Tonight’s 9th inning had more ups & downs for the Cubs than a rollercoaster at Six Flags Great America.

But when it was all said & done, the Chicago Cubs were finally able to knock off the Colorado Rockies 7-6 in 10 innings for the franchise’s 10,000th career win. (2nd MLB team to win 10,000 games or more.)

The Cubs struck first in the top of the 2nd inning after Kosuke Fukudome hit a 1-out triple to deep right field.

Mark DeRosa then followed with a sac fly, scoring Fukudome from 3rd base to make it 1-0 Cubs.

Geovany Soto immediately followed with a solo homer (3rd of season) to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead.

Chicago added their 3rd run of the game on Aramis Ramirez’s RBI double, scoring Derrek Lee (who hit a 2-out triple) from 3rd base to give the Cubs a 3-0 lead.

Colorado would remain scoreless until the bottom of the 6th inning, when they put together an explosive scoring rally to take the lead.

After Clint Barmes greeted Cubs starter Rich Hill with a solo homer (2nd of season) to make it a 3-1 Cub lead, Hill then walked Todd Helton for his final batter of the evening.

Cub reliever Michael Wuertz then came in & gave up a single to Matt Holliday, which put runners at 1st & 2nd with nobody out.

Garrett Atkins then followed with an RBI single, scoring Todd Helton from 3rd base to make it a 3-2 Cub lead.

2 batters later, Troy Tulowitzki broke out of an early-season slump with a 3-run homer off Cubs reliever Jon Lieber, giving Colorado a 5-3 lead.

But just as they have done several times already this season when trailing, the Cubs fought back to make this a ballgame.

Chicago got 1 run in the top of the 7th after Colorado reliever Ryan Speier hit lead-off hitter Reed Johnson & gave up a single to Ryan Theriot.

Derrek Lee then hit an RBI single to left field, which scored Reed Johnson from 2nd base to make it a 5-4 Rockies lead.

The Cubs actually had a chance for a huge inning with runners on 2nd & 3rd for Aramis Ramirez, who struck out swinging for the 1st out.

Kosuke Fukudome was then intentionally walked to load the bases for Mark DeRosa, who hit a sharp liner to Troy Tulowitzki. Derrek Lee was caught off 2nd base for an inning-ending doubleplay which looked like a huge blow for the Cubs.

It remained 5-4 Rockies until the top of the 9th inning, when Derrek Lee hit a 1-out single to right to bring up Aramis Ramirez as the go-ahead run.

With 2 strikes on him, Aramis Ramirez belted the go-ahead 2-run shot (6th of season) to left field, which gave Rockies closer Manny Corpas his 4th blown save of the season & a 6-5 Cubs lead.

Cubs closer Kerry Wood pitched the bottom of the 9th inning & struck out both Troy Tulowitzki & Yorbit Torrealba before getting into some 2-out trouble.

Wood gave up a pinch-hit single to Scott Podsednik, who was able to score from 1st base on Ryan Spillbourgh’s RBI triple, tying the game 6-6 & giving Wood his 2nd blown save of the season.

The Cubs immediately got a rally going in the top of the 10th against Rockies reliever Kip Wells on Geovany Soto’s lead-off single.

Ronny Cedeno then laid down a sac bunt, which advanced pinch-runner Mike Fontenot into scoring position with just 1 out.

After Daryle Ward was intentionally walked, Reed Johnson flied out to left center field for the 1st out.

Ryan Theriot then delivered the game-winning hit on his RBI single that scored Fontenot from 2nd base, giving the Cubs a 7-6 lead.

Carlos Marmol pitched a perfect 10th inning for his 2nd save of the season.

As i mentioned earlier, the Chicago Cubs now join the New York/San Francisco Giants as the only two major league teams to win 10,000 games or more in league history.

Despite blowing the save, Kerry Wood (2-0) earns his 2nd win of the season.

Kip Wells (1-1) takes the loss for the Rockies after allowing Ryan Theriot’s game-winning RBI single in the top of the 10th inning.

The Cubs will now look for their 6th consecutive win & their 3rd straight series sweep tomorrow afternoon at 2:05 PM CST from Coors Field, as righty Jason Marquis (1-0, 3.86) will oppose Rockies righty Aaron Cook (2-1, 3.12).

Marquis won his last start at Coors Field on August 10th, 2007 as he pitched over 6 innings & allowed just 1 run on 5 hits during the Cubs’ 6-2 win.

Ironically, Marquis beat Cook on that day as the Rockies righthander allowed 5 runs on 8 hits in 6 innings.

The Cubs (15-6 after tonight’s win) can actually tie with Arizona for baseball’s best record by the end of the night. (Diamondbacks currently trail 6-2 against the Dodgers in the 7th inning)

Signing off for now,