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Soto sends Cubs past Rockies

May 30, 2008 - 4:49 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Geovany Soto's sacrifice fly plated Ryan Theriot in the seventh inning to snap a tie as the Chicago Cubs recorded their fourth consecutive victory with an 8-4 triumph over the Colorado Rockies on Thursday.

Derrek Lee, who belted his 13th home run of the season in the third inning, tied the game at 4-4 in the seventh, when his infield hit resulted in a throwing error by Colorado reliever Matt Herges that allowed Alfonso Soriano to score.

Soriano then provided insurance with a two-run single that highlighted a three-run eighth inning for Chicago. One batter earlier, pinch-hitter Micah Hoffpauir recorded his first career RBI with a single up the middle to score Mark DeRosa.

For his part, Soto credited his own patience at the plate for driving in the winning run.

"I just wanted to have a quality at-bat right there," Soto said. "Once I got to two strikes, I wanted to drive the ball to the outfield. He gave me a good pitch to hit, so I drove it out to right field."

The Cubs relievers secured the victory as Carlos Marmol struck out two in the eighth inning and Kerry Wood struck out the side in the ninth.

Michael Wuertz (1-1) allowed one run and two hits in 1 1/3 innings to pick up the win.

Herges (2-2) permitted two runs and two hits in one inning to take the loss.

The victory also gave the Cubs (33-21) the best record in the major leagues, but Soto insists the team isn't worried about that.

"Right now we're not focused on that," Soto said. "We're going day-by-day, winning every day we can, and just keep going."

"It was a good come-from-behind win," manager Lou Piniella said. "They're playing with confidence. If we get down, we have that feeling we can come from behind and win a baseball game. It's a good feeling."

Pinch hitter Willy Taveras delivered a two-run single in the sixth inning and Ian Stewart finished a homer shy of the cycle for Colorado, which lost its fourth straight and seventh in its last nine games.

"When you leave 12 runners on base, it obviously means that you're not scoring that many runs," Stewart said. "We've put up enough runs on this team. We're good enough to win scoring four or five runs. But they're a good team and they got a good offense."

Ryan Spilborghs had three hits for the Rockies, who also lost their ninth consecutive game on the road.

"We battled these guys," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. "There were plenty of opportunities for us on the offensive side of the ball. We ran into a lot of mistakes (on the bases) tonight, and could have made some plays on the field."