Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano celebrates after retiring Houston Astros' Craig Biggio in the eighth inning. Zambrano had a sharp outing and added a home run in the Cubs' 2-1 victory Monday in Chicago.

Chicago ? Carlos Zambrano delivered with his pitches and his bat. Then he delivered this message: “Big Z is back on track,” he said.

Looking more like the NL All-Star he was last season than the erratic pitcher who got into a fight with his catcher, Michael Barrett, 10 days before, Zambrano had one of his strongest outings against a favorite opponent Monday night.

He allowed three hits and an unearned run in eight innings and also homered to give the Chicago Cubs a 2-1 victory over the Houston Astros.

With Koyie Hill behind the plate instead of Barrett in both outings since the altercation, Zambrano has two wins.

“This is a new season for me. When you have great pitches and trust in yourself, you just let the bad things go and start new things,” Zambrano said. “That’s what I’m doing right now.”

In his first appearance at Wrigley Field since his June 1 fight with Barrett, Zambrano threw 128 pitches and outdueled hard-luck loser Woody Williams.

Zambrano gave Barrett a black eye and sent him to a hospital for six stitches in his lip after they tussled in the dugout and the clubhouse during a loss to Atlanta.

Zambrano and Hill seem to have hit it off, so it’s hard to tell when or if Barrett will catch Zambrano again.

“I’m really comfortable with him and I think he’s really comfortable with me,” Hill said. “I think it’s just a breath of fresh air. He turned the page on some stuff and really focused in on what he needs to do.”

Zambrano (7-5) had a two-hit shutout going into the eighth when Mike Lamb led off with a walk and pinch-hitter Luke Scott singled as diving center fielder Felix Pie couldn’t come up with his sinking liner.

Brad Ausmus hit a grounder to third and Mark DeRosa threw to second for the force, but second baseman Mike Fontenot’s relay to first was wild for an error that allowed Lamb to score. Zambrano got out of the inning by striking out pinch-hitter Orlando Palmeiro and getting Craig Biggio to fly out to the left-field wall, then typically showed his emotions by jumping as he came off the mound.

“He was real tough. That’s the Zambrano everyone is used to seeing,” Houston’s Lance Berkman said. “It seems like whenever he pitches against us, he doesn’t have any problems finding his ‘A’ game.”

Dodgers 5, Mets 3

Los Angeles – James Loney doubled home the go-ahead run in the sixth inning in his second big league game of the season, and the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied past the New York Mets 5-3 on Monday night to hand the slumping NL East leaders their seventh loss in eight games.

Randy Wolf (8-4) earned the victory, allowing nine hits and three runs in six shaky innings. Wolf, who walked none and struck out three, moved into a tie with Philadelphia’s Cole Hamels for the most wins in the NL.

Takashi Saito, the fourth Los Angeles pitcher, worked the ninth for his 17th save in 18 chances as the Dodgers won for just the second time in seven games. Wolf and three relievers teamed up to retire the final 12 New York batters.