On a night where Carlos Zambrano didn’t have good command & with Aramis Ramirez resting with a hip contusion, the Chicago Cubs were able to fight back from a 5-1 deficit & beat the Florida Marlins 6-5 on Friday evening from Dolphin Stadium.

The Cubs not only won their 9th consecutive road game on Friday, but also beat the Marlins on the road for the 1st time since July of 2005.

Chicago took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the 2nd inning after Mark DeRosa drew a 1-out walk from Florida starter Josh Johnson.

Mike Fontenot then singled to put runners at the corners with just 1 out.

2 batters later, Carlos Zambrano hit an RBI single to score DeRosa from 3rd base & gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead.

With Fontenot on 3rd base with 2 outs, Alfonso Soriano struck out to end the inning.

Florida then tied in the bottom of the 2nd inning after Dan Uggla drew a 1-out from Chicago starter Carlos Zambrano.

2 batters later, Cody Ross hit an RBI double to score Uggla from 2nd base & tie the game 1-1.

With Ross on 2nd base & 2 outs, John Baker grounded out to Mike Fontenot at 2nd base to end the inning.

Florida then took their biggest lead of the game in the bottom of the 3rd inning after Jack Johnson & Hanley Ramirez drew back-to-back walks against Zambrano.

Jorge Cantu then followed with a 3-run homer (21st of season) to give the Marlins a 4-1 lead.

Florida added 1 more run after Dan Uggla drew a 2-out walk from Zambrano. Uggla would later score on Josh Willingham’s RBI triple, which gave the Marlins a 5-1 lead.

With Willingham on 3rd base & 2 outs, Cody Ross struck out to end the inning.

The Cubs were then able to cut their deficit in half after Geovany Soto hit a lead-off single against Johnson to begin the 4th inning.

Mark DeRosa then followed with a 2-run homer (14th of season) to make it a 5-3 Florida lead.

DeRosa’s home run tonight sets a new career-high with 14 & Mark is also just 4 RBI’s away from tying his career-high of 74 with Texas in 2006.

Florida had a chance to add on more runs in the bottom of the 5th inning after Jorge Cantu reached 1st base safely & later took 2 bases on throwing errors from both Mark DeRosa & Carlos Zambrano.

After striking out Dan Uggla, Zambrano then hit Josh Willingham to put runners at the corners with 2 outs for Cody Ross.

Ross grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the scoring threat.

The Cubs had a chance to pull even closer in the top of the 6th inning after Jim Edmonds drew a lead-off walk from Johnson.

2 batters later, Mark DeRosa walked to put runners at 1st & 2nd with just 1 out.

Mike Fontenot & Reed Johnson then both struck out to end the scoring threat.

Chicago then put together a game-winning rally in the top of the 9th inning, which started  with Mark DeRosa’s lead-off walk against Florida closer Kevin Gregg.

Mike Fontenot was then robbed of a hit thanks to Marlins 3rd baseman Wes Helms, who made a nice diving catch to temporarily keep the Cubs from bringing the go-ahead run to the plate.

Chicago did get that opportunity after Reed Johnson singled to put runners at 1st & 2nd with just 1 out for pinch-hitter Daryle Ward.

Ward then delivered his biggest pinch-hit to date of the season, as he hit a go-ahead 3-run homer (3rd of season) to give the Cubs a 6-5 lead.

Chicago closer Kerry Wood then entered the game in the bottom of the 9th inning & had some control problems while appearing in his 1st save situation since July 11th.

Wood issued a 1-out walk to Hanley Ramirez, which brought up Jeremy Hermeida as the potential game-winning run.

After a lengthy duel, Wood was able to strike out Hermeida but not before Ramirez took 2nd base on a wild pitch.

Jorge Cantu was then hit by a pitch to put runners at 1st & 2nd with 2 outs for pinch-hitter Alfredo Amezaega, who Wood struck out to end the game.

Chad Gaudin (4-1) gets the win for the Cubs after pitching 2 scoreless innings of relief.

Kevin Gregg (6-5) takes both the loss & a blown save (7th of season) for the Marlins after allowing Mark DeRosa’s 9th inning walk & Reed Johnson’s single, which set up Daryle Ward’s game-winning 3-run homer.

With Friday’s win, the Cubs are now guaranteed a winning road trip & will now try to win their 3rd consecutive road series on Saturday evening at 6:10 PM cst, as southpaw Sean Marshall (2-2, 3.55) will be opposed by Marlins righty Anibal Sanchez (1-2, 4.08).

Marshall will be making his 1st start on Saturday since July 6th against St. Louis, which he won after allowing just 1 run on 6 hits in 6 innings of work during the Cubs’ 7-1 win.

Marshall will also make his 1st start against Florida since May 28th, 2007 when he allowed 3 runs (2 earned) & 6 hits in 6 1/3 innings during the Cubs’ 5-3 loss.

Sanchez will make just his 4th start of the season on Saturday & is 1-1 in 2 home starts with a 3.55 ERA.

Saturday will be Sanchez’s 1st career start against the Cubs.

Signing off for now,