Ramirez hits grand slam, Byrd drives in 3 as Chicago Cubs coast to 8-3 win over Houston Astros

Slam by Ramirez leads Cubs to 8-3 win over Astros

HOUSTON — Aramis Ramirez hit his first grand slam in more than two years and Marlon Byrd drove in three runs as the Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros 8-3 on Saturday night.

Carlos Zambrano (11-6) pitched 6 1-3 innings for the Cubs, who have won five of six. Chicago is 17-4 on the road since interim manager Mike Quade took over on Aug. 23.

Chicago was leading 4-0 before Ramirez’s first slam since August 2008 stretched the lead and chased Astros starter J.A. Happ in the fourth.

Happ (6-4) allowed a season-high eight hits, tied season and career highs with seven earned runs and walked five in three-plus innings.

Jeff Baker reached on a throwing error by third baseman Chris Johnson in the fourth. Starlin Castro and Byrd hit consecutive singles to load the bases and set up Ramirez’s slam. The shot to the Crawford Boxes in left field was the ninth grand slam of his career and his 20th home run at Minute Maid Park, the second-most in ballpark history.

The Astros had trouble getting anything going early in this one. Jason Castro singled with no outs in the third inning before Anderson Hernandez walked with one out. Angel Sanchez grounded into a double play to end that inning before Zambrano retired the next nine batters.

Houston didn’t get another baserunner until Hunter Pence reached and advanced to second on an error by third baseman Bobby Scales with no outs in the seventh. Carlos Lee walked before Pence advanced to third on a wild pitch. Another walk loaded the bases before Johnson grounded into a force out that scored Pence.

That run broke a streak of 21 scoreless innings for the Astros, their longest drought since going 22 innings in 2006. It was the first run the Cubs allowed in 27 innings, the longest span for them since a 28-inning streak in June 2005.

Brett Wallace drove in a pair of runs with his double to center field that made it 8-3 later in the inning and chased Zambrano. The right-hander yielded three hits and two earned runs with five strikeouts.

Happ walked two Cubs with a single by Baker in between to load the bases with one out in the second inning. Byrd followed with a two-run single to push Chicago’s lead to 4-0.

Baker drew a leadoff walk in the first before advancing to third on a ground-rule double by Castro. A sacrifice fly by Byrd made it 1-0. Happ walked Ramirez before Alfonso Soriano’s two-out double scored Castro.

NOTES: Houston left-hander Wandy Rodriguez will not make his scheduled start Sunday because of back spasms. Rodriguez began feeling discomfort in his back Thursday and he hadn’t recovered by Saturday, so the Astros replaced him with right-hander Nelson Figueroa. … Houston is 58-52 since June 1 after going 17-34 through May.