Cubs End Tumultuous Week With A Win

The Chicago Cubs got in a few good swings _ against the other team this time _ and capped a chaotic weekend on a much-needed positive note. <br/><br/>Mark DeRosa hit a grand slam, Alfonso Soriano and Derrek

Monday, June 4th 2007, 7:28 am

By: News On 6

The Chicago Cubs got in a few good swings _ against the other team this time _ and capped a chaotic weekend on a much-needed positive note.

Mark DeRosa hit a grand slam, Alfonso Soriano and Derrek Lee added solo homers and Chicago snapped a six-game losing skid with a 10-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday. The win capped a wacky three days for the Cubs, who had teammates exchange punches Friday and manager Lou Piniella ejected and suspended indefinitely the following day after he kicked dirt all over an umpire.

``Obviously, you don't see a fight everyday in the dugout, so there were questions with the attention that brings,'' Lee said. ``The ejection? We knew that was coming sooner or later, so it wasn't too big of a deal. Our main concern was just the way we've been playing.''

The Cubs felt a little better after Sunday's game when Sean Marshall (1-2) allowed one run and six hits in 6 2-3 innings in his third start since being recalled from Triple-A Iowa.

``That's the frustration that I guess we took out in today's game,'' Marshall said. ``There was just a little extra spark, I guess to get us going. It was fun to watch, too.''

The Cubs caught a break when the Braves pushed back John Smoltz's scheduled start to Tuesday and took advantage, jumping on Lance Cormier (0-1) in his season debut. DeRosa stepped to the plate with two outs in the first and drove a 3-2 fastball out to center to make it 4-0. The Cubs cruised from there.

In other NL games, it was: Philadelphia 9, San Francisco 8; St. Louis 8, Houston 6 in 10 innings; Arizona 4, New York 1; Colorado 10, Cincinnati 9 in 10 innings; Los Angeles 5, Pittsburgh 4; Milwaukee 3, Florida 0; and San Diego 7, Washington 3.

At Chicago, Carlos Zambrano and Michael Barrett got the weekend off to a fiery start in the fifth inning of Friday's 8-5 loss. There was yelling, shoving and slapping in the dugout. Barrett went back to the clubhouse to talk to Zambrano, and the catcher needed six stitches on his lower lip after they got into it again.

The team fined the players Saturday, but there was trouble later in the day for Piniella. He threw his cap, kicked dirt on third-base umpire Mark Wegner and earned his first ejection this season after Angel Pagan got thrown out trying to steal third in the eighth inning of a 5-3 loss. Major League Baseball suspended Piniella indefinitely Sunday and fined him an undisclosed amount.

The league also said Piniella made contact with Wegner during the outburst _ which he denied. Piniella, who began serving the suspension Sunday, will find out the length of the punishment Monday.

``It all starts with playing bad baseball,'' general manager Jim Hendry said. ``When you play as poorly as we have now for a few weeks time, a lot of frustration sets in because you do have a lot of guys that care and a lot of guys that expect to win. Nobody's anything but extremely disappointed, frustrated with where we're at.''

Phillies 9, Giants 8

Shane Victorino hit a game-ending homer in the bottom of the ninth off Kevin Correia (1-2), and Ryan Howard's three-run shot in the seventh helped Philadelphia outslug San Francisco.

Howard's 10th homer, off left-hander Jack Taschner, highlighted a five-run seventh that gave the Phillies an 8-7 lead. Chase Utley and Aaron Rowand also homered for Philadelphia.

The Giants tied it at 8 in the top of the ninth on Kevin Frandsen's RBI single off Antonio Alfonseca (3-1).

Bengie Molina and Randy Winn hit home runs for San Francisco. Barry Bonds, nine shy of Hank Aaron's career home run record, was rested by manager Bruce Bochy before entering as a pinch-hitter in the eighth and grounding out.

Cardinals 8, Astros 6, 10 innings

So Taguchi and Albert Pujols hit 10th-inning homers off Dan Wheeler (0-2), lifting visiting St. Louis to its fourth win in five games.

Pujols also homered in the eighth off Chad Qualls, and David Eckstein hit his sixth career leadoff home run for the Cardinals.

Jason Isringhausen (2-0) got the win despite allowing Mark Loretta's homer to lead off the 10th.

Diamondbacks 4, Mets 1

Doug Davis (4-6) allowed a run and six hits in 7 2-3 innings and visiting Arizona won for the ninth time in 10 games.

The Diamondbacks concluded a successful six-game road trip through Philadelphia and New York, winning five of six. Meanwhile, the Mets lost a home series for the first time since April 15-17 against Atlanta.

Mets starter Oliver Perez (6-4) was outstanding early, facing the minimum through four. But he lost his command in the fifth, when he gave up two runs.

Rockies 10, Reds 9, 10 innings

Back in the lineup after being benched for two games, Garrett Atkins homered and singled in the winning run in the 10th to help Colorado rally past Cincinnati.

Kaz Matsui, who hit a bases-loaded triple in the eighth to lead Colorado's comeback from a six-run deficit, opened the 10th with a single off Victor Santos (1-1) and went to second on Santos' wild pickoff attempt. After Matt Holliday struck out, Todd Helton was intentionally walked to bring up Atkins.

Manny Corpas (2-2), the seventh Colorado pitcher, worked a scoreless inning for the win.

Dodgers 5, Pirates 4

Andre Ethier's two-run homer in the eighth off former Pirates closer Salomon Torres (0-2) finished Los Angeles' five-run comeback in the late innings.

Dodgers closer Takashi Saito left with a sore hamstring in the bottom of the ninth, but the injury isn't considered serious. Joe Beimel finished for his first save.

Chad Billingsley (4-0) earned the victory by retiring all three hitters he faced.

Brewers 3, Marlins 0

At Milwaukee, Ben Sheets (6-3) pitched six shutout innings, J.J. Hardy hit his 16th homer and the Brewers won their first series in nearly a month.

Dontrelle Willis (7-4) walked a career-high six and struck out none in six innings _ the first time Willis has pitched more than three innings without a strikeout.

Padres 7, Nationals 3

Josh Bard homered and drove in a career-high four runs and David Wells (3-3) threw five solid innings in the rain for visiting San Diego. Hiram Bocachica's solo homer _ his first hit since being claimed on waivers from Oakland on Thursday _ snapped a fifth-inning tie.

Ryan Zimmerman homered for the Nationals, and Jason Simontacchi (2-4) took the loss.