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Kim stellar as Marlins blank Cubs

May 28, 2007 - 11:35 PM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Byung-Hyun Kim finally looked comfortable with his new club.

Kim tossed six scoreless innings and Reggie Abercrombie homered as the Florida Marlins snapped a three-game losing streak with a 5-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Monday afternoon.

Jason Wood knocked in two runs for the Marlins, who had won five out of six before getting swept by the New York Mets this weekend. But they got back on track thanks to the newly acquired Kim (3-2).

"BK went out there and gave us some timely pitching and really shut them down," Wood said. "Our team went out behind him and came up with some big hits."

A journeyman hurler, he is best known for his implosion in the 2001 World Series at Yankee Stadium as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The righthander blew back-to-back save opportunities in improbable fashion, crushing his confidence and sending him to an up-and-down career with four different clubs.

He was acquired from the Rockies earlier this season and had yielded 11 runs in 10 2/3 innings in his first two starts. Kim was much better Monday, allowing just three hits and three walks, while striking out five.

"Our game plan going in was to make him throw strikes," Cubs catcher Michael Barrett said. "The scouting report said he was having trouble locating the strike zone and walking a lot of guys. He had command of his fastball and his slider. He was tough on us."

Renyel Pinto, Matt Lindstrom, Taylor Tankersley and Kevin Gregg combined to hurl the final three innings to finish the game. Gregg picked up his fifth save after taking over for Tankersley but not without making it interesting. After Tankersley allowed two runs, Gregg allowed one more before striking out Aramis Ramirez, who represented the winning run, to end the contest.

"The momentum was definitely on their side in that inning," Gregg said. "All it comes down to is getting out of there with the victory. It doesn't matter what it looked like."

Abercrombie blasted his second homer of the season off Cubs starter Sean Marshall (0-2) to make it 3-0 in the seventh. The lanky outfielder also sparked some early offense in the opening frame.

"It was a changeup that I got out in front of," Abercrombie said. "When I first hit it, I thought it would go off the wall. I came out of the box running hard then I looked up and saw the umpire signal a home run."

Florida got on the board quickly in the first as Marshall allowed Abercrombie to reach when he muffed an easy comebacker.

"I gave up a run in the first inning when I missed that routine play," Marshall said. "There are things that I will be able to take from today's start and use in my next game."

After Dan Uggla grounded into a fielder's choice and Hanley Ramirez flied out to center, Miguel Cabrera singled to move Uggla to second, setting up Josh Willingham's RBI single to start the scoring.

The Marlins added another run in the third when Willingham and Jeremy Hermida led off the frame with singles. Willingham went to third on Hermida's hit and snuck home on Wood's roller to third, giving Kim more than enough support.

Marshall yielded three runs - two earned - and six hits, while striking out six and walking two in 6 1/3 innings. It was the lefthander's second start since being called up from Class AAA Iowa to start Wednesday.

"He (Marshall) threw pretty well," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "He kept us in the game. We just got started with our offense too late."

Ramirez stroked two hits for the Cubs, who have lost six of their last eight games.