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Soriano's walk-off single helps Cubs sweep Dodgers

May 29, 2008 - 6:09 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Alfonso Soriano hit a walk-off single in the 10th inning Wednesday, leading the Chicago Cubs to a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers, who were swept of the three-game series.

With the game tied at 1-1 in the 10th, pinch hitter Mike Fontenot doubled to the gap in left-center field off Chan Ho Park (1-1).

The next batter, Soriano, reached out and blooped Park's 2-2 slider safely down the line in shallow left field, allowing Fontenot to easily score the winning run.

"I was just trying to get on base to get something started," Fontenot said. "I knew with Soriano coming up behind me, we had a great chance to win the game right there."

"This is a very good win for us," Soriano said. "To come back in the ninth to tie the game, then to win it in the 10th is important for our team."

Bobby Howry (1-2) pitched a scoreless 10th to get the win for the Cubs, who swept the Dodgers at Wrigley Field for the first time since May 4-6, 2001.

"An exciting game and an exciting win for our team," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "We got some great pitching, especially from our bullpen. Every game in this series was tight. All three were well-played."

Meanwhile, the loss dealt a huge blow to the Dodgers, who wasted Derek Lowe's best start of the season and watched helplessly as closer Takashi Saito blew his third save chance of the season by showing an uncharacteristic wild side.

Saito issued walks to Ryan Theriot and Aramis Ramirez before Kosuke Fukudome reached on an infield single to load the bases despite Dodgers first baseman James Loney's nice diving stop on his high hopper. Fukudome was called safe at first after Saito missed the bag with his right foot after taking the flip from Loney.

Geovany Soto followed with a sacrifice fly to forge a 1-1 tie.

"We had the game where we wanted it," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "With the effort we had from Derek Lowe - then to have (Jonathan) Broxton and Saito - one run should have been enough. We couldn't make it stand up."

Lowe, who has not won since April 23, yielded just four hits and two walks with five strikeouts in seven scoreless frames.

The sinkerballer appeared to be well on his way to winning a pitchers' duel with Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano, who permitted six hits and four walks with three strikeouts in eight innings after a bout of wildness allowed the Dodgers to score their lone run.

"I knew Carlos was going to pitch well, so I have to go out there and maybe pitch my best game of the year," Lowe said. "Games like this are fun to play in, but it's very disappointing to get swept when we were in every game."

"The way we were playing defense and the way Derek was throwing, we had a chance to make the run stand up," Los Angeles' Russell Martin said. "In the end, they got some runners on and Soriano had a great at-bat to win it."

With two outs in the fourth inning of a scoreless game, Martin and Loney each singled before Zambrano hit Matt Kemp with a pitch. Rookie Blake DeWitt then drew a walk to force in Martin.