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Cubs look to sweep shortened series

Aug 20, 2007 - 1:16 PM St Louis (58-62) at Chicago Cubs (63-59) 2:20 pm EDT

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- After Sunday's contest was washed out by the rain, the Chicago Cubs will try to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the finale of the reduced four-game series on Monday.

The Cubs enter on a three-game winning streak after taking the first two games of the series. Rich Hill hurled seven stellar innings in Friday's 2-1 triumph in the first game of the series and Daryle Ward's first homer of the season - a grand slam - lifted Chicago to a 5-3 victory on Saturday.

Chicago, which holds a one-game advantage in the National League Central, will send Ted Lilly (13-5, 3.74 ERA) to the mound. The 31-year-old lefthander has not lost in his last three outings and has won nine of his previous 10 decisions.

Lilly took a tough-luck loss in his previous start against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field this season, allowing two runs and four hits over seven innings in a 2-1 setback on April 20.

The Cardinals will counter with Joel Pineiro (3-2, 4.25), who will look to continue his recent success since being acquired from the Boston Red Sox at the trade deadline. The Puerto Rican righthander has yielded two runs and nine hits with eight strikeouts and no walks over 14 innings in his last two starts.

St. Louis has won eight of its previous 12 games and sits in third place in the NL Central, five games in back of Chicago.