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Wilson's home run in seventh lifts Cards past Cubs

Apr 20, 2007 - 11:51 PM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Preston Wilson continued to haunt the Chicago Cubs.

Wilson hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning as the St. Louis Cardinals posted a 2-1 victory over the Cubs in the opener of a three-game series.

Chicago starter Ted Lilly (1-2) was cruising through his fourth start of the season before issuing his second walk of the game to Jim Edmonds with one out in the seventh. The next batter, Wilson drilled a 0-1 fastball over the left field fence for his first home run of the season.

"In that situation I was just trying to stay aggressive," Wilson said. "I did and fortunately I got one on the barrel."

"This is another game where I felt there was no room for error," Lilly said. "Unfortunately I made a big mistake by walking Jim Edmonds before the home run. I think the location was OK. Making that pitch to a guy who is one of the better fastball hitters in the game, it is hard for me to think I didn't have other options."

The game-deciding blast was Wilson's 17th career home run - his second-highest total against any opponent - in 54 games against the Cubs. Overall, the veteran outfielder is hitting .287 (58-for-202) with 47 RBI in 54 games against Chicago.

"I have no idea why and I don't want to figure it out," Wilson said about his success against the Cubs. "I will just accept it and move on."

Wilson also bedeviled the Cubs in the field, making a running basket catch in right field on a drive by Derrek Lee to end the eighth.

The two runs were more than enough for Cardinals starter Braden Looper (3-1), who picked up his third straight win after yielding a run and five hits in seven innings. The converted closer struck out five and walked two.

Looper did have his problems in the first inning, giving up three singles among the first four batters he faced to allow a run.

"The first three innings I couldn't get a ball down," Looper said. "After the third, I made an adjustment and was able to make some better pitches. I thought I got lucky early, I had some guys make great plays on defense."

"He pitched outstanding today against a good club," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "After the first inning, he made a lot of good pitches."

Righthander Ryan Franklin retired all three batters in the eighth and closer Jason Isringhausen worked around a single and a walk in the ninth for his fourth save in as many chances.

St. Louis, which dropped 11 of 13 games against teams in Chicago last year, benefited from a rare call in the ninth by plate umpire Larry Young. He ruled pinch runner Ronny Cedeno out after his foot slipped off second base trying to steal despite the fact that Jacque Jones just took ball four.

"The call was ball four," Young said. "The man on first is entitled to second base, that's it. He (Cedeno) overslid second base and was tagged out. We got together on it as a group and got the call right."

Fiery manager Lou Piniella argued the call to no avail.

"He (Cedeno) just overslid the bag and in that situation the ball is not dead," Piniella said. "The mistake was not looking back to see if the pitch was ball four or strike three."

"I knew it was ball four, but players slide past the base more than people think," Cardinals shortstop David Eckstein said. "It was lucky for us the umpires saw it. If a player touches the base and comes off they are free to be tagged."

Lilly once again was the victim of poor support. The lefthander allowing two runs, four hits and two walks in seven frames.

Despite yielding three runs and six hits in his last 13 innings, Lilly is 0-2.

"We have been in every game we have played, for the most part our pitching is pretty darn good," Piniella said. "Defensively we have played good baseball, we just need to score some runs. What happened in the past I don't care about, I care about what happens here and now presently. We are not getting beat up we are very competitive."

Aramis Ramirez had an RBI single among his two hits for the Cubs, who lost for the eighth time in 11 games.