Dempster Ks seven as Cubs tally first win of second half

HOUSTON - Ryan Dempster finally won on the road for the Chicago Cubs.

Dempster struck out seven in eight shutout innings to earn his first road victory in two years and the Cubs snapped a three-game losing streak with a 9-0 win over the Houston Astros on Sunday.

Mike Fontenot hit a solo homer and a two-run double and Derrek Lee had three RBIs to help Chicago shake out a mini-offensive slump that bridged the All-Star break.

Dempster (11-4) allowed six hits, all singles, and got his first road win since June 2, 2006, at St. Louis. He's 10-1 in 12 starts at Wrigley Field this season, but was 0-3 with a 4.03 ERA in eight starts away from home before Sunday.

"Such a relief," Dempster said with a smile. "All the questions can stop now."

The Astros had their four-game winning streak snapped.

The Cubs scored only four runs in their previous three games and batted .210 over that span. They had only one hit in their last 15 at-bats with runners in scoring position before getting two runs in the first inning against Houston starter Brandon Backe (6-10).

Kosuke Fukudome, in a 10-for-62 slump coming into the game, doubled to left with one out and scored on Lee's double to right-center. Jim Edmonds scored Lee with a single to center.

Ryan Theriot, who went 3-for-5 and extended his hitting streak to 13 games, said Houston's pitching deserved some of the credit for the Cubs' offensive woes in their first two games after the break.

"We ran into some tough pitching," Theriot said. "I don't really want to put all the blame on the offense. I don't buy into that too much. You've got to give the other guys credit. But it's good to score some runs and get a victory."

The Astros held a fan event on the field before the game and neither team took batting practice. Cubs manager Lou Piniella joked that his team may not take BP at all whenever they return to Houston.

"We'll make the bus 5:15 or 5:30, come out here and stretch and play," Piniella said.

Dempster allowed only singles by Carlos Lee and Lance Berkman in the first four innings.

Backe threw three perfect innings after the shaky first, but Fontenot homered down the right-field line with one out in the fifth to put the Cubs up 3-0. The second baseman has eight homers this season, six in his last 19 games.

Dempster only faced real trouble once, when the Astros loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth. Miguel Tejada and Geoff Blum opened the inning with back-to-back singles. Hunter Pence hit a high bouncer to Theriot and the shortstop threw late to second, loading the bases for J.R. Towles, a .144 hitter.

Dempster struck him out on three pitches. Dempster then struck out Backe looking on a 3-2 pitch.