CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Todd Walker and Carlos Zambrano got the Chicago Cubs back on track in the National League wild card race.

Walker homered and had four RBI and Zambrano allowed five hits in 6 1/3 innings as the Cubs posted a 12-5 rout of the Cincinnati Reds .

Coming off two straight losses to the New York Mets , the Cubs pulled away against Cincinnati starter Brandon Claussen (2-7) in the fourth inning. Nomar Garciaparra led off the frame with a single and scored on Walker's base hit to put Chicago ahead, 3-1.

After an RBI groundout by Michael Barrett , Corey Patterson and Derrek Lee hit back-to-back homers to end Claussen's evening and give the Cubs a six-run advantage.

"That was the turning point," Cincinnati manager Dave Miley said. "Claussen fell behind Patterson and gave him a good pitch to hit. Those runs were important and that was the inning that it turned."

Walker added a two-run blast in the fifth and an RBI single in the sixth to help Chicago seal the win.

"I wasn't sure I was going to play today, but things worked out," Walker said. "Today seemed like a playoff game and it probably will all week. It's fun this time of year."

It was more than enough for Zambrano (16-8) who allowed five hits and struck out seven en route to his fourth consecutive win. He has allowed one run or less in five September starts.

"It feels good when we are in a pennant race," Zambrano said. "It felt good to help the team. Hopefully (fellow starters Greg Maddux , Glendon Rusch , Kerry Wood and Mark Prior ) can do their jobs and we can go to the playoffs."

Adam Dunn hit a two-run homer off releiver Tom Wellemeyer as the Reds closed within 12-5 in the eighth, but Cubs manager Dusty Baker still was able to rest LaTroy Hawkins and Mike Remlinger , two of his top relievers.

"That was big," Baker said. "Hawk was not available because he was sore. But giving both those guys a day off was big."

Garciaparra had three hits for the Cubs, who moved one game ahead of the idle San Francisco Giants for the wild card lead.

"Everyone swung the bats well today and we got big hits," Garciaparra said. "Everyone was feeding off of that."

Chicago third baseman Aramis Ramirez left after fouling a ball off his left calf in the sixth inning and is day-to-day.