Lamb went all the way around to third.

Dempster then induced a groundout from Luke Scott, but walked pinch-hitter Orlando Palmeiro to put runners at the corners with one out. Pinch-hitter Eric Munson came on, but grounded softly to Lee, who began a 3-6-1 double play to end the game, allowing the Cubs to escape and move back into the first-place tie.

Game Notes

Floyd's fourth-inning triple was his first since May 21, 2006, when he was a member of the New York Mets...Hill has made two appearances at Minute Maid Park, and has gone seven innings and allowed one run on three hits in both starts (one win, one no-decision)...The win snaps a four-game Cubs losing streak at Minute Maid Park, where they are 34-33 all-time...Loretta's home run is his first since June 29 off Colorado's Brian Fuentes, 221 at-bats prior...Soriano went 0-for-5, and is 4-for-29 on the current road swing...Houston's loss, its 82nd of the season, clinches its first losing season since 2000.

© 2007 The Sports Network

Game Notes

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