CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs caught a brief glimpse of
what they had hoped for this year from Mark Prior and Nomar
Garciaparra.
Prior worked six strong frames to notch his 10th win and
Garciaparra homered and drove in two runs as the Cubs defeated
the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-3.
After allowing runs in each of the first two innings, Prior
(10-5) settled down to remain undefeated in his career against
the Dodgers. The righthander yielded three runs and eight hits
with no walks and seven strikeouts, improving to 3-0 lifetime
against Los Angeles.
Garciaparra is batting .354 (23-for-65) with four homers and
seven RBIs since returning from the disabled list on August 5.
The five-time All-Star got Chicago on the board in the second
inning when he blasted a leadoff homer off Los Angeles starter
Brad Penny (6-9).
Jeff Kent gave the Dodgers a 3-1 lead in the sixth with a solo
shot off Prior for his 24th homer, but the Cubs rallied for four
runs in the bottom of the frame to take the lead for good.
Jeromy Burnitz plated rookie Ronny Cedeno with an infield single
and Garciaparra tied the game on Penny's next pitch with a
sacrifice fly to left field.
Chicago took a 5-3 lead three batters later when Henry Blanco
lined Penny's 3-2 offering into center field for a two-run base
hit.
Will Ohman and Roberto Novoa each tossed a perfect relief frame
and Ryan Dempster logged the ninth to record his 20th save for
the Cubs, who won for just the third time in 10 games.