CHICAGO (AP) -- Bloop singles aren't nearly as exciting or dramatic as, say, home runs or no-hitters. The Florida Marlins, however, will take them.

Mike Lowell and Derrek Lee drove in two runs apiece on bloopers Monday as Florida beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-5. The Marlins scored all of their runs on singles, and all but one of their 12 hits was a single, too.

	Lee

"You can't defend bloop hits," he said. "They put the ball where we couldn't get it."

Trailing 5-4 in the top of the seventh, Alex Gonzalez got Florida's lone hard hit when he doubled off the wall in center. He took third when Cliff Floyd walked, but then Preston Wilson struck out swinging for the second out.

All Farnsworth needed was three strikes, and he got to 0-2 with Lowell. But just as he had in his other at-bats, Lowell escaped, singling up the gap to score Gonzalez.

"You don't want to get to 0-2, in that hole, all the time. So I just battled," Lowell said. "Guys don't feel the pressure with two outs. Those kind of hits are huge momentum swings. It's big for us and it deflates the other team."

And if the Cubs weren't deflated by that, Lee, the next batter, singled in the go-ahead run.

"This was not the day to put the ball in the air," Florida manager John Boles said. "We got a couple of chinks when we got runs."

Lee's RBI single was it for Farnsworth. Mark Guthrie replaced him and got pinch-hitter Mark Smith to pop up to first to end the inning.

Jesus Sanchez (2-0) gave up five runs -- three earned -- and six hits in six innings. He struck out nine and walked four. Antonio Alfonseca pitched the ninth for his fifth save.

The Marlins won three of four games against the Cubs, who'd just swept the NL champion Atlanta Braves.

"We had chances to win," Cubs manager Don Baylor said. "We have no one else to blame but ourselves. We just didn't execute."

The dinkfest began in the third when the Marlins rapped out six singles, taking a 4-0 lead on RBI by Floyd, Lowell, Lee and Paul Bako. And the score could have been even worse. Bako's single was a chopper to left field, and Glenallen Hill overran the ball, allowing Lee to get to third and Bako to take second.

But Farnsworth got the next two batters, and Hill's miscue didn't cost the Cubs.

"We have some guys who have the knack for RBI," Boles said. "Lowell really focuses in. He's a much better hitter with men on base."

The Cubs answered back with three runs in the third. Joe Girardi reached on Sanchez's error -- he bobbled the catch as he tried to cover first -- and then advanced on Eric Young's walk.

Ricky Gutierrez then doubled to left, scoring Girardi and Young -- who beat the throw and scored all the way from first. Mark Grace drove in another run on a double, but Hill struck out to end the inning.

Chicago took the lead in the sixth on a two-run homer to left by Shane Andrews. It was Andrews' sixth homer of the year, tying him with Phil Nevin and Jim Edmonds for the NL lead.

"You can talk all you want about playing the full nine, but we're actually showing what can be accomplished," said Boles, whose Marlins have had to rally for seven of their eight victories.

Game notes
The Marlins bullpen did not allow a run during Florida's seven-game road trip. ... Gutierrez's RBI double extended his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games. ... Nicole Bobek, the 1995 U.S. figure skating champion and world bronze medalist, threw out the first pitch and was the guest conductor for the seventh-inning stretch. ... The Cubs start a nine-game road trip Tuesday. When they finish, they'll have played 17 of their first 24 games on the road.