GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NL: COLORADO (38-37) at CHICAGO CUBS (35-39)

Soriano bails out the Cubs bullpen

<h3>CHICAGO CUBS 10, COLORADO 9</h3>CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Alfonso Soriano was in the midst of a toughnight until the game was on the line.

Soriano's lone hit in six at-bats came with the bases loaded inthe bottom of the ninth inning, giving the Chicago Cubs a 10-9victory over the Colorado Rockies on Monday.

Angel Pagan and Mark DeRosa drove in three runs each for theCubs, who pushed their winning streak to four games.

"We came in here after three good wins against the White Sox andneeded to keep the momentum going," Cubs manager Lou Piniellasaid. "The game was in hand, then it got away from us in theninth before we snatched it back. It's a great win that youcould not script any better."

The Cubs' $136 million free agent has been earning his moneyrecently, homering in each game during a three-game sweep of thecrosstown-rival White Sox before Monday's heroics.

"It's great to come back and win a game like that," Sorianosaid. "Nobody got down after they scored the six runs, but wewere a little frustrated. After DeRosa came right back with ahit to start us off, we got some motivation. That was a big hitfor me to win the game. Until then I was 0-for-5."

Chicago looked to have a comfortable five-run lead going intothe ninth, but Scott Eyre and Bobby Howry combined to blow theadvantage. After rookie Troy Tulowitzki's three-run homer gavethe Rockies a 9-8 lead, a fan raced onto the field and screamedat Howry before being captured by security.

"All he (the fan) said to me is, 'What are you doing?'" Howrysaid. "Then security raced in and he got crushed, but all thatmatters is in the end the Cubs got a win."

Piniella offered has own view about Howry and the Cubs' securitydepartment.

"Bobby really kept his composure after the fan ran out there, heretired the next three hitters," Piniella said. "I don't knowwho made the tackle on the fan, but Bears head coach Lovie Smithis looking for him. That guy went down in a hurry."

Kaz Matsui led off the top of the ninth with a single and movedto second when Eyre walked Matt Holliday. Todd Helton came tothe plate next and wasted little time cutting the deficit to 8-4with an RBI double to deep left field.

"It was a weird game," Helton said. "Give them credit forwinning but give us credit for coming back."

Howry replaced Eyre and yielded back-to-back RBI singles toGarrett Atkins and Brad Hawpe before Tulowitzki's homer.

"I wasn't thinking home run, I just wanted to get another hitand make the inning even bigger," Tulowitzki said. "It was niceto hit the home run and put us up, it's even more frustratingthat we still lost."

Brian Fuentes looked to be in line for an easy save with twoouts and a runner on first, but Koyie Hill singled and Matsuicommitted a fielding error, loading the bases for Soriano'sheroics.

"The ball took a little hop but that is no excuse," Matsui saidthrough an interpreter. "It is my first error of the season butI still feel bad about it."

Soriano looped a single into right-center field, plating tworuns to give Chicago a walk-off win and Fuentes his secondconsecutive blown save.

"All I can do is move on from this one," Fuentes said. "It isnot going to get any better thinking about it."

Jason Marquis pitched 5 2/3 solid innings and was in line forhis first win since May 9 before the bullpen surrendered the<div class="pre">lead. The veteran righthander is now 0-3 over his past nine</div>starts after beginning the season 5-1 with a 1.70 ERA in hisfirst seven outings.

Rookie Mike Fontenot extended his hitting streak to eight gameswith a 5-for-5 performance for the Cubs.

"I feel good and was glad to get a few hits off a lefthander,"Fontenot said. "A night like this is all worth it when we comeback to win a game like this."

Pagan's three-run blast in the first off Colorado starter JeffFrancis snapped a 1-1 tie. Pagan, who was just 1-for-8 in theseries against the White Sox, came up with runners on first andsecond after three consecutive singles had tied the game at 1-1and ripped Francis' 1-0 offering over the wall in left.

"The home run seems like so long ago," Pagan said. "This gameis like a dream now, I can't believe we came back and won."

DeRosa - batting in front of Pagan - drove in Chicago's firstrun and picked up an RBI on a groundout in the third and afielder's choice in the fifth.

The Rockies jumped on top in the first when Matsui singled,stole second and came around to score on Holliday's RBI single.They chased Marquis when Ryan Spilborghs slapped a two-runsingle to right to cut the deficit to 6-3, but Chicago's bullpenheld strong.

"This club has no quit in it," Rockies manager Clint Hurdlesaid. "All night long we just kept playing the game."

After yielding just one earned run over his previous two startscombined, Francis was knocked around for six runs and 10 hits infive frames. Colorado's ace lefthander walked two and struckout four.

"I think I kept the ball down for the most part," Francis said."The results just were not good enough."

The Rockies had their string of nine straight series winssnapped when they were swept by the Blue Jays over the weekend,and the four straight losses have dropped them back to .500(38-38).

"Just when you think you have seen it all, a game like thishappens," Hurdle said. "So we are back to .500, right where westarted the season."