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Marshall, Cubs thwart Cardinals

Jul 7, 2008 - 12:24 AM By Jim Walsh PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Sean Marshall helped the Chicago Cubs accomplish a feat that has been hard to come by - a road series victory.

Marshall kept the St. Louis Cardinals' offense quiet with six effective innings and Aramis Ramirez contributed three RBI as Chicago took the decisive game of the weekend series, 7-1, on Sunday.

It marked the first road series win for the Cubs since taking two of three at Toronto on June 13-15 and was a welcome lift for a team which had lost nine of its previous 12 games away from Wrigley Field.

"We had a chance to do a little better but that's what we got," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "Anytime you finish a series on the road with more wins than losses you've got to be happy."

Making his third consecutive start after 13 relief appearances, Marshall limited St. Louis to one run with six hits with no walks and four strikeouts.

The 25-year old lefty picked up his first win as a starter since August 24.

"I felt good," Marshall said. "I made some pitches when I needed to. I know if I can continue to go out and put some zeroes on the board and make pitches when I need to, I have a chance to stay in the rotation."

The Cardinals were not able to advance a runner to third base until Ryan Ludwick's solo home run in the sixth.

"Sean was throwing the ball really well," Cubs catcher Geovany Soto said. "He was using all his pitches, corner to corner, too. He had success because he was moving the ball around."

Relievers Neal Cotts, Carlos Marmol and Bob Howry combined for three shutout innings against the Cardinals, who finished their seven-game homestand at 3-4.

Ryan Theriot and Derrek Lee added three hits apiece to the 16-hit attack for the Cubs, who scored in six of the nine innings to post their National League-leading 53rd win.

"We didn't have a big inning, but guys would get on base and timely hits kind of happened today," Theriot said. "It's small things like that that make winning baseball."

Mark DeRosa's run-scoring single put the Cubs on the board in the second and Ramirez pushed the lead to 3-0 with an RBI single in the third and a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Ramirez, who on Sunday was named as a reserve for the National League All-Star team, added a sacrifice fly in the ninth for his fifth RBI in the last two games.

"It is nice going home winning two out of three from St. Louis," Ramirez said. "They've been right been right behind us all year and winning the series is a great feeling."

Soto, the NL's All-Star starting catcher, smashed his 15th home run of the season, the most by a Cubs rookie since Mel Hall had 17 in 1983.

Named to his first All-Star game as a reserve, Ludwick spoiled the shutout with his 17th blast of the year, increasing his team-leading RBI total to 58.

The joy of the All-Star selection though was tempered by the series defeat.

"(The All-Star selection) means a lot to me," Ludwick said. "It's a little bitter sweet today, though, because we just play for the ones that count. But it's a great honor to be thought of in that regard."

St. Louis' Todd Wellemeyer (7-4) had his third poor start in his last four outings. The NL Pitcher of the Month for May, he allowed three runs and nine hits in five innings for his third straight loss.

"(The Cubs) were swinging better than we were and had better pitches to hit than we did," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "That's the way I translate that game. They pitched better and they were swinging good all day. It turned out to be not much of a contest."