(Sports Network) - The Los Angeles Dodgers try to take a commanding two games to none lead in their best-of-five National League Division Series with the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

In Game 1 of this set on Wednesday, James Loney clubbed a two-out grand slam in the fifth inning and Manny Ramirez homered in the seventh, as Los Angeles picked up a 7-2 win.

Russell Martin also hit a solo shot in the ninth for the Dodgers, who took advantage of eight walks, including three in the decisive fifth inning, to post just their second playoff victory (2-12) since winning the 1988 World Series.

Casey Blake added an RBI single in the eighth inning for the NL West champions.

Derek Lowe (1-0) had six strikeouts over six innings in his eighth career playoff start. The right-hander gave up seven hits with Chicago's lone two runs coming on a homer by Mark DeRosa in the second inning. Lowe allowed a base runner in each one of his innings, but managed to consistently escape trouble.

Ryan Dempster (0-1) was charged with seven of the walks, as he yielded four hits and four runs in 4 2/3 innings for the Cubs, who have been snake-bitten in the postseason. It's been 100 years since they last won a World Series title and were swept in the first round of the 2007 playoffs by Arizona.

Dempster came into the contest with a 14-3 mark at Wrigley Field this year, the most since Ferguson Jenkins had a franchise-record 15 in 1967, but control problems in the fifth factored heavily in the defeat of the NL Central champions.

The Cubs went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Chicago's Alfonso Soriano, who went 2-for-14 in the NLDS last year, was 0-for-5 in this game. The Cubs' No.2 hitter in the lineup, Kosuke Fukudome, was hitless in four at-bats.

Now the Cubs turn to struggling right-hander Carlos Zambrano. The Big Z missed some time in September with what was being called a tired arm, but returned on September 14 and threw the Cubs' first no-hitter since Milt Pappas in 1972.

Zambrano, though, has been battered in his two starts since, surrendering 13 runs and nine hits in 6 1/3 frames. He was 14-6 on the year with a 3.91 ERA.

He faced the Dodgers twice this season, going 0-1 with a 4.91 ERA, while surrendering 19 hits in 14 2/3 innings.

Zambrano is 0-1 in four postseason starts with a 4.37 ERA. However, he has only received nine runs of support in those outings.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, will counter with 24-year-old right-hander Chad Billinsgley, who went 16-10 this season with a 3.14 ERA, winning his last four and seven of his last eight decisions.

This will be Billingsley's first postseason start. He did make two relief appearances in the 2006 NLDS against the Mets, tossing two scoreless innings.

These two storied franchises have never met in the postseason, but Chicago won five of the seven regular season matchups between the clubs this year.

The series will shift to Dodger Stadium for Game 3 on Saturday night.