SAN DIEGO, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Alfonso Soriano homered twice Tuesday and the Chicago Cubs knocked the fading San Diego Padres off track again with a 5-2 victory.
Ryan Dempster struck out nine to leave the Padres two games behind the San Francisco Giants in the National League West race and 1 1/2 games behind Atlanta in the wild-card standings.
Dempster (15-11) held the Padres to two runs on four hits and two walks. He retired the side in the seventh after the first two runners reached base.
Carlos Marmol picked up his 36th save.
Soriano had solo home runs in the sixth and eighth innings and finished with three RBI. Marlon Byrd had two hits and two walks for the Cubs.
Mat Latos (14-9) gave up four runs -- two earned -- on seven hits and six strikeouts in 5 /23 innings.
Nick Hundley drove in both San Diego runs with a home run in the fifth.
