• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Lilly solid as Cubs cruise past Cardinals

May 4, 2008 - 12:30 AM By Jim Walsh PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Mike Fontenot had a career-high four RBI, including a three-run homer, and Kosuke Fukudome added three hits and drove in two runs as the Chicago Cubs rolled past the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-3, on Saturday at Busch Stadium.

Geovany Soto also had two RBI for the Cubs, who won for just the third time in nine games.

Ted Lilly (2-4) gave the Cubs' bullpen a much-needed rest, pitching seven effective innings. Chicago was forced to use six relievers in Friday night's 5-3, 11-inning loss to St. Louis when starter Rich Hill failed to make it out of the first inning.

"Lilly gave us exactly what we needed," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "I told him he had a really good day today. His pitching is one of the things we need to get better."

Lilly, who improved to 4-2 lifetime against St. Louis, gave up three runs, six hits and a walk while striking out four. The lefthander notched his 1,000th career strikeout when he fanned Ryan Ludwick in the second inning.

"I felt like my mechanics were a little bit better," said Lilly, who threw a season-high 112 pitches. "I was more consistent today, going out there and being able to execute pitches, small misses and making one-pitch adjustments."

The Cubs snapped a scoreless tie in the fourth inning, scoring six runs against Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse (3-1).

Chicago sent 10 batters to the plate in the frame, with Fukudome contributing an RBI double and Soto adding a two-run two-base hit before Fontenot deposited a 1-0 fastball from Lohse into the Cardinals' bullpen in right field.

"Lohse kind of left it up over the middle of the plate and I put a good swing on it," Fontenot said. "I was just trying to keep things rolling. It always feels good when you get a chance to come up to bat with guys on. It makes it easier to just try to get a fly ball for an RBI and put some runs on the board for the team."

The loss ended a string of seven consecutive wins by Lohse dating to July 25. The righthander, who entered the game with a 1.08 home ERA, was tagged for eight runs and nine hits in his six innings.

"Really, there was just one inning where I couldn't put the ball where I wanted to," Lohse said. "I left a lot of pitches up over the plate, and the Cubs are a team that will hurt you if you do that."

Ludwick got the Cardinals on the board in the fourth with an RBI double. Yadier Molina belted a leadoff homer in the fifth and Albert Pujols launched a solo shot an inning later to close the gap to 6-3.

"We feel like whenever we're down, we're always still fighting," Ludwick said. "We had a couple of big hits. Unfortunately, we didn't have runners on with Yadier and Albert (up). If we had a couple of runners on, it would be a little bit different situation."

Fukudome supplied a run-scoring double and Fontenot drew a bases-loaded walk as Chicago put the game out of reach in the seventh, scoring three more runs to increase the lead to 9-3.

Carlos Marmol tossed two scoreless innings to seal the victory for the Cubs, who won for the eighth time in their last 11 meetings with the Cardinals.