HOUSTON, July 20 (UPI) -- The Chicago Cubs' Ryan Dempster and Carlos Marmol combined on a six-hit shutout Sunday in a 9-0 win at Houston.
Dempster (11-4) gave up the six hits and a walk in eight innings with seven strikeouts. Marmol pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.
At the plate, both Derek Lee and Mike Fontenot drove in three runs, with Fontenot belting a solo homer in the fifth and getting three hits in all.
Ryan Theriot also had three hits with two RBI.
Jim Edmonds had one RBI and was one of three players with two hits for the National League Central Division-leading Cubs, who stopped a two-game skid.
Carlos Lee had two of the six hits for the Astros, who had won four in a row.
Losing pitcher Brandon Backe (6-10) yielded four earned runs on eight hits in 6 2/3 innings with no walks and eight strikeouts.
