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Marquis, Young battle in series finale

May 24, 2007 - 1:51 PM Chicago Cubs (20-24) at San Diego (26-20) 10:05 pm EDT

SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- Jason Marquis hopes to recover from a few poor starts on Thursday when the Chicago Cubs face the San Diego Padres.

Marquis (5-1, 2.76 ERA) has struggled after his blistering start, surrendering 11 runs and 12 hits over his last two starts - both no decisions.

Marquis was impressive in an earlier outing against San Diego, allowing one run and three hits in six innings of a 12-4 win at home on April 16. He is 3-2 in six career games, including five starts, in the series.

The Padres will counter with Chris Young (5-3, 2.89), who goes for his fourth win in five starts. In his last outing, Young yielded one run and six hits through 6 2/3 frames of an 8-1 victory at Seattle.

The hard-throwing righthander has also been stellar here of late, posting a 2-1 mark with an eye-popping 0.44 ERA over 20 1/3 innings.

Rookie Kevin Kouzmanoff delivered a two-run homer and starter David Wells tossed seven effective innings as the Padres posted a 2-1 victory on Wednesday.

The homer was the second in as many nights for Kouzmanoff, who was acquired in an offseason trade with Cleveland. He has 10 hits in 19 at-bats with a pair of homers and eight RBI.