CHICAGO - Derrek Lee pumped his fists and smiled when his fly to right cleared the wall for a grand slam.

He's had few hits to celebrate this season.

Lee connected off reliever Ryan Wagner in the seventh inning, highlighting the Chicago Cubs' 8-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday.

The homer was the first in 11 games for Lee, a notoriously slow starter. He entered the game hitting .244 with one homer and four RBIs.

''It seemed like I hadn't had a hit in forever,'' Lee said. ''I don't know that I've ever had a quick start. Maybe I can pick it up the next couple of weeks.''

Lee, acquired in the offseason in a trade with Florida, is a career .228 hitter in March and April and has hit .223 in May.

Matt Clement (2-1) settled down after a rocky first inning to allow one run on four hits in 6 1-3 innings to pick up his second win in as many starts.

The right-hander retired 11 batters in a row and 15 out of 16 at one point, striking out six and walking four.

The Cubs led 3-1 when Lee came to the plate with the bases loaded and no outs. The big first baseman said he was just trying to hit a sacrifice fly to drive in a run.

Instead, the ball kept sailing.

''That was huge. That was a real big blow,'' Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. ''I'm just glad he hit it when he hit it.''

It was Lee's fourth career grand slam and first with the Cubs.

Aramis Ramirez hit his fifth homer of the season. Corey Patterson added a two-run single for the Cubs and Alex Gonzalez had three hits and scored twice.

Wagner, the Reds' first-round pick in the 2003 draft allowed five runs without recording an out before leaving the game. It was the worst outing of his young career.

''Everything was belt high. He got the ball up and they were hacking away at it,'' Cincinnati manager Dave Miley said. ''That's going to happen. It's not only going to happen to Ryan Wagner, it's going to happen to the best in the league. He'll learn from it.''

Patterson put the Cubs up 2-1 in the second inning. He came up with the bases loaded and two outs, fouled off a pair of full-count pitches from Jimmy Haynes and then lined a single to right.

''I was able to get the count to 3-2 and I got the pitch I was looking for,'' Patterson said. ''It's easier said than done, but in that situation you have to just calm yourself down.''

Haynes (0-2) went five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and three walks. He has failed to pitch past the fifth inning in both of his starts this season.