NEW YORK, July 8 (UPI) -- Ryan Dempster came off the disabled list to hurl five shutout innings Sunday, staking the Chicago Cubs to a 7-0 whitewash of the New York Mets.
Dempster (4-3), making his first start since June 15 due to back muscle tightness, baffled the Mets on four hits and didn't issue a walk en route to the victory.
The 35-year-old right-hander struck out four while racking up his fourth win in four outings for the Cubs, lowering his National League-best ERA to 1.99.
Paul Maholm, Manny Corpas, James Russell and Shawn Camp each tossed an inning scoreless relief to complete the shutout for the Cubs, who took the rubber match of a three-game set at Citi Field.
Starlin Castro went 2-for-4 with a three-run homer and Geovany Soto's two-run single highlighted a big first inning that saw Chicago jump off to a 4-0 lead.
New York's Jonathon Niese (7-4) was lit up for seven runs on nine hits in a seven-inning start.
