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Dodgers beat Cubs to win series

Apr 25, 2011 - 12:54 AM Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Aaron Miles had three hits, including a triple, and an RBI to help the Dodgers earn a 7-3 victory over the Cubs in the rubber match of a three-game series.

Hiroki Kuroda (3-2) went 6 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on nine hits while striking out seven for the Dodgers, who captured their sixth win in eight games.

Carlos Zambrano (2-1) pitched five innings and allowed six runs on eight hits while striking out four as Chicago took its third loss in four games.

Zambrano entered Sunday's start having won his last 10 decisions dating back to August 14th of last season. But the Dodgers jumped all over him in the first inning when the first five batters reached base.

Miles led off with a triple, and Casey Blake was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners. The next three batters knocked in runs -- Andre Ethier singled to bring home Miles, Matt Kemp singled to plate Blake and Jerry Sands followed with a double to score Ethier. James Loney and Rod Barajas followed with run- scoring outs when Loney's grounder to first scored Kemp and Barajas' sac fly brought home Sands to give Los Angeles an early 5-0 lead.

"I knew sooner or later I was going to lose a game, you know. Unfortunately it was today, but let's move on and let's focus on my next game against the Diamondbacks," Zambrano said.

The Cubs answered back in the bottom of the first after Kosuke Fukudome led off with a double and was followed by a Darwin Barney single to put runners on first and third. Starlin Castro then reached first on shortstop Jamey Carroll's fielding error to bring home Fukudome. Two batters later, Carlos Pena's single plated Barney to make it 5-2.

The Dodgers added another run in the third when Loney singled to score Kemp from second after Kemp hit a one-out double.

"They don't hold anything back. That team over there, you saw yesterday, fights back. So jump on them early and try to stay on them," said Miles. "Zambrano is a guy who gets in a groove, starts hitting those corners, and he can be real tough."

After a two-out fielding error by Castro extended the sixth inning, Miles hit a single to score Barajas from second to give LA a 7-2 lead.

Barney singled to score Geovany Soto in the seventh after Soto doubled and moved to third on a single by Fukudome to add the Cubs' final run.

Game Notes

Ethier extended his hitting streak to a major league-leading 21 games...Kuroda threw 63 of his 94 pitches for strikes...Zambrano is now 2-4 in 13 career meetings with Los Angeles.