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Hermida, Marlins rally past Cubs

Jul 27, 2008 - 5:40 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Jeremy Hermida and the Florida Marlins denied Rich Harden in his latest bid for a win with the Chicago Cubs.

Hermida homered twice and scored the go-ahead run on Jorge Cantu's 12th-inning double, leading the Marlins to a 3-2 victory over the fading Cubs.

One day after blasting the go-ahead homer as a pinch hitter, Hermida carried that momentum into this matinee contest, recording his second career multi-homer game.

"(Hermida) has had two great games for us yesterday and today," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "There were so many good things about this win."

"I wasn't looking at the flags, so I don't know exactly what the wind was doing," Hermida added. "But it seemed like it was swirling most of the game. I like hitting in Wrigley Field - I can tell you that."

The first of Hermida's two solo shots Saturday came against Harden, who has failed to record a win in his first three starts with the Cubs despite being brilliant since coming to Chicago. Harden was in line to finally pick up a victory in this one until the sixth, when Hermida homered off lefthanded reliever Sean Marshall to forge a 2-2 tie.

The contest remained tied until the 12th, when Hermida lined a two-out double off Chad Gaudin (0-1). Cantu followed with a hard double into the left field corner to plate Hermida and give the Marlins a 3-2 lead.

"(Gaudin) just kept throwing me sliders, so I was looking for them," Cantu said. "Hermida doubled and I doubled, and that's all it took."

"It's a great win for us to come in here and prove that we can play with (the Cubs)," Hermida added. "These two wins are nice, but we have to be ready tomorrow."

It was the latest disappointing result in what has been a rough stretch for the Cubs (60-44), who have lost seven of their last 10 contests and fell into a tie for first place in the National League Central with the red-hot Milwaukee Brewers (60-44). Milwaukee defeated Houston, 6-4, on Saturday.

Acquired two weeks ago in a six-player trade with the Oakland Athletics, Harden has been as good as advertised with the Cubs. The righthander has posted a 1.04 ERA in his first three starts for Chicago, striking out 30 in just 17 1/ 3 innings.

"I feel like I am continuing to build up my arm strength," the injury-prone Harden said. "My goal is to throw 15 straight games without missing any. Right now, I feel strong."

But Harden was on a limited pitch count Saturday and lasted just five innings, allowing one run and two hits with three walks. He struck out 10 for the third consecutive outing but threw just 87 pitches.

"I thought I pitched pretty well," Harden said. "I would like to be more economical with my pitches. The Marlins fouled off a lot of balls, and that added to my pitch count."

"We had to shorten (Harden's) pitch count because he threw 110 pitches last time out," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who was ejected in the ninth for arguing a call at first base. "We are going to continue to be careful with him and watch how many pitches he throws."

Gaudin, who also was included in the trade with Oakland, pitched two relief innings in his seventh appearance with the Cubs.

Justin Miller (4-2) worked 1 2/3 perfect relief innings to win for the second time in as many days. Kevin Gregg tossed a 1-2-3 ninth to convert his 22nd save for the Marlins (55-49), who climbed 1 1/2 games behind the first-place New York Mets in the NL East Division.

After rookie Chris Volstad logged six solid innings in his third career start, the Marlins' bullpen combined for six scoreless frames, pacing Florida to its 11th win in its last 17 games. The 6-7 Volstad allowed two runs, six hits and two walks with six strikeouts.

Chicago's Aramis Ramirez lined a first-inning RBI single and made it 2-1 in the third with a solo homer, his 18th of the season. Kosuke Fukudome added two hits for the Cubs, who host the finale of this four-game series Sunday before opening an important four-game set the following day at Milwaukee.

"We are just not scoring runs," Piniella said. "If we continue to swing the bats like this the rest of the year, we aren't going to win that many games."

Piniella produced some fireworks in the bottom of the ninth, when Chicago's Mark DeRosa was called out on a controversial play at first base.

After first base umpire Rob Drake ejected Cubs first base coach Matt Sinatro, who immediately argued the call, Piniella came out of the dugout and was tossed for the second time this season.

"I just went out there to get my first base coach off the field," Piniella said. "The one thing I said to (Drake) was that he was too antagonistic, and that is what he kicked me out for. And he is antagonistic, but that's all I have to say about the umpire."