(Sports Network) - The Chicago Cubs hit the road with a seven-game winning streak in tow and will attempt to keep rolling in tonight's clash with the San Diego Padres from Petco Park.

Chicago completed a perfect week-long homestand and a four-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies with Sunday's 5-3 victory at Wrigley Field. The win improved the current National League Central leaders to a major league-best 36-21 on the season.

Aramis Ramirez went 3-for-3 with an RBI in yesterday's triumph, while Jim Edmonds doubled and tripled while knocking in a pair of runs for the Cubs, who also received a solo home run out of Alfonso Soriano.

Chicago starter Sean Gallagher (3-1) struck out a career-high eight batters over 5 2/3 innings and allowed three runs on six hits to pick up the win. Four Cub relievers combined to hold the Rockies scoreless the rest of the way, with Kerry Wood pitching a perfect ninth to earn his 14th save.

The Cubs are now an outstanding 26-8 at Wrigley Field this year, but the long- suffering franchise hasn't matched that success on the road. Chicago is 10-13 in enemy ballparks so far this season and has lost five straight series as the visitor.

Chicago has also struggled on the road against the Padres, who are 6-1 at Petco Park against the Cubs over the previous two seasons.

The Cubs will be putting their ace on display in the opener of this seven-game trek, which begins with three straight meetings with San Diego and continues with a four-game set at Los Angeles. Carlos Zambrano will toe the rubber tonight and puts a string of six consecutive winning decisions on the line, as the excitable right-hander has not lost since an April 11 setback at Philadelphia.

Zambrano delivered another excellent performance on Wednesday, although he did not factor in the decision of the Cubs' 2-1 comeback win over the Dodgers. The All-Star hurler hurled eight innings and held Los Angeles to just one run on six hits.

The native Venezuelan, whose 2.33 earned run average for the season ranks third among NL pitchers, did get credit for a victory when he faced the Padres at Wrigley on May 12. In that game Zambrano allowed three runs on six hits through seven innings.

For his career, Zambrano is 5-1 with a 2.19 ERA in overall starts against San Diego.

The Padres were slated to start Shawn Estes in tonight's opener, but the veteran had to be placed on the disabled list over the weekend after he broke his left thumb after slipping on a flight of starts on Saturday. The club will instead turn to newly-acquired Cha Seung Baek.

Baek came to the Padres this past Wednesday in a trade with the Seattle Mariners and had an impressive debut with his new club on Friday. Baek struck out the side in his lone inning of work against the San Francisco Giants and wound up receiving the win in San Diego's 7-3, 13-inning decision.

The 28-year-old was designated for assignment by the Mariners on May 21 after going 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA over 10 appearances, including one start.

San Diego had won five times in a six-game stretch before falling in extra innings to San Francisco on Sunday. The Giants rallied for three runs in the bottom of the 10th to pull out a 4-3 decision, with Jose Castillo knocking in the game-winning run with an infield single.

The Padres had taken a 3-1 lead on Adrian Gonzalez's two-run homer in the top of the 10th, but closer Trevor Hoffman (0-4) was rocked for four hits and walked one while recording just a single out in the bottom of the frame.

San Diego starter Randy Wolf was very sharp, as the left-hander yielded just one run and four hits while striking out five over six innings.

Chicago won three of four games from the Padres at Wrigley Field in May, but San Diego is 13-6 against the Cubs since the start of the 2006 campaign.