By Matt Abbatacola-

CHICAGO (CBS) Carlos Zambrano battled through six innings of work allowing two earned runs on nine hits while striking out three Astros’ batters.

After the game, Zambrano said, “Sometimes it’s good to have luck too.”

Or, it’s just lucky to play the Houston Astros. In the second and third innings, Houston had the bases loaded with no outs and only scored one run.  Zambrano settled down after the fourth inning. He retired six of the last seven batters he faced in his final two innings of work.

He improved his record to 7-5 and lowered his ERA to 4.70 on the season. It was the 10th quality start of the year for the right-hander who is 5-0 with an ERA of 1.62 in his last eight starts against Houston at Wrigley Field.

With one out in the eighth, Mike Quade went to Carlos Marmol who struck out the two batters he faced. Sean Marshall was brought on in the ninth inning to close out the game and secure the win for Chicago.  He retired the three batters he faced earning his third save on the season.

Quade decided to go with Marshall as the closer before the game began. He and pitching coach, Mark Riggins, wanted to use Marmol in a setup role before inserting him back in the closer spot. If needed tomorrow in a save situation, Marmol will be ready to go and Quade will put him back in that role.

Alfonso Soriano hit his 15th homer of the season.

Aramis Ramirez hit his 18th homer on the year and his 231st as a member of the Cubs. It puts him in a 6th place tie with Gabby Hartnett on the Cubs all-time home run list.

Tomorrow’s game will put the Cubs over the 2 million mark for season attendance. The team is 40-60 and 23-31 at Wrigley Field in 2011.