Cubs rebound to edge Dodgers 10-8 in wild game

Chicago Cubs' Starlin Castro (L) celebrates scoring a run with teammate Aramis Ramirez during the first inning of their opening day MLB National League baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Chicago April 1, 2011.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Chicago Cubs scored five times in the eighth inning to reclaim the lead for good and defeat the streaking Los Angeles Dodgers 10-8 at a windy Wrigley Field on Saturday.

Chicago built a 5-1 lead through four innings before the Dodgers rallied with three home runs in a span of seven batters stretching across the fifth and sixth inning to tie the game.

Andre Ethier extended his league-best hitting streak to 20 games with a two-run double in the sixth inning to push the Dodgers ahead 7-5.

Los Angeles, who had won three consecutive games before Saturday, stretched the lead to three runs in the seventh inning.

Chicago sent nine batters to the plate in the eighth-inning rally, hitting four singles and drawing a walk before Jeff Baker drove in the go-ahead and insurance run with a two-run double.

"You see a couple of guys get hits. You have hits on your mind. That's how the game works," said Cubs second baseman Darwin Barney who drove in three runs and scored twice.

"It's funny how it works in this game where things like that feed off of each other."

Cubs' reliever Jeff Samardzija earned his first win of the season, striking out three of the four batters he faced including a perfect eighth inning.

Matt Guerrier was charged with a blown save and the loss as he was on the mound during the Cubs rally after pitching a scoreless seventh inning.

"I probably shouldn't have sent Guerrier back out," said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly. "I should have sent (Blake) Hawksworth out."

Casey Blake, Matt Kemp and Rod Barajas homered for the Dodgers while Starlin Castro had three RBIs and scored twice from the leadoff spot for Chicago.

(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor, Ontario; Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)