It was quite a event-filled day at Wrigley Field.

Just hours after manager Lou Piniella announced his retirement (effective at season’s end), his Chicago Cubs overcame a six-run deficit to thump the Houston Astros 14-7 on Tuesday evening.

Aramis Ramirez led the way with three home runs, which is his first 3-homer game since September 6th, 2004 against Cincinnati.

The Cubs tried to score an early run in the 1st after Starlin Castro hit a 1-out single against Astros starter Wesley Wright.

Castro then later stole 2nd base during Derrek Lee’s at-bat, who struck out swinging.

That left it up to Aramis Ramirez, who also struck out swinging to end the scoring chance.

Houston then took an early lead in the 2nd, as Carlos Lee rifled a 1-out double down the left-field line off Chicago starter Ryan Dempster.

Jeff Keppinger drew a walk, which put runners on 1st & 2nd for Chris Johnson.

Johnson hit an RBI single that caromed off the glove of a diving Starlin Castro at shortstop & into left field, as it scored Lee from 2nd base & gave the Astros a 1-0 lead.

Jason Castro then hit into what looked to be a doubleplay ball, but Ryan Theriot’s bad throw into left field allowed Keppinger to score from 2nd & make it a 2-0 game.

Wesley Wright grounded out to Aramis Ramirez at 3rd base, as both Johnson & Castro were unable to advance on the play.

That left it up to Michael Bourn, who drew a walk to load the bases for Angel Sanchez.

Sanchez got hit by a pitch, which forced in Johnson from 3rd base & gave Houston a 3-0 lead.

Berkman drew a bases-loaded walk, which forced in Castro from 3rd & made it a 4-0 game.

Hunter Pence then popped up to Derrek Lee at 1st base to end the inning.

Chicago tried to cut into their deficit in the 3rd, as Ryan Theriot hit a lead-off single to center against Wright.

Ryan Dempster then successfully laid down a sacrifice bunt, as it advanced Theriot to 2nd base with just 1 out for Tyler Colvin.

Colvin struck out swinging, which left it up to Starlin Castro.

Castro then swung at the 1st pitch he saw from Wright & grounded out to Jeff Keppinger at 2nd base to end the inning.

The Astros then added onto their lead in the 4th as Angel Sanchez hit a bloop 2-out double in front of four different Cubs, which presented an RBI chance for Lance Berkman.

Berkman drew a walk, which put runners on 1st & 2nd for Hunter Pence.

Pence lined an RBI single past a diving Starlin Castro at shortstop & into left field, as it scored Sanchez from 2nd & made it a 5-0 lead.

Lance Berkman then hit an RBI single to center, as Berkman scored from 2nd base & gave Houston a 6-0 lead.

That brought up Jeff Keppinger, who grounded out to Aramis Ramirez at 3rd to end the inning.

The Cubs ended the shutout in the 4th, as Ramirez belted a 1-out solo homer (13th of season) to deep left field off Wright to make it a 6-1 game.

Houston extended their lead in the 5th on Chris Johnson’s 1-out solo homer (2nd of season) to straight-away centerfield off Dempster, as that gave them a 7-1 lead.

Michael Bourn added a 2-out single & stole 2nd base during Angel Sanchez’s at-bat, who flied out to Ryan Theriot, who momentarily bobbled the ball before hanging on to make the catch.

Chicago then put together a huge rally in the 5th, as Geovany Soto hit a lead-off single that rolled into the home bullpen area.

Ryan Theriot then reached on a potential double-play ball, as Jeff Keppinger threw it into left field.

That put runners on 2nd & 3rd with nobody out for pinch-hitter Xavier Nady, who struck out swinging.

However, the ball got away from Jason Castro at catcher during Nady’s strikeout, which allowed Soto to score from 3rd base & make it a 7-2 game.

That brought up Tyler Colvin, who got hit by a pitch to put runners on 1st & 3rd for Starlin Castro.

Castro hit an RBI groundout to Keppinger at 2nd base, but scored Theriot from 3rd base to make it a 7-3 game.

With 2 outs & Colvin at 2nd, Derrek Lee drew a walk to keep it alive for Aramis Ramirez.

Ramirez kept his big night going with a 3-run homer to left center (2nd of game & 14th of season) as it brought the Cubs within a run.

Marlon Byrd later hit a 2-out single & advanced to 2nd on a balk call against Astros reliever Wilton Lopez during Alfonso Soriano’s at-bat.

Soriano struck out swinging to end the inning.

The Cubs then got even in the 6th, as Geovany Soto rocked a lead-off solo homer (12th of season) to straightaway center off Astros reliever Chris Sampson to tie the game 7-7.

Chicago then finally took the lead in the 7th, as Starlin Castro hit a deep lead-off double against Houston reliever Brandon Lyon that just missed reaching the basket in left center.

Derrek Lee lined an RBI double to left center, as that scored Castro from 2nd & gave the Cubs a 8-7 lead.

Aramis Ramirez struck out swinging, which brought up Marlon Byrd.

Byrd flied out to Hunter Pence in right field, which was deep enough to advance Lee to 3rd on the play.

That left it up to Alfonso Soriano, who hit an RBI single in front of a sliding Michael Bourn in centerfield to score Lee from 3rd & make it a 9-7 game.

The Cubs tried to add on key insurance runs in the 8th, as Kosuke Fukudome drew a pinch-hit 1-out walk from Astros reliever Gary Wojchewski.

Tyler Colvin & Starlin Castro then hit back-to-back singles, which loaded the bases for Derrek Lee.

Lee hit a 2-run double to left, as that scored both Fukudome & Colvin to make it an 11-7 game.

Aramis Ramirez then connected on his 3rd homer of the night, as his 3-run shot (15th of season) gave Chicago a commanding 14-7 lead.

Andrew Cashner (1-3) gets his first major-league win for the Cubs after pitching 2 scoreless innings out the bullpen to relieve a shaky Ryan Dempster, who gave up 7 runs (4 earned) on 8 hits in 5 innings of work.

Brandon Lyon (5-4) takes the loss for the Astros after giving up Derrek Lee’s go-ahead RBI double in the 7th inning.

Chicago will look to win this series on Wednesday afternoon at 1:20 PM cst, as Ted Lilly (3-8, 4.07) will pitch against Houston righthander Brett Myers (7-6, 3.35).

Lilly has dominated the Astros over his career, as he’s 7-1 against them in 10 starts with a 2.49 ERA.

Myers has pitched well of late, as he’s allowed 2 earned runs or less in each of his last 3 starts.

However, he does have a 4.14 ERA in 10 road starts compared to a 2.48 ERA this season at Minute Maid Park.

Before Tuesday’s game, the Cubs re-called righthander Jeff Stevens from Triple A Iowa & sent down Mitch Atkins to the minors.

Stevens will make his 3rd different stint with the Cubs this season, as he’ has a 3.18 ERA in 16 bullpen appearences.

Signing off for now,

Matt T for Cubshub.com