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| Fontenot's blast helps Cubs top Giants CHI CUBS 6, SAN FRANCISCO 5 |
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By Ryan Leong PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- What started out as a pitchers' duel turned into a home run derby on a cool evening. Mike Fontenot's solo home run in the eighth inning helped the Chicago Cubs claim a 6-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night. The Cubs held a 1-0 lead until the sixth inning, when Jim Edmonds launched a two-run homer to left field off Giants starter Kevin Correia to extend the advantage to three. "I got ahead of him and went to the changeup," said Correia, who yielded four runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings. "I threw him a 2-2 changeup to go 3-2, and a 3-2 changeup that he hit out. If I can get my changeup back to where it was, I might not give up a run tonight, never mind three." Ryan Dempster scattered three hits over the first five innings before making his only mistake of the game in the sixth. After surrendering a two-out single by Ray Durham, John Bowker crushed a changeup from Dempster into McCovey Cove for his ninth blast of the season. The Giants rank last in the league in home runs, and Bowker's was just the second splash hit by San Francisco this season, cutting the deficit to 3-2. "The ball hasn't been flying much all series, and Edmonds went opposite field and then three (more) big home runs, so the ball was flying out," Dempster said. The Cubs tacked on a pair of runs in the seventh off rookie reliever Sergio Romo to regain a three-run cushion. Kosuke Fukudome singled to center before Ryan Theriot was hit by a pitch. With runners on first and second, Derrek Lee struck out looking, but both runners advanced on a double steal without a throw from catcher Eliezer Alfonzo. Rookie Geovany Soto capitalized, fisting off a slider that was in on the hands for a two-run single. "It's huge, we've got to step it up on the road," Soto said of the Cubs' 18-24 record away from home. "Right now, we're on a good pace, and hopefully tomorrow we get it done, heading to St. Louis by winning three here." The lead disappeared quickly as Durham ripped a three-run blast off Carlos Marmol (2-3) in the bottom of the inning to tie the contest at 5-5. "(Marmol's) stuff is good, he's just not locating it," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "I'll have a little talk with him tomorrow about locating some of these pitches a little better." But Fontenot crushed a fastball from Giants reliever Tyler Walker (3-4) over the right field wall in the eighth for his fifth homer of the season, putting the Cubs back on top. "I've been feeling good at the plate," said Fontenot, who has three home runs in his last eight games. "I'm just trying to have good swings up at the plate, have good at-bats, and been fortunate to hit some balls out." "We got all the momentum on our side and we needed a shutdown inning out of myself," Walker said. "It's very frustrating for me in this situation, when you get behind a hitter 3-1 and you don't execute a pitch, and they made me pay for it. It's something I'm probably going to stew on for quite a while. It's tough. There's definitely a lot of fight in this team, and I just wish I could have held up my end of the bargain." Chicago closer Kerry Wood worked around a two-out triple by Jose Castillo in the ninth inning, striking out Fred Lewis to seal the win and notch his 21st save of the season. "What do you want me to talk about?" Lewis said. "(Wood) struck me out. We fought hard. We had great hits that brought us back in the game, we just came up with the L." |
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