Ward's pinch-HR stuns Marlins as streak continues

Result: Cubs 6, Marlins 5. The Cubs won their ninth straight road game and fifth consecutive overall to improve to a league-best 75-47. They have now won 15 of 18 games. With Milwaukee's loss to the Dodgers late Friday, the Cubs lead in the Central is now 5.5 games. St. Louis is 7.5 back.

What happened: Daryle Ward, oft-maligned for his failure to produce off the bench virtually all season, launched a mammoth three-run blast off Kevin Gregg in the ninth inning, stunning the dozens of Marlins fans at Dolphin Stadium. Entering the ninth down 5-3, the Cubs got two men on base with a Mark DeRosa walk and single by Reed Johnson. Ward then followed with a majestic blast to right field on an 0-1 pitch off the Marlins' closer. Kerry Wood let two men reach base in the home half of the ninth, but struck out Alfredo Amezaga to end the game. Florida pulled ahead 5-1 early thanks to poor control from Carlos Zambrano and a three-run homer by Jorge Cantu, who seems on his way to becoming a Cub killer. DeRosa got the Cubs back into the contest with a two-run homer in the fourth. DeRosa reached base all four plate appearances, with three walks to go with the home run. Chad Gaudin earned his fourth win as a Cub, with two perfect innings of relief.

Concerns: Zambrano's wildness. This start wasn't as bad as his two previous, but walks really hurt. Of his five runs allowed, four reached base via walks. Still, he was able to get through six innings and keep the Cubs close. He again ran up a pitch count well north of 100. ... Aramis Ramirez sat out Friday with his bruised hip. The injury is not supposed to be too serious, but you never know. Hopefully, we'll see him at least available to pinch-hit tonight.

Up next: Cubs-Marlins at 6 p.m. today in Miami. Sean Marshall earns a start after his stellar work out of the bullpen. Anibal Sanchez starts for Florida.