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MIAMI (AP) -- Josh Beckett and the Florida Marlins put history on hold -- at least for a couple of days.

With the Chicago Cubs set to clinch their first World Series trip in 58 years, Beckett buzzed Sammy Sosa in pitching a two-hitter and leading the Marlins to a 4-0 win Sunday in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series.

Game 5 breakdown

Unsung Hero Miguel Cabrera. The rookie was moved to the cleanup spot for the first time in the postseason and responded by getting on base three times -- the second of which on a walk in the fifth inning; he scored two batters later when Mike Lowell hit a two-run homer, giving the Marlins a 2-0 lead. Goat Carlos Zambrano. After striking out Luis Castillo with the bases loaded to end the fourth inning and preserve a scoreless tie, Zambrano celebrated as if the Cubs had just won the game. Four batters later, he was reminded of how quickly things can change when he gave up the two-run homer to Lowell. Turning Point While Josh Beckett was dominant throughout in hurling a complete game, two-hit shutout, the point where he showed he was in total command came in the fourth inning when he went up and in with a fastball to Sammy Sosa. Beckett didn't back down when Sosa took exception to the high heat and later in the at-bat struck him out looking, one of his 11 strikeouts in the game. It Figures Beckett retired the first batter in all nine innings, with seven of the nine outs coming on strikeouts. On Deck Mark Prior will make the start for the Cubs in Game 6, looking to get Chicago to the World Series for the first time since 1945. Prior earned the win in the Cubs' 12-3 blowout of the Marlins in Game 2. Florida will counter with Carl Pavano. He was the Marlins' No. 5 starter during the regular season, and will be making his first start of the postseason. He's pitched two innings of scoreless relief in the series.

Ivan Rodriguez, Mike Lowell and Jeff Conine homered and the Marlins played the role of ultimate spoiler -- at least to thousands of Cubs fans at Pro Player Stadium and millions nationwide -- in closing their gap to 3-2 and sending the series back to Wrigley Field.

"We needed a good outing from a starter. I knew that going in. They had roughed us up pretty good," Beckett said. "We needed to pitch better."

Only three times in LCS history and five times in World Series play have teams come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a best-of-seven matchup.

The Marlins began their comeback behind Beckett, who struck out 11 in the first complete game of his 51 starts in the majors. He also tied the NLCS record for fewest hits allowed in a complete game.

Even more notable: He became the first pitcher to throw a postseason shutout against the Cubs since Babe Ruth did it for Boston in the 1918 World Series opener.

But Beckett's signature moment came in the fourth, when he came close to Sosa. The tension wasn't nearly as high as it was between the Yankees and Red Sox at Fenway Park in the ALCS a day earlier, but it got the ballpark buzzing.

"He overreacted a lot. I don't know if he was trying to pull a Boston Red Sox-Yankee thing," Beckett said. "It was pretty ignorant. I'm not trying to hit him."

Even with nearly a century of failure in their past, the Cubs aren't about to panic. At least not yet.

Mark Prior is set to start in Game 6 Tuesday night against Florida's Carl Pavano. If he's needed, fellow ace Kerry Wood would pitch Game 7 the next day as Chicago tries to reach the Series for the first time since 1945.

"We feel confident with those guys on the mound, especially after a loss," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said.

The Cubs already had made arrangements with the Marlins to use champagne chilling in the Florida clubhouse for a celebration, if necessary. It wasn't.

"I had an idea we were going to go back home," Baker said. "Now we're going back to our fans and our people, and it's going to be exciting and electric.:

Florida had its bags packed for Chicago well before the game began. The Marlins looked for any edge to prolong the season, as evidenced by their Sunday morning chapel service at the stadium.

"It was a little more motivational than usual and we had a lot more people there," team chaplain Chris Lane said.

Not that the Marlins needed any extra help with Beckett on the mound.

"Once again, it all starts with pitching," Marlins manager Jack McKeon said. "When we get good pitching, we can be troublesome."

At 23, the hard-throwing righty pitched the best game of his young career, allowing only two singles and a walk. He shut down a Cubs team that had totaled 33 runs in the first four games of the series.

A night earlier, the Cubs romped 8-3 and roughed up Dontrelle Willis. Having been run out of his own ballpark, the rookie was jogging around the stadium early Sunday, virtually unnoticed by fans in the parking lots. He had a big smile, and so did everyone else wearing teal-and-black a few hours later.

Lowell hit a two-run homer in the fifth off Carlos Zambrano in the fifth, and Rodriguez and Conine later connected.

Lowell's hit was just his third of the postseason. Injured for most of the final month, he came back to hit an 11th-inning homer that won Game 1.

When he batted in the eighth, Beckett drew a standing ovation from towel-waving Marlins fans in the crowd of 65,279.

Beckett allowed only one ball beyond the infield before the Cubs got their first hit, a soft single by Alex Gonzalez with two outs in the fifth. Moises Alou also singled in the seventh as hitters on both sides struggled in the twilight start.

A half-inning after Marlins rookie Miguel Cabrera was drilled in the left elbow by Zambrano, Beckett almost nailed Sosa.

Beckett's first pitch in the fourth was a head-high heater to Sosa -- tailing in toward him, too -- that caused the slugger to duck and stumble backward. Sosa immediately sprang to his feet and took a couple of steps toward the mound, shouting and pointing his bat at Beckett.

Plate umpire Larry Poncino and Rodriguez, the Marlins catcher, quickly sealed off Sosa to prevent big trouble as a few Cubs rushed to the top step of the dugout.

Rodriguez patted Sosa on the back, trying to calm down his fellow All-Star while they stood several feet up the third-base line. While Rodriguez, Sosa and Poncino were sorting it out, Beckett calmly walked in from the mound and took a new ball from the umpire's bag.

"I'm sure he wasn't trying to do it," Baker said.

When play resumed, Beckett threw a pair of 98 mph fastballs and eventually struck out Sosa looking at a changeup.

In late April, Sosa's batting helmet was cracked when he was beaned by Pittsburgh's Salomon Torres. Ever since, the Cubs have been especially sensitive to high-and-inside pitches to Sosa.

"He probably wasn't throwing at me," Sosa said afterward. "But because of what happened before, maybe that was my reaction."

Fittingly, Beckett retired Sosa on a grounder for the final out.

Florida threatened in the third, loading the bases with two outs when Zambrano hit Cabrera, his buddy from back home in Venezuela, with a 96 mph fastball. The Marlins had not hit a grand slam this season, and still don't have one after Derrek Lee grounded out.

The Marlins also loaded the bases in the fourth, but Luis Castillo struck out to end the inning.

Game notes

Tennis star Venus Williams threw out the first ball. Willis caught it, then dropped his glove while giving her a hug. As Williams was leaving, Sosa came up the dugout tunnel to meet her. ... Cabrera batted cleanup for the second time this year. ... Conine hit his first career postseason home run.