Soto, Fox deliver in a big way to spark Cubs' win over Sox

When Geovany Soto admitted Thursday that he had tested positive for marijuana at the World Baseball Classic in March, the Cubs hoped that getting it off his chest would help the 2008 Rookie of the Year snap out of his season-long slump.

It sure didn't hurt.

Soto's 3-run homer in the seventh inning Friday, a 402-foot shot just to the left of center field, broke a 2-2 tie with the White Sox. The Cubs held on for a 5-4 victory at U.S. Cellular Field, which was sold out for the first time since Opening Day.

"Look, he competes, and last year he had a real big year for us," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said of Soto's rookie-of-the-year campaign. "This year he got off to a slow start, but he's one of the kids that should get better as the second half goes on, and he's doing that now."

Soto's seventh homer was the fourth in his last eight games and allowed the Cubs to snap a four-game losing streak and climb back to .500 at 35-35. The Sox, who lost for just the fourth time in their last 11 games, dropped to 35-38. But manager Ozzie Guillen didn't complain about the entertainment value of the game.

"I love it," he said. "It was a great ballgame. We just came up short offensively again."

Another one of those "kids" Piniella mentioned is 26-year-old rookie Jake Fox. His 2-run homer in the fourth gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead. He has homered in back-to-back games, the first 2 of his major-league career, and he singled in the seventh and scored on Soto's homer.

Fox also went 3-for-4 for the second straight day and is hitting .395, a team best by 106 points.

His natural position is first base, but Fox is buried on the depth chart there behind Derrek Lee and Micah Hoffpauir. He also has played both corner outfield spots, and in interleague play the designated-hitter spot opens up another spot.

But with Aramis Ramirez on the disabled list, most of Fox's playing time figures to come at third base, where he handled 5 chances flawlessly Friday, although he remains a work in progress defensively.

"Fox has been doing a really nice job with the bat," Piniella said, "and I'll tell you what, he's doing a nice job at third base. Give the young man a lot of credit."

Fox especially enjoyed playing behind the pitching of Randy Wells, who won his second straight game after 3 hard-luck losses and kept his team-best ERA at 2.57.

Fox and Wells have traveled through the minor leagues together in rookie ball in Mesa, Ariz., and at Class A Lansing, Mich., in 2003 and '04, Daytona, Fla., in '05, West Tenn in '06 and Des Moines, Iowa in 2007-08.

"I had a blast today," Fox said. "(Wells) and I would exchange comments while we were throwing it around the horn. It was a lot of fun being out there playing with a guy you've been in the trenches with. He and I have been in the trenches together in the minor leagues, and it's nice to be out there playing alongside of him."

Wells left with a 5-2 lead but had to sweat out the finish along with 39,015 onlookers of divided allegiance at muggy U.S. Cellular Field.

Carlos Marmol walked two of the first three hitters he faced in the eighth. With one out, he got Jermaine Dye to pop up to left field, but Alfonso Soriano got a late jump and the ball fell for a tainted single to load the bases.

Jim Thome's liner down the first-base line deflected off the glove of a leaping Derrek Lee for a 2-run double. Paul Konerko was walked intentionally to reload the bases.

Sean Marshall replaced Marmol and, on his first pitch, got pinch hitter A.J. Pierzynski to ground into a 3-2-3 double play to end the inning. Marshall's one pitch arguably was the biggest of the game, but Marmol's continued lack of command remains a puzzle.

"We're concerned about it," Piniella said. "I've got all the confidence in the young man. I don't know if he's trying too hard; I don't know if he's aiming the ball a little bit.

"He's been working with our pitching coach (Larry Rothschild) on different things to straighten it out and hopefully he will because basically he doesn't get hit. What gets him in trouble are the bases on balls."

Marmol has walked 38 in 341/3 innings. Closer Kevin Gregg walked one in the ninth but picked up his 12th save, striking out Scott Podsednik looking to end it.

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