The Associated Press

CHICAGO - All Mark Prior could do was sit in the dugout and stare. A glorious night suddenly ruined.

It was the same disappointment for another Cubs star, Sammy Sosa. He had three hits, scored a run and drove in another as Chicago built what seemed to be a safe 3-0 lead by the eighth inning.

Just five outs from Chicago's first trip to the World Series in 58 years.

It all fell apart so fast.

The Florida Marlins rallied for eight quick runs and an 8-3 victory in Game 6 of the NL Championship Series Tuesday night.

"We were supposed to just fall over and play dead," Marlins manager Jack McKeon said. "We came in to make it a seven-game series, and thank God we're going to do that."

The decisive seventh game is tonight, and the Cubs will have to forget about the chance they blew.

"I can go home tonight and say I gave it everything I possibly had," Prior said. "I didn't execute in the eighth inning like I was the rest of the game. I left a couple of balls up, and they found some holes. Obviously we just didn't get the job done at the end when we needed to."

Prior entered the game 12-1 in his previous 13 starts, including two wins in the postseason.

The poised 23-year-old, who won 18 games in his first full major-league season, beat the Marlins in Game 2.

And Cubs fans were sure they had the right guy to take them to the World Series against Boston or New York.

Sosa poked an RBI double to right in the first to get the Cubs another early lead - they've outscored Florida 12-0 in the first inning during the series.

Sosa reached on a broken-bat infield single in the sixth and eventually scored, scampering home on Dontrelle Willis' wild pitch.

Mark Grudzielanek's RBI single in the seventh made it 3-0, but the game got away from the Cubs.

"We let that one go, no question about it," Sosa said. "We have to forget about this one, because if you go home thinking about this one, you're not going to get any sleep."

Prior went 7 1/3 innings, allowing six hits and five runs - three earned - with three walks and six strikeouts.

"This isn't over a long ways," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. "We got Kerry Wood going tomorrow and we're still at home. As far as I'm concerned, we're still in very, very good shape."