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Fontenot, Zambrano lead Cubs to sixth straight win

Jun 27, 2007 - 10:45 PM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- The Chicago Cubs received solid performances from rookie Mike Fontenot and ace Carlos Zambrano to beat the Colorado Rockies, 6-4, on Wednesday afternoon.

It was the sixth straight win for the Cubs, who are on their longest winning streak since winning seven straight from May 27-June 2, 2005. The last time Chicago swept two straight series was April 20-25, 2004.

Fontenot followed up his 5-for-5 performance in Tuesday's 8-5 win by adding three more hits on Wednesday. The rookie made it 5-0 in the fourth inning by smacking his third homer of the season over the bleachers in right field.

"Obviously things have been going great for me," Fontenot said. "I am just trying to put good swings on balls. I'm trying to get good pitches to hit."

Fontenot's homer was more than enough for Zambrano (9-6), who pitched six innings, allowing two runs and five hits with three walks and eight strikeouts. The righthander entered the contest having gone 3-1 with a 1.14 ERA in his last four starts.

"Carlos really battled today," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "He has had three or four starts where he threw a lot of pitches, we wanted to shorten him up today."

The Cubs started the scoring in the second inning. Mark DeRosa doubled to center field then moved to third on a wild pitch by Rockies righthander Jason Hirsh (3-7). Ryan Theriot followed with a single up the middle to plate DeRosa with the first run of the game.

"The heat was a factor," Hirsh said. "I am not going to use any excuses, I struggled with my command and it cost me a few runs."

DeRosa smacked a three-run homer in the third inning, making Hirsh pay for walking Derrek Lee and Cliff Floyd. That gave DeRosa seven RBI in three games against Colorado this year.

"It was nice to sweep the Rockies, they came in playing good baseball," DeRosa said. " My home run came at a good time. The wind was still blowing out, by the eighth inning it was blowing in."

The Rockies closed within 5-2 with two outs in the sixth when Brad Hawpe dumped a two-run, bases-loaded single into right field. Zambrano escaped further damage by striking out Troy Tulowitzki to end the inning.

"Today was hot and humid," Zambrano said. "There was something in the air that made you tired."

Angel Pagan hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh, scoring Fontenot to give Chicago a 6-2 lead.

Garrett Atkins hit his ninth homer of the season - a two-run blast - in the eighth inning for Colorado's final runs of the game.

Rookie Billy Petrick relieved Zambrano and worked 1 2/3 innings, allowing Atkins' blast in his first major league appearence.

"I never got an ovation like that from the fans after giving up a home run," Petrick said. "The hometown fans treated me great."

Carlos Marmol pitched a perfect ninth inning in place of injured closer Ryan Dempster, striking out two to earn his first career save.

"What a job he (Marmol) did," Piniella said. "The kid showed me he really wants the ball."

Hirsh pitched six innings, allowing five runs and five hits with five walks and four strikeouts. The righthander has won only once in his last 12 starts.

"It wasn't perfect but by pitching a couple of extra innings, I feel good about my next start," Hirsh said. "I threw 80 percent fastballs, the only real mistake was the home run ball to DeRosa."