CHICAGO — Ryan Zimmerman hit a two-run homer and Adam Dunn added a solo shot Thursday, leading the Washington Nationals to a 5-4 victory over the reeling Chicago Cubs.

Catcher Josh Bard prevented a game-tying seventh-inning run with a superb defensive play to help the Nationals win a series at Wrigley Field for the first time since 2005.

Aramis Ramirez homered, singled twice and drove in three runs but the Cubs still lost for the seventh time in 10 games. The Cubs have gone 6-15 since Aug. 5 to fall nine games behind St. Louis in the NL Central. Before that skid, they had won 14 of 19 and were tied for first place.

The Nationals are 20-21 under interim manager Jim Riggleman after going 26-61 for Manny Acta, who was fired last month. They are 14-11 in August.

The Cubs, who were down 5-0 early, pulled within a run in the seventh on Ramirez's RBI single. With Ramirez at first and Derrek Lee on third, reliever Sean Burnett's 2-2 pitch to Kosuke Fukudome bounced in front of home. Bard got a piece of the ball, which deflected about 15 feet away. The catcher scrambled, grabbed the ball and flipped it to Burnett, who tagged Lee on the hand inches from home plate.

J.D. Martin (3-3) outpitched Randy Wells (9-7) to win a matchup of 26-year-old rookie right-handers. Martin allowed three runs and four hits in five innings while Wells gave up five runs and five hits and four walks in 6 1-3 innings.

Mike MacDougal got the final five outs for his 14th save in 15 opportunities. He got Milton Bradley to ground out to end the game with a runner on second.

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Wells got in trouble immediately by walking leadoff man Nyjer Morgan, who stole second and third and scored on Cristian Guzman's double. Zimmerman then lined a home run into the front row of the left-field bleachers. Zimmerman is batting .340 with 13 homers since the All-Star break.

Guzman's RBI grounder made it 4-0 in the second and Dunn led off the third with his 34th homer.

Ramirez hit a two-run homer in the third and the Cubs closed to 5-3 on Lee's solo shot in the fifth. It was Lee's 25th homer, the sixth time in his career he has hit that many in a season but first time since 2005.

NOTES: After missing the first two games of the series with the flu, Morgan started in CF. But he left after scoring in the first inning with a hand injury he suffered during a headfirst slide while stealing. ... In the fourth inning, Cubs LF Alfonso Soriano's bid for his first HR since July 29 sailed just foul. He then flew out to right. He is batting .118 with three RBIs in his past 14 games. ... The announced crowd of 35,174 was the smallest at Wrigley this season. There were thousands of additional empty seats.

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