It Takes Time, but Cubs Win

Aramis Ramirez singled home the winning run in the 14th inning to give the Chicago Cubs a 4-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks Friday in a game that included a three-hour rain delay at Wrigley Field.

Ramirez scored on pinch-hitter Troy O’Leary’s game-tying, two-out, two-run double in the 11th. Then in the 14th, Ramirez singled home Sammy Sosa to extend Arizona’s team-record road losing streak to 10. In all, the Diamondbacks have lost 11 of 13.

The game ended almost eight hours after the first pitch. By then, most of the announced crowd of 38,738 had left Wrigley Field.

There was a 3-hour 4-minute rain delay after the sixth inning, ending Curt Schilling’s outing for Arizona.

Sosa and Moises Alou singled with one out in the 14th off Eddie Oropesa (2-2) and Eric Karros walked. Ramirez then hit a fly ball to right field that went over the drawn-in outfield.

The Diamondbacks used six relievers after Schilling was lifted. Antonio Alfonseca (1-1), the sixth Cub reliever, pitched three scoreless innings.

Arizona took a 3-1 lead in the 11th on Rod Barajas’ two-run single.

The Cubs rallied in the bottom half when Karros and Ramirez singled and O’Leary doubled.

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Cincinnati 5, San Francisco 3 -- Barry Larkin homered for the first time since April, and Juan Castro hit a tiebreaking shot off Felix Rodriguez (6-1) with two out in the eighth inning at Cincinnati, giving the Reds their 26th victory in their final at-bat, the most in the majors.

The Reds are 4-1 this week, with all four wins coming in their final at-bat.

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Montreal 8, Milwaukee 4 -- Jamey Carroll homered off an Olympic Stadium speaker and Brad Wilkerson homered and drove in three runs, giving Tomo Ohka (8-10) his first win in over a month.

Ohka, who yielded eight hits and one run in seven innings, was 0-3 with a 5.58 earned-run average in five starts since pitching a two-hitter in Toronto on June 29.

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Pittsburgh 12, Colorado 11 -- Jason Kendall’s RBI single with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning capped a six-run rally.

Tike Redman hit a two-out, two-run triple off Adam Bernero (0-1) to tie it. Redman, called up earlier in the day from triple-A Nashville, fouled off four two-strike pitches before lining a shot to right-center.

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Houston 2, Florida 1 -- Jeff Kent’s solo home run and a balk by Josh Beckett (5-5) were enough for the Astros to win at Miami and hand the Marlins only their second loss in 10 games.

Jeff Bagwell had a triple in the fourth inning when he hit a line drive that diving center fielder Juan Pierre could not catch. With two out, Bagwell scored when Beckett was called for a balk.

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St. Louis 8, New York 2 -- Miguel Cairo and reliever Steve Kline each hit a two-run double during a six-run eighth inning at New York and the Cardinals remained two games behind first-place Houston in the Central Division. The Mets have lost six of seven and 18 of 23.