A big-time Cubs blast

MIAMI - Daryle Ward enjoyed a total sensory experience Friday night.

Minutes after hitting a pinch-hit, 3-run homer in the ninth inning to rally the Cubs from a 5-3 deficit to a 6-5 victory, Ward could hear his teammates woofing his name as he entered the clubhouse following a TV appearance.

When he got in, he felt - and tasted - a sudsy shower as his mates doused him with beer.

"Don't I still smell like a brewery?" a happy Ward asked.

Yes, he did, and that was only appropriate on a night that bubbled over with strangeness for the Cubs.

Ward was 4-for-40 as a pinch hitter entering the game, but he crushed an 0-1 offering from Kevin Gregg, sending a high drive over the right-field wall, scoring Mark DeRosa and Reed Johnson.

"What a clutch at-bat by Daryle Ward," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella, whose team improved to 75-47. "I tell you what, he got doused here. But just a huge at-bat. We needed it, and he delivered."

Ward hit a sacrifice fly in Thursday's game in Atlanta, so maybe this big hit was coming.

"I've been in the cage working pretty hard to shorten up my swing," he said. "I got kind of long and was getting outside of myself. I was trying to do too much in 1 at-bat. Now, I go up there and try to put good wood on a ball and hit a ball 400 feet.

"That just lets you know how baseball is. The harder you try, the less you come up with. There, I'm just trying make good contact, and I crushed the ball. Thank God I did."

Ward got starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano off the hook. Zambrano was all over the place in his 6 innings, as he walked 5 and gave up 5 runs on 4 hits.

"I was looking at the pitch counts, and when he had 84 pitches, 44 strikes and 40 balls," Piniella said. "Command's not good. I think he's rushing. We talked about it, Larry (pitching coach Rothschild) and I on the bench. I think he's rushing off the mound, especially off his stretch.

"I don't think his arm is getting into the right slot."

Zambrano concurred.

"There are things that I have to correct in my mechanics," he said. "That's it. Keep moving forward and keep doing my job in the future. Especially with a man on first, I think I'm rushing too much."

Jorge Cantu hit a 3-run homer off Zambrano in the third, when the Marlins went up 5-1. DeRosa hit a 2-run homer in the fourth off Josh Johnson to keep the Cubs in the game.

With the exception of Ward, neither team did anything late. Cubs reliever Chad Gaudin held the Marlins hitless in 2 innings. After Ward's blast, Kerry Wood came in and earned his 25th save.

It gave the Cubs their ninth straight road win and their first win at this park since July 10, 2005.

"It's nice to win; this is my first win as Cubs manager in Florida," said Piniella, noting they were swept in Tampa earlier this year. "You've got to like this bunch. They play hard, and they play to win."