Cubs sweep Diamondbacks to share top spot

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Chicago Cubs rallied to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4 and move into a first-place tie in the National League Central Division on Sunday.

Daryle Ward's two-run, pinch-hit double with the bases loaded in the eighth inning completed the Cubs' three-game sweep of the West Division leaders.

The hit came off Tony Pena's first pitch with Ward drilling the ball to right-center field.

"I wanted to jump on the first-pitch fastball, if that's what he was going to give to me," Ward told reporters. "He couldn't have thrown it more down the middle than that. As a pinch-hitter, if you see a pitch down the middle you've got to swing."

Ward used a special pink bat, as did a number of other Major League players on Mother's Day to raise money for breast cancer.

Ward's grandmother is a breast cancer survivor.

"Definitely a good day to get a big hit like that," said Ward whose grandmother is a breast cancer survivor.

The victory put the Cubs in a Central Division tie with the St. Louis Cardinals, who lost to the Milwaukee Brewers 5-3 on Sunday.

Heavy rain and cool temperatures delayed the start of the game for almost an hour, wiping out an anticipated duel between Arizona's Randy Johnson and Chicago's Carlos Zambrano.

Rookie Sean Gallagher was called up to start for the Cubs. He worked four-plus innings, giving up four runs and five hits while striking out six.

Carlos Marmol (1-0) got the win as the third Chicago relief pitcher.

Edgar Gonzalez opened for Arizona and pitched five innings. The loss went to Pena (0-1).

A back-to-back bases-loaded walk by Chad Fox had staked Arizona to a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning. Chicago evened the score in the seventh on Reed Johnson's two-run homer.

(Writing by Gene Cherry in Salvo, North Carolina; Editing by Ed Osmond)