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Lilly outduels Peavy as Cubs down Padres

May 15, 2008 - 4:56 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Ted Lilly recorded a season-high 11 strikeouts and Alfonso Soriano hit a leadoff homer for the second straight game Wednesday, leading the Chicago Cubs to an 8-5 win over the San Diego Padres.

Lilly (4-4), who has won all three of his starts in May, struck out the most batters he has in a single game since fanning 12 on June 10, 2006, while he was still with the Toronto Blue Jays. The lefthander allowed four runs and six hits over six innings.

"My stuff's been as good as it's been," Lilly said. "I made mistakes, some costly ones. Those guys are some tough outs."

In setting his season high in strikeouts for the second straight game - Lilly had 10 against Arizona on Friday - the lefthander won his anticipated duel against Jake Peavy (4-3).

"I don't think I just stand up there and try and throw fastballs by guys," Lilly said. "I have to mix my pitches and change speeds and locate the ball. At times, when I got my curveball going, I think I'll get some strikeouts on it. I'm not going to say I'm a power pitcher (though)."

Peavy endured his worst outing of the season, surrendering four runs and seven hits with two walks and eight strikeouts over four innings.

For the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner, Wednesday marked just the second time in his last 50 starts that he was unable to last at least five frames.

"It doesn't happen to him often," Padres manager Bud Black said. "Over the last couple of years, he's had the most quality starts of any pitcher in baseball. So going less than six is a rare occurrence for Jake."

"It was a frustrating night," Peavy said. "I should do better than I did. To get pulled after four is embarrassing."

Conversely, Lilly improved to 4-1 with a 3.09 ERA over his last five starts.

"San Diego's been swinging the bats well, give him some credit," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "We need all our veteran pitchers pitching well. Lilly's picked it up."

Soriano staked the Cubs to an early 1-0 lead with his 46th career leadoff homer and added to the lead in the second inning, lining a two-out, two-run single to left to increase Chicago's advantage to 3-0.

He also homered to lead off the game in Tuesday's 4-3 loss to San Diego.

"Alfonso is a bit streaky," Piniella said. "One thing is when he gets hot, he stays hot for a good period of time. He's been swinging the bat more consistently and starting to add power to the equation."

Geovany Soto's RBI single pushed the lead to 4-0 in the fourth.

San Diego rallied with three runs in the fifth as Lilly began to tire, but the lefthander collected himself in time to strand the tying run at third base when he struck out Brian Giles to end the frame.

Soto belted a fastball from reliever Wilfredo Ledezma over the fence in center for his seventh homer of the season to give the Cubs a 6-3 lead.

Carlos Marmol relieved Lilly after a 102-pitch outing and tossed two perfect frames in the seventh and eighth before handing the game over in the ninth to closer Kerry Wood.

After Wood retired Khalil Greene to open the ninth, Wood allowed a single to pinch hitter Tony Clark and a double to Josh Bard before walking pinch hitter Jody Gerut to load the bases.

Scott Hairston followed with a groundout before Tadahito Iguchi's slow dribbler squeaked past shortstop Ryan Theriot to trim the Padres' deficit to 8-5.

However, Wood kept the damage to a minimum when the next batter, Giles, flew out to shallow left with the bases loaded to end the game.