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Lilly sharp as Cubs top Braves

Jun 11, 2008 - 4:56 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Ted Lilly picked up the pieces after a rough start.

Lilly pitched 6 2/3 solid innings Tuesday to lift the Chicago Cubs to a 10-5 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

Derrek Lee and Geovany Soto both homered and Reed Johnson drove in two runs for Chicago, which has won nine straight at home.

The Cubs (41-24), who have won 16 of their last 18 at Wrigley Field en route to a National League-best 27-8 home record, overcame a shaky first inning by Lilly (6-5).

"We've got confidence here," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella of the club's best home start since 1907. "We've played well at home and you have confidence. We've had a penchant for coming from behind at home.

"They put three runs on the board early in the first inning. Then we added runs, and then tacked on some more."

In his 10th season, Lilly gave up a leadoff walk and a hit before serving up a two-out, three-run homer to Greg Norton to put Chicago in a 3-0 hole. The southpaw nearly compounded his problems by throwing over the head of Atlanta's Brian McCann, earning both himself and Piniella an automatic warning from home plate umpire Doug Eddings.

"I had just given up the homer and I threw one up around the head," Lilly said. "I'm sure Brian knows I didn't mean to do it. Just the way it looks, it got a warning.

"I'm trying to throw something in on his hands and get him out. That was just a bad time to throw one up there."

Lilly settled down, allowing just the three runs along with four hits and three walks while striking out eight.

"I guess I just felt like I had to (calm down)," Lilly said. "I was confident we could score some runs. Our offense has been pretty tough to shut down lately on the homestands. I felt if I could hang in there, we could come out on top."

Chicago cut its deficit to one in the second on an RBI single by rookie Kosuke Fukudome and a sacrifice fly by Johnson. Lee's 14th homer to lead off the third tied the game at 3-3 before Johnson's run-scoring hit off Braves starter Tom Glavine (2-3) later in the frame gave Chicago the advantage.

"We don't get down as a team when we're trailing somebody," Lee said. "We have a lot of confidence playing in this ballpark. We have a lot of confidence everywhere we play, but we seem to play just a bit better here."

Glavine surrendered four runs, six hits and four walks in three innings before he left the game with a left

elbow strain. The Braves later announced that the two-time National League Cy Young Award winner will be placed on the 15-day disabled list.

"Tommy couldn't control the ball very well tonight," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "His elbow hurt him like the dickens. He's going on the DL, and we hope some rest will help him out."

The Cubs added a run in the fourth on Aramis Ramirez' RBI base hit before Mark DeRosa added a run-scoring hit in the seventh to make it 6-3.

Run-scoring singles by McCann and Omar Infante off Cubs reliever Bobby Howry in the top of the eighth cut the Braves' deficit to one. However, Soto's three-run homer off Manny Acosta a half-inning later capped a four-run frame, giving the Cubs a 10-5 cushion.

"I wasn't feeling that great at the plate," Soto said. "But I was able to hang in there and wait for that breaking pitch. It just barely got out of there."

"Soto hit a breaking ball, he stayed with it and hit it up in the basket," Piniella said. "It was a big three-run homer and allowed us to keep Woody (closer Kerry Wood) out of the game."