Walk-off walk pushes Cubs past Brewers

The Cubs have scored walk-off wins in nearly every way imaginable this season, from dunk shots to the outfield to cue shots in the infield.

On Friday, Jake Fox put the "walk" into walk-off.

The rookie third baseman battled Milwaukee Brewers reliever Mark DiFelice through 8 pitches in the 10th inning before icily taking a close, but high, pitch to walk with the bases loaded and give the Cubs a 2-1 victory at Wrigley Field for their third straight win.

Fox worked the count to 3-1 and then fouled off 4 pitches before walking.

"It was one of those scenarios where I was just able to fight him off, fight him off until either, a.), he gave me a good pitch to hit or, b.), he made a mistake. And he missed one," Fox said.

DiFelice thought the pitch was a strike as he walked all the way in toward umpire Bill Welke as Fox was mobbed my his teammates.

"Was it tough to take?" Fox said of the decisive pitch. "In that situation, I knew he was throwing me sliders. That's all he was throwing me there. You look for a slider that starts out a little bit over the plate that's going to come back to the zone. That one started a bit in and never came back. It was tough. If it would have come back down, it would have been a good strike, but it never came back down.

"Whether you call it lucky or whether you call it good, either one. But it got the job done."

It got the job done on a cool day with the wind blowing in.

Starting pitchers Jeff Suppan of the Brewers and Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs both pitched well and went deep, but neither got a decision.

"I was thinking about asking somebody where to buy a win," Zambrano said, jokingly. "If there is any store that has a win for me, I'll go there and buy some."

Zambrano, who worked 7 innings, walked in a run in the fourth. However, he stranded nine Milwaukee runners through his 7 innings.

"I wasn't throwing 95-96 (mph) like my previous start," he said before referring to crafty pitchers. "You can call me Jose Contreras now. I was throwing a lot of split-fingers today. I saw the gun was just 88-89. I said, 'I have to pitch like (Greg) Maddux.' Just move the ball. I had a Jose Contreras split-finger. That's what I did today."

Zambrano took matters into his own hands to tie the game in the fifth. His single drove in Fox, who was hit by a pitch and then moved to third on Mike Fontenot's double. Because his left hand has been hurting, the switch-hitting Zambrano batted right-handed against righty Suppan.

Center fielder Kosuke Fukudome cut down Suppan trying to score from second on a two-out single by Prince Fielder in the seventh.

Cubs relievers Aaron Heilman (1 inning) and Kevin Gregg (2 innings) held the Brewers at bay until Ryan Theriot lined a single off the glove of second baseman Craig Counsell with one out in the 10th. A wild pitch and a flyout by Derrek Lee sent Theriot to third.

The Brewers walked Milton Bradley intentionally and decided to do the same with Geovany Soto after the count was 3-0. That set the stage for Fox' walk-off walk.

"We got good pitching that kept us in the ballgame," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella, whose team is 39-38. "You hold that team down to 1 run, you're pitching well."

Bruce Miles' game tracker

Cubs 2, Brewers 1 (10 innings)

It's a first: Jake Fox recorded his first career game-winning RBI with a 10th-inning bases-loaded walk. The Cubs have won their last three extra-inning games.

Return to quality: After a rough outing against the White Sox last Sunday, Carlos Zambrano turned in a quality start, giving up 1 run and 5 hits in 7 innings. The Cubs have 50 quality starts, best in the majors. They're 30-20 in those games.

Welcome relief: Kevin Gregg (3-2) worked 2 innings for the third time this season. Aaron Heilman worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning for his 24th scoreless outing.

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