Alfonso Soriano homered twice and Geovany Soto added a solo blast as the Chicago Cubs snapped a four-game slide with a 4-2 victory over the host Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday.
Carlos Zambrano (3-1) turned in six strong innings and Aramis Ramirez added an RBI for the Cubs.
The Diamondbacks took the lead in the first inning when Justin Upton reached Zambrano for a two-run blast. It stayed that way until the fifth when Chicago finally got to Armando Galarraga (3-2).
Soriano struck first, reaching down for a 1-2 sinker on the inside part of the plate and blasting it over the wall in left-center to pull the Cubs within a run at 2-1. Soto followed and made it back-to-back blasts when Galarraga left a 3-2 fastball out over the plate for Soto’s second homer of the season.
Soriano struck again in the seventh, moving into a tie for second in the majors with his ninth homer. The solo shot off Galarraga lifted Chicago into the lead, 3-2.
Kerry Wood and Sean Marshall bridged the gap to Carlos Marmol, who worked a scoreless ninth for his sixth save.
Chi. Cubs | Arizona | |
Carlos Zambrano | Player | Armando Galarraga |
Win | W/L | Loss |
6.0 | IP | 7.0 |
2 | Strikeouts | 2 |
4 | Hits | 6 |
3.00 | ERA | 3.86 |
Chi. Cubs | Arizona | |
Jeff Baker | Player | Justin Upton |
2 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 2 |
0 | HR | 1 |
2 | TB | 5 |
.667 | Avg | .500 |