Dodgers beat Cubs from A to Z

CHICAGO -- Perhaps Esteban Loaiza was unaware of the Dodgers’ season-long problems at the plate. Or maybe he knew of Carlos Zambrano’s recent ones on the mound.

Whatever the case, Loaiza said that upon giving up a home run to Alfonso Soriano on the second pitch he ever made in a Dodgers uniform, he was convinced that the resulting run wouldn’t be the only one scored Monday.

He was right.

The Dodgers roughed up Zambrano for eight runs in 4 1/3 innings on their way to an 11-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field that extended the $91.5-million pitcher’s career-worst losing streak to five games.

Five players drove in multiple runs for the Dodgers, who remained four games back of the San Diego Padres in the National League West and moved into a tie for second place in the wild-card race with the Philadelphia Phillies, three games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Loaiza did his part, giving up three runs in seven innings to earn his first win for the club that claimed him off waivers from the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday. He also drove in the go-ahead runs with a two-run single in the fourth.

The start was only the third this year for Loaiza, who sat out most of the season because of a bulging disk in his neck and knee surgery.

“I’m here for a reason,” he said. “That’s battling for first place and trying to get into the playoffs. I want to prove I can still go out there and win games.”

Loaiza did so in style, at least in his mind’s eye.

On the team’s Sunday night flight from San Diego to Chicago, Loaiza talked first base coach Mariano Duncan into giving him his No. 25 jersey. Loaiza wore the number during his two seasons in Oakland.

Duncan’s generosity will get him a watch from Loaiza, and more. Duncan said his new jersey number, 35, belonged to Babe Ruth when he was a coach for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Numbers are Zambrano’s enemy at the moment, as his signing of a lucrative contract extension last month hasn’t put an end to his troubles on the mound.

He was 0-4 with a 7.06 earned-run average over five starts in August. Monday, he gave up seven hits and walked five. All the walks came during an 11-batter stretch in the fourth and five innings.

The Dodgers reversed a 2-1 deficit in those two innings, pinning three runs on Zambrano in the fourth and four more in the fifth.

“You could see he was falling behind hitters a lot,” said Dodgers catcher Russell Martin, who was two for two with two runs batted in and two runs scored.

Zambrano, who received a five-year, $91.5-million contract extension Aug. 17, said he understood why fans booed him when he left the game, but pleaded for patience.

“They pay to see good pitching, and right now I’m not doing well,” he said. “I just want a little support. That’s all. If you have a brother who’s struggling, you show him love.”

But his crimes against baseball weren’t limited to the mound Monday. Zambrano, who is listed at 255 pounds and refers to himself as “Big Z,” ignored a stop sign at third in the third inning as he tried to score from first on a double by Soriano. He was easily thrown out at the plate.

The game also had a couple of unusual stoppages, the first of which occurred in the bottom of the fourth when umpiring crew chief Joe West halted play because the lights had been turned on in the middle of the inning. Concerned that changing the game conditions at that stage could produce a competitive advantage for one team, West ordered the lights to be turned on at the top of the fifth, resulting in another stoppage.

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dylan.hernandez@latimes.com

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Loaiza’s line

Esteban Loaiza made his first start as a Dodger since being claimed off waivers from Oakland on Wednesday. What he did Monday in an 11-3 win over the Cubs:

* Innings… 7

* Hits… 9

* Earned runs… 3

* Strikeouts…3

* Walks… 1

* Strikes… 69

* Balls… 27

* Pitches… 96