Miami, FL (Best E Casino) - Hanley Ramirez finished 2-for-3 with a home run and a walk, as the Florida Marlins edged the Chicago Cubs, 2-1, in the middle test of a three-game weekend series at Dolphin Stadium.

Cody Ross knocked in the other run for the Marlins, who banged out only four hits for the third straight game. With the win, Florida put an end to its three-game slide and remained 3 1/2 games behind New York for the top spot in the NL East after the Mets downed the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-4, on Saturday.

"Every series gets bigger and bigger," Ross said. "We knew we were in for a battle. We did it the old-fashioned way tonight."

Anibal Sanchez (2-2) allowed just one run on three hits with six strikeouts and a season-high five walks over 5 1/3 innings to pick up the win. Kevin Gregg tossed a scoreless ninth to notch his 27th save.

Henry Blanco homered for Chicago, which had won nine consecutive games away from the friendly confines of Wrigley Field.

Sean Marshall (2-3) was the hard-luck loser, yielding two runs on four hits and three walks in five innings of work. The towering left-hander, who returned to the starting rotation after a month-plus in the bullpen, matched his career-high with eight punch outs.

Ramirez led off the opening frame with a blast over the left-field wall for his 27th home run of the season.

Sanchez then wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the third to preserve the 1-0 lead. Alfonso Soriano doubled with one out and advanced to third on Sanchez's failed pickoff attempt. One out later, the right-hander issued consecutive walks to Jim Edmonds and Daryle Ward to load the bases for Mike Fontenot, who grounded out to end the threat.

"I feel like I still had command of most of my pitches," Marshall said. "They had a leadoff home run to put them on the board early. That's kind of disappointing but, still a lot of positives from my (perspective)."

Chicago evened the score in the fourth on Blanco's two-out shot to left.

The Marlins reclaimed the lead in the fifth. Jeremy Hermida drew a lead-off walk and moved up to second on a Matt Treanor groundout. After Sanchez went down swinging, Ramirez was intentionally walked and Ross slapped an RBI single to right for a 2-1 Marlins lead.

Logan Kensing started the seventh for Florida and gave up a two-out single to Soriano, who immediately swiped second. After Ryan Theriot worked a walk, Arthur Rhodes was summoned from the bullpen and promptly served up a single to pinch-hitter Reed Johnson to load the bases. Matt Lindstrom took over on the mound and got pinch-hitter Derrek Lee to ground into a fielder's choice to escape further trouble.

Gregg, who blew his seventh save on Friday, issued a one-out walk to Theriot in the ninth. After Johnson went down swinging, Lee reached first on an infield single before Fontenot struck out looking to end the game.

"That's our job. That's our life," Gregg said. "(Closers) live for these situations. We live to be in there with the game on the line. We're out there. We're going for it."

Game Notes

It was Ramirez's 22nd career leadoff homer and seventh this season...Marshall last started on July 6 at St. Louis...Lee's base hit in the ninth was the 1,500th of his career...The Marlins left seven men on base, while Chicago stranded 13...Florida set a season-high in attendance with 39,124...Before the game, the Marlins purchased the contract of veteran catcher Paul Lo Duca from Triple-A Albuquerque.