After the big news of Rich Harden being traded to the Cubs, Cubs fans were treated to a good game against the Reds.  The Chicago Cubs had held the Reds to only two hits until the ninth inning when they scored a run and had three hits in the inning.  The Cubs were finally able to finish off the Reds to pick up a 7-3 victory.

Ryan Dempster improved to 10-0 at home as he pitched seven innings to get the win.  Dempster gave up two hits and one run while walking four batters and striking out five batters.  Dempster let his defense really help him out in the game as Aramis Ramirez had multiple nice plays on ex Cub Jerry Hairson Jr.

Neal Cotts came in to pitch the eighth inning but walked two batters and was quickly pulled in favor of Carlos Marmol.  Marmol had no problems getting the Cubs out of the inning.  It was Marmol’s third straight great performance as it appears that he is back on track.  Bob Howry tossed the ninth inning and had some problems as he gave up three hits and one run.

Geovany Soto had a two run home run and a sac fly to lead the team at the plate with three RBI.  Soto has now hit 16 home runs and has 55 rbi on the season.  Mike Fontenot added a two run home run to dead center field in the sixth inning.  Ramirez had the other rbi for the Cubs which came on a sac fly in the third inning.

Great win for the Cubs as the Cardinals and Brewers both won.  The Cubs remaine up 3.5 games on the Cardinals.