Arlington, TX (Sports Network) - Alfonso Soriano hit a two-run homer and Carlos Silva picked up his sixth win of the season, as the Chicago Cubs edged the Texas Rangers, 5-4, in the rubber match of a three-game interleague set.
Derrek Lee and Koyie Hill each added an RBI single for the Cubs, who have won six of their last eight. Silva (6-0) allowed three runs on six hits with one walk and struck out a batter over 5 1/3 innings of work. Carlos Marmol locked the game down with a scoreless ninth to record his ninth save of the season.
Michael Young hit a two-run homer in addition to a run-scoring double for Texas, which dropped the last two games of the series after winning its previous five games. C.J. Wilson (3-2) suffered the loss after yielding seven hits, five runs and three walks, while striking out five in 5 2/3 frames.
Chicago jumped on Wilson for a four-spot in the first. The first two hitters reached on singles before Lee's run-scoring base hit started the scoring. Starlin Castro took third on the play and Lee advanced to second on Josh Hamilton's throwing error. Marlon Byrd added an RBI groundout and Soriano followed with a two-run shot to left.
Texas cut its deficit in half in the third when Young cracked a two-run homer over the center field wall. Then in the fourth, Julio Borbon's RBI single made it a 4-3 game.
The Cubs got a run back in the sixth when Hill singled to right and Xavier Nady just beat the throw home from Nelson Cruz to give the Cubs a two-run cushion.
Young's RBI double in the seventh got the Rangers to within 5-4, but it could have been more. With the bases loaded and two down, Sean Marshall came on for Bob Howry and retired Hamilton on a soft liner to second.
Marshall stayed on for the eighth and issued a two-out walk to Matt Treanor before fanning pinch-hitter David Murphy. In the bottom of the ninth, Marmol was summoned from the Chicago bullpen and issued a two-out walk to Ian Kinsler, who stole second. However, Vladimir Guerrero took a called third strike on the outside corner to end the game.
The Cubs improved to 4-5 all-time against Texas...Silva has now won his last four starts and improved to 5-4 in 14 career starts versus the Rangers...Chicago improved to 92-98 all-time in interleague play, while Texas fell to 113-120 against the National League.