If White Sox third baseman Gordon Beckham hadn't secured himself a place in Chicago baseball's spotlight by now, he did on Saturday against the Cubs.

Beckham drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning with a liner to right field as the Sox prevailed 8-7 before 39,529 at U.S. Cellular Field.

The rookie turned on first-pitch fastball from Cubs reliever Jose Ascanio and drove it deep into right center. Josh Fields, who was pinch running for Paul Konerko, scored from second base. It was Beckham's first game-winning hit of his young career.

"In big situations, I like to swing early if it's a strike," said Beckham, who was mobbed by his teammates and received a face full of shaving cream for his heroics. "You never know if you're going to get another good pitch to hit. So I went early and it worked out."

Beckham's game-winning hit overshadowed a big game from Scott Podsednik. The outfielder matched his career high with four hits, including a home run. He finished with two runs scored and three RBI.

Alfonso Soriano, Ryan Theriot and Andres Blanco each had two hits for the Cubs, who capitalized on two errors by shortstop Alexei Ramirez and one by Beckham.

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Top of first: Milton Bradley, no doubt the center of Chicago's baseball world for his actions in the dugout of Friday's game, singled to right field. But Bradley's hit came with two outs, and Derrek Lee followed by striking out.

Bottom of first: Scott Podsednik led off with a double. He was then sacrificed to third and scored on Jermaine Dye's double to deep left field. Starting pitcher Ryan Dempster got out of the inning by getting A.J. Pierzynski to fly out. Score: Sox 1, Cubs 0

Top of second: Mark Buehrle set the Cubs down in order, working a quick top half of the inning, including strikeouts of Geovany Soto and Ryan Freel.

Bottom of second: Ryan Dempster settled down after a shaky start and got Chris Getz and Gordon Beckham out quickly. But then he walked DeWayne Wise, who proceeded to steal second. Podsednik then singled him home. Soto gunned Podsednik down at second trying to steal. Score: Sox 2, Cubs 0

Top of third: After a Kosuke Fukudome groundout, Andres Blanco hit an infield single at Beckham, whose high throw went over the head of Paul Konerko. It was his fifth error of the season as Blanco advanced to second and later scored on Ryan Theriot's single to center. Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez continued to struggle in the field, committing another fielding error on a grounder by Bradley. Lee then drove in Theriot. Both of the Cubs' runs came with two outs and were unearned.

Bottom of third: Dye tallied his second hit of the game, but Jim Thome grounded into a 3-6-1 double play to end the inning. Score: Cubs 2, Sox 2

Top of fourth: A diving stop and throw out by Ramirez, who committed a costly error an inning earlier, highlighted a quick inning by Buehrle. Soto did draw a walk to open the inning, but never advanced past second.

Bottom of fourth: Dempster fanned Konerko (looking) to open the inning. Pierzynski lined a single to center, but Podsednik grounded into a fielder's choice and Ramirez flied out to end the inning. Score: Cubs 2, Sox 2

Top of fifth: Alfonso Soriano, who has struggled this series, hit a broken-bat hit to right to open the inning. After Theriot walked, he and Soriano advanced to second and third on a Buehrle balk. Lee then hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Soriano. Jake Fox flied out to end the inning.

Bottom of fifth: After Wise flied out, Podsednik homered to right field. It was his third hit of the game. Ramirez followed with a single and Dye fouled out to Lee. Thome walked and Konerko was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Pierzynski, who grounded into a pivotal double play on Friday, singled in two runs with a line drive to right. Getz flied out to Bradley to end the rally. Score: Sox 5, Cubs 3

Top of sixth: With two outs, Fukudome walked and Andres Blanco singled. D.J. Carrasco replaced Buehrle. Soriano then doubled to deep left to score both Blanco and Fukudome. Theriot then singled to right to score Soriano.

Bottom of sixth: After Aaron Heilman relieved Dempster and struck out Beckman, Wise roped a triple between Fukudome and Bradley. He then scored on Podsednik's single (his fourth hit of the game). Ramirez fouled out and Dye popped out to end the rally. Score: Cubs 6, Sox 6

Top of seventh: Cubs went down in order. Carrasco struck out Soto to end the inning.

Bottom of seventh: Heilman struck out Konerko, Pierzynski and Getz after walking Thome. Score: Cubs 6, Sox 6

Top of eighth: Freel reached base on Ramirez's second error of the game. His throw from short went wide of Konerko. Aaron Poreda replaced Carrasco. Fukudome singled and Freel advanced to third. Freel scored on Blanco's grounder to Ramirez, who threw to first. Freel beat Konerko's throw to the plate. Octavio Dotel came in for Poreda and walked Soriano. But Dotel then fanned Theriot and got Bradley to ground out to Beckham.

Bottom of eighth: Beckham singled to left field and advanced to second on Wise's sacrifice bunt. After Podsednik flied out, Ramirez tied the game with a single past Theriot. Fukudome ended the rally when he made a leaping grab on a hard liner hit by Dye. Score: Cubs 7, Sox 7

Top of ninth: Bobby Jenks replaced Dotel. He struck out Lee to open the inning, got Fox to fly out and then fanned Soto.

Bottom of ninth: Sean Marshall took over for Carlos Marmol. Thome flied out to open the inning. Konerko then singled to left. Josh Fields pinch ran for Konerko. Fields advanced to second on Pierzynski's chopper to third. After Jayson Nix walked, Gordon Beckham drove in the game-winning run with a liner to deep right. FINAL: Sox 8, Cubs