CHICAGO -- The Cubs, playing like the last-place team they are, bumbled their way through six errors in a rain-slicked mess of a game with the Dodgers on Tuesday night.

And they won.

But even in a 9-8 defeat in 11 innings, even after blowing a 7-0 lead with the Pitcher of the Month on the mound, even after watching former teammate Cesar Izturis beat them with a walk-off single and a triumphant fist in the air, the Dodgers lost no ground to the Padres and tore another page off the calendar. Los Angeles remains 1 1/2 games up over San Diego in the National League West.

"Baseball is crazy sometimes," said Rafael Furcal, who slugged a two-run homer and threw a ball five rows into the stands.

The Dodgers staked Derek Lowe to that seven-run cushion with the aid and comfort of -- among other things -- three errors by Cubs rookie second baseman Freddie Bynum in the first two innings. They scored four in the first, two in the second, added a seventh run on Jacque Jones' error in the third and seemed to take the field each inning with the attitude that the longer the game went, the more runs the Cubs would give away.

No Dodger would use the word complacent or overconfident, but everything changed in the bottom of the fifth inning when Lowe allowed five consecutive hits, followed one out later by a two-run bloop double by Matt Murton. The lead had suddenly been reduced to 7-5.

"We had a 7-0 lead and all the momentum, but I couldn't put a stop to the inning," said Lowe. "Even though when I left we still had the lead, they clearly had it [momentum] at that point. I really let them back in the game."

The Cubs tied the game with two outs in the seventh off relievers Brett Tomko and Jonathan Broxton, and then took an 8-7 lead when a J.D. Drew error, on what would have been a difficult running catch, set up an unearned run. The Dodgers tied it with a ninth-inning run off Cubs closer Ryan Dempster, set up by a rare Izturis fielding error, and forced the game into extra innings.

In the decisive 11th, Tim Hamulack issued a pair of walks sandwiched around a pair of outs to bring up Izturis, the Gold Glove shortstop traded on July 31 for Greg Maddux. The Dodgers thought Hamulack might have been credited for strikeouts on check swings instead of the walks issued to Murton and Aramis Ramirez.

"The guys that count didn't see it that way," manager Grady Little said of home-plate umpire Ed Rapuano and first-base umpire Tony Randazzo.

Hamulack then jumped ahead of Izturis 0-2, but the third pitch was over the plate and the former Dodger shot it back through the box. Center fielder Kenny Lofton charged the ball and threw to the plate, but catcher Russell Martin's swipe tag just missed rookie pitcher Juan Mateo, who was pinch-running from second base.

"Cesar got a big hit to haunt his old team and end a long night," said Cubs manager Dusty Baker.

"That game was decided in the fifth inning, not the 10th or 11th," said Little.

Which is why Lowe took his no-decision like it was the worst loss of the year, or at least the worst since the Dodgers blew a five-run lead in the ninth inning in San Diego in April.

"I'm clearly disappointed," said Lowe. "The way I've been pitching effectively, with 19 games to go, and we had this game and squandered the lead and it's very disappointing.

"It's definitely a tough loss. Anyone watching the game in the fourth inning, there's no way we're going to lose the game. And we pretty much used up a majority of the bullpen, which can set you back for a few games. This is the worst, coming so late in the season and there's really no excuse for that."