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Lilly keeps on winning as Cubs topple Cards

Jul 26, 2007 - 5:16 AM By Jim Walsh PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ST. LOUIS (Ticker) - Ted Lilly matched a career best by winning his sixth straight start and the bats came back to life for the Chicago Cubs in a 7-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.

Lilly, who won six straight starts from August 25-September 21, 2003 with Oakland, was in control throughout the game. He scattered six singles in seven innings while improving to 5-0 with a 1.85 ERA in July.

It was also the seventh straight winning decision in Lilly's last eight starts, the most by a Cubs lefty since Ken Holtzman won eight straight in 1969.

"Lilly has been on a nice roll here," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "Seven wins in a row, that's impressive."

"(These days) I want those four days (between starts) to go by as fast as possible and get back out there," Lilly said. "I'm looking forward to every fifth day."

Lilly (11-4) improved to 2-1 with a 1.29 ERA in three career starts against St. Louis. The lefthander needed only 89 pitches in holding the Cardinals to one run, with three walks and two strikeouts.

"(Lilly) looked like he was spotting the fastball in," Cardinals second baseman Brendan Ryan said. "Mixing the slow breaking ball in with a few changeups here and there. He's a good pitcher and he did his thing tonight."

After scoring only six runs in their previous three games, the Cubs erupted for 14 hits with five players having a multi-hit game. The outburst was nothing new for Lilly, who had been supported by nearly seven runs a game over his last seven starts entering Wednesday.

"In one facet or another we've been finding a way to win," Lilly said. "Especially when I've been pitching, we're scoring a ton of runs, so that's been a lot of fun."

Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright came into the game riding his own streak, winning a career-high three straight starts. The closer on last year's championship team had his best stuff early, retiring 10 of the first 11 batters he faced, six by strikeout.

Things changed quickly for Wainwright and the Cubs in the fourth. With Derrick Lee on first after a one-out walk, Aramis Ramirez was retired on a lineout but Cliff Floyd broke a 0-for-12 slump with a single to right to keep the inning alive.

Mike Fontenot and Jacque Jones followed with two-out singles to give Chicago a 2-0 lead.

The Cubs added four more runs off Wainwright in the fifth with RBI singles by Ryan Theriot and Fontenot, and a two-run double by Floyd.

"We have a lot of great hitters here," said Alfonso Soriano, who sparked the fifth inning rally with a one-out triple. "We figured out how we could get to (Wainwright), we made adjustments and were able to put the ball in play."

On the night, Chicago scored five runs and had seven hits with two outs.

"For whatever reason about the fourth inning I just lost the killer instinct," Wainwright said. "It seems like they scored all their runs with two outs. That just means I'm one pitch away from no runs there. Just poor selection a few times and poor execution others."

"Hitting is really contagious," Fontenot said. "You get up there, everybody in front of you is getting hits, you don't want to be the one to make the out."

Wainwright, who had surrendered 13 runs in 9 2/3 innings in two earlier starts this season against the Cubs, was lifted in the sixth after surrendering six runs, nine hits and a walk.

Cardinals outfielder Juan Encarnacion had four hits, including three against Lilly and is now 7-for-14 in his career against the Cubs starter.