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Wild Myers sends Cubs into first

Aug 2, 2007 - 5:49 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Brett Myers couldn't find his command, so now the Chicago Cubs find themselves in first place.

Myers came on in relief and made a mess of the ninth inning as Matt Murton scored the winning run on a wild pitch to give the Cubs a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday.

With the win, the Cubs pulled into a tie with the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the National League Central Division. The last time Chicago was in first place this late in the season was August 1, 2003.

"The fans are excited and they should be, "Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "Our players are giving it everything they have and it's a nice thing for the fans, but we still have two months to go."

Chicago loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth but failed to score as Mark DeRosa popped out to shallow right to end the frame. Philadelphia also loaded the bases with two outs, this time in the ninth, but Carlos Ruiz grounded into a forceout to end the threat.

The Cubs got a second chance in the bottom of the ninth, and Myers helped them come through.

Murton led off the inning with a double to left. Jayson Werth made a diving attempt to make the catch and appeared to have the ball in his glove, but he could not hold on when he hit the ground.

"The ball went into the lights for a second but I had a good beat on it," Werth said. "I made the best effort I could that was the only play I had on it."

Murton took third on a wild pitch and Myers walked Ronny Cedeno. Jacque Jones was walked intentionally to load the bases with none out, bringing up Jason Kendall.

Myers (1-3) struck out Kendall on a fastball away and got ahead of pinch hitter Cliff Floyd, 0-1, but uncorked a wild pitch with his next offering, allowing Murton to score from third.

"That's the greatest non at bat I ever had," Floyd said. "I'll take something like that every time, if it means a win." Ryan Dempster (2-3) got the win despite allowing a hit and two walks in the ninth.

"Even when we were playing poorly we always believed in ourselves," Dempster said. "It's exciting, now we just have to not have a letdown. We have to keep playing hard and hopefully stay in first place."

The Phillies rallied for three runs in the fifth but ran themselves out of a chance to score another.

With Chicago ahead 4-1, Jimmy Rollins singled to left to plate Tadahito Iguchi, who doubled to open the inning. Ryan Howard doubled to center to score Rollins and make it 4-3, but he was thrown out trying to advance to third.

"When I turned around the base (second) I saw the ball got away," Howard said. "I just tried to make an aggressive play."

The baserunning blunder proved to be a costly mistake as Aaron Rowand followed with a home run to tie the game.