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Dempster fans 12 batters as Cubs blank Padres

May 16, 2008 - 1:05 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Ryan Dempster continued to roll in his new role.

Dempster set a career high with 12 strikeouts Thursday as the Chicago Cubs shut down the San Diego Padres, 4-0, in the finale of a four-game series.

Notching his eighth career game with double-digit strikeouts, Dempster (5-1) yielded six hits - five singles - and walked one in 8 1/3 innings.

Despite the career high, Dempster downplayed the mark, opting to think more about how his performance helped out both himself and the team.

"(Greg) Maddux always taught me that they're (strikeouts) kind of overrated," Dempster said. "That was the nice part, in between the strikeouts it seemed I was getting a lot of quick outs today. When you do that, you minimize your pitches and you're allowed to go deeper in the ballgame. You save a bullpen and you save yourself."

A closer each of the previous three seasons with the Cubs, Dempster collected his fifth win in six starts at Wrigley Field this season. Overall, he has allowed two earned runs or less in six of his nine starts.

The righthander had a chance for his first shutout since 2001, when he was a member of the Florida Marlins. After yielding a leadoff double to Brian Giles in the ninth, Dempster came back to strike out Adrian Gonzalez.

Chicago manager Lou Piniella then took a trip to the mound but quickly retreated after the fans expressed their displeasure. However, Piniella came right back out after the next batter, Kevin Kouzmanoff, singled to put runners on the corners with one out.

"I made a good pitch to Kouzmanoff," Dempster said. "I was hoping to get them out and get a chance to finish it. It's a little bit of motivation for down the road. Hopefully next time I'll get myself in a situation to finish it."

"We looked at the pitch count it was at 102, 103 going into the last inning, which is low," Piniella said. "We've watched our pitchers very carefully. It was cool (Thursday). We felt if everything went right for him, he could pitch a complete game."

Overall, Dempster lasted 115 pitches, 77 for strikes.

"The story of the day was Dempster," San Diego manager Bud Black said. "He had all his pitches working and he hit his spots."

Closer Kerry Wood came on to strike out the two batters he faced, nailing down his eighth save of the season.

Beyond the mound, Dempster also starred at the plate, breaking up a scoreless tie with an RBI single off Maddux in the fifth. It was the third of four straight hits off Maddux, the recently minted 350-game winner.

"It would have been nice to pitch better," Maddux said. "But I simply got outpitched by Demp. He threw a great game. It would have been nice to seem him finish it."

Alfonso Soriano followed with a single and Ryan Theriot lofted a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 advantage. Derrek Lee added a two-run double for the final margin directly after.

Maddux was pulled following Lee's hit, and the former Cubs' 20-game winner was given a standing ovation when he made the walk to the dugout.

"It was nice, and I really appreciate it," Maddux said. "But I was too (upset) at the time to appreciate it. But it was cool. People here are special. The fans are such a big part of Wrigley Field. That is part of what makes this place a special place to play."

Maddux (3-4) struggled with baserunners through his outing, giving up double-digit hits for the third time this season. Overall, the 42-year-old was charged for four runs and 11 hits in 4 1/3 innings.

It might have been worse for Maddux if not for a favorable bounce in the second inning.

After giving up a leadoff double to Aramis Ramirez, Maddux saw the Chicago third baseman advance to third on a groundout by Kosuke Fukudome. The veteran righthander then unleashed a wild pitch that hit off the brick backstop and came right back to home plate, enabling Ramirez to get tagged out at home.

Ramirez finished with three hits and Jim Edmonds added a base hit in his debut with the Cubs, who knocked out 13 hits in winning for the sixth time in seven games on a 10-game homestand.

Chicago opens a three-game series with Pittsburgh on Friday.

"It's nice," said Edmonds, who signed for the rest of the season on Wednesday after getting released by the Padres. "Hopefully I can go out and prove I can still play, and be a part of this team. That's the most important thing to me.

"Going worst to first in a weekend is pretty fun. It's nice to look up and down the lineup, watching the way they were just going at it and scoring runs, and everyone is playing hard. It's kind of what I'm used to, and it's great to see that."