Cubs 4, Nationals 3
Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Peña hit back-to-back homers with two out in the bottom of the seventh inning and the Chicago Cubs survived a furious Washington comeback bid in the ninth to earn a 4-3 victory on Thursday afternoon.
After scoring once and stranding a pair of runners in the eighth inning, the Nationals loaded the bases with nobody out in the final frame against Chicago closer Carlos Marmol. A one-out infield single by Wilson Ramos cut the Cubs' lead to one, but Marmol struck out Brian Bixler and got Rick Ankiel to fly to center for the final out.
With the game tied at 1-1 and Reed Johnson on first base, Ramirez drove a 1-2 pitch from Jordan Zimmermann (7-10) over the left-field wall to put Chicago in front for good. Two pitches later, Peña chased Zimmermann with a solo shot to right.
Ryan Dempster (10-8) pitched seven strong innings for the win, yielding one run on just three hits. He struck out six and walked two. Zimmermann worked 6 2/3 innings and struck out seven but allowed four runs on nine hits and a pair of walks.
Washington's Ryan Zimmerman extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a solo homer in the first inning. Alfonso Soriano got the Cubs on the board in the fourth with an RBI triple.