Aramis Ramirez homers again, Cubs beat Reds 5-3

Posted July 25, 2009 11:00 pm

John Lemon

Whether the highest salaried players or the biggest bargains on the roster, both of the Cubs' economic classes gave 41,364 at Wrigley Field their money's worth Saturday in a 5-3 win over Cincinnati.

The Cubs "two-rookie rotation" - as manager Lou Piniella called it - is making the season-long string of injuries to several starting pitchers a little easier to stomach. And the big-money bats are starting to provide the offensive support - with Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano and Milton Bradley all smacking home runs.

Hart followed fellow rookie Randy Wells' victory Friday, pitching the Cubs within a half game of division-leading St. Louis. Those two have combined to earn 4 of the Cubs' 7 wins since the all-star break.

"He's doing a great job," catcher Koyie Hill said of Hart. "For a team competing for a pennant, lose a starter, for him to come in and get us through five, six innings, keep us in the ballgame, that's all we ask."

Hart, who had been filling in for Ryan Dempster, took Ted Lilly's place Saturday and will continue in the rotation for the next several weeks. In this third career start, Hart held the Reds to a run in a career-high 6 innings while taking advice from Lilly.

"He was sitting right next to me all day today in the dugout helping me out between innings talking to me about pitch selections and how to throw to hitters," the 26-year-old Hart said. "It's a big help."

Unlike his 2 previous starts when he walked five against Atlanta and Washington, Hart threw strikes. Mixing a fastball in the mid-90s with a sinker and finally locating his off-speed pitches, Hart finished with 4 strikeouts and 1 walk.

"Today I think I found my groove a little finally," Hart said. "It was nice to go out there and keep attacking hitters, throwing my secondary pitches for strikes."

Hill, gunning down 43.5 percent of base stealers entering the game, just missed Willy Taveras at both second and third in the first inning. The center fielder's aggressiveness paid off when Joey Votto lifted a sacrifice fly to left for an early 1-0 lead.

It didn't last long. Reed Johnson doubled leading off the Cubs first and scored when Taveras and right fielder Chris Dickerson misplayed Derrek Lee's sinking shallow flyball into a triple. Ramirez followed with his second home run in as many days, giving Hart a 3-1 lead.

Hart settled down. After retiring the side in order in the second and third innings, he fielded a ball with his bare hand to rob Edwin Encarnacion of a hit up the middle in the fourth. He then stranded Votto at third by striking out Jonny Gomes a second time.

"I don't think there's a whole lot of thought process involved there," Hart said. "At that point I'm not worried about my hand or anything, I'm just trying to get an out."

Hart came back from a 3-0 count to catch Dickerson looking and leaving a runner at second in the fifth. His day ended when Soriano hauled in Encarnacion's deep blast at the left-field wall in the sixth.

Soriano's 17th home run gave the Cubs a 4-1 lead in the fifth. The maligned left fielder went 3-for-4, extending his hitting streak to eight games and lifting his average to .251 - his highest since May 29.

"I feel good at home plate," Soriano said. "That's the game. Sometimes you lose your confidence and sometimes you get your confidence back. That's what I feel right now."

Bradley's first career pinch home run in the eighth made a second consecutive shaky ninth inning - this time by Aaron Heilman - something to worry about another day. There was too much else for the Cubs to enjoy Saturday.

"We're starting to hit the ball with a little more power, harder outs," Piniella said. "It's good to see."

Bruce Miles game tracker Hart of hearts: Pitcher Kevin Hart earned his second straight victory and picked up his first quality start, working 6 innings and giving up 5 hits and 1 run. The Cubs have 59 quality starts. They're 37-22 in those games, and the starters' ERA is 2.35. He's heating up: Third baseman Aramis Ramirez picked up the game-winning RBI for the second straight day. He homered for the second day in a row, marking the first time this year he has hit homers in back-to-back games. Streaking: Kosuke Fukudome extended his hitting streak to a career-high eight games. He's 12-for-30 (. 400) in the streak. Alfonso Soriano has an eight-game hitting streak, during which he's 14-for-32 (. 438).

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