Cubs Double Up Marlins

After a bizarre first inning, rookie Scott Downs took control of the game.

Downs allowed four hits in seven innings for his first major league win as the Cubs took advantage of two Florida errors to beat the Marlins 4-2 on Saturday.

Mark Grace hit a sacrifice fly and two runs scored on miscues in a strange three-run first as the Cubs won for the fourth time in five games.

"There were umpires flying, balls flying. It was pretty comedic," Chicago first baseman Mark Grace said. "Then it turned into a pretty good game."

How strange was that inning?

The Marlins had taken a 1-0 lead in the first when Luis Castillo doubled, advanced on a sacrifice and scored on Mark Smith's groundout.

Then it got weird.

Eric Young reached on a single that deflected off starter Ryan Dempster's shin and advanced to third on Ricky Gutierrez's single. Sammy Sosa then singled but the ball struck second base umpire Mark Hirschbeck on the leg, so the ball was ruled dead and Young could not advance.

With the bases loaded, Grace hit a sacrific fly to score Young. Gutierrez also scored on the play as second baseman Luis Castillo made a throwing error as he tried to throw out Sosa who had taken a large lead at first.

Glenallen Hill then reached on a throwing error by Dempster, allowing Sosa to score and make it 3-1.

"The only thing we missed in the first inning was probably the dancing bears coming out of center field," Florida catcher Mike Redmond said.

"We cleared the bases without doing a lot except hitting it to the pitcher," Cubs manager Don Baylor said. "There were really a lot of bizarre things that happened that first inning."

Downs (1-0), called up from Double-A last Sunday, was happy to be there to watch. He gave up two runs, walked one and struck out six to win in his second big league start.

Rick Aguilera pitched the ninth for his third save. He struck out Mike Lowell for the final out, giving Aguilera 1,000 career strikeouts. But the veteran closer gave Downs the game ball.

"He said `Your first win is more important than my 1,000th strikeout,"' Downs said. "I told him we'd cut the ball in half and split it."

"His two starts have been excellent starts for a rookie," Baylor said of Downs. "That was his bread and butter today he changed speeds. I thought he pitched an excellent game."

Dempster (1-2) gave up four runs two earned and four hits in 6 2-3 innings. He struck out nine, including the last two batters in the first, part of a stretch in which Dempster retired 19 in a row.

To add to the weirdness of the day, the game time temperature dropped from 68 degrees to 48 as the wind shifted from a pleasant 6 mph southwesterly breeze to a bone-chilling 12 mph northeasterly flow with gusts up to 24 mph.

"All of a sudden it was freezing," Dempster said. "I could see my breath coming out of my mouth. That's what makes it fun."

Downs wasn't bothered.

"The wind had a little bit of an effect but not the way I pitch," Downs said. "I felt more in control of my mechanics today. I wasn't trying to overthrow."

Kevin Millar led off the Marlins fifth with his second home run to cut the lead to 3-2.

The Cubs added a run with two out in the seventh on pinch-hitter Jose Nieves' RBI single.

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