• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Padres-Cubs Preview

May 13, 2009 - 4:57 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

San Diego (13-19) at Chicago (17-14), 8:05 p.m. EDT

Ted Lilly won his last start on the road, but it's at Wrigley Field where he seems to be at his best.

Looking for his third straight victory, the left-hander also will try to help the Chicago Cubs to their third consecutive win Wednesday night against the struggling San Diego Padres.

Lilly (4-2, 3.11 ERA) is off to a solid start for Chicago (18-14), especially at Wrigley where he's 2-1 with a 0.42 ERA. He's 18-11 with a 3.79 ERA in 37 career starts there since signing with the Cubs prior to the 2007 season.

"I love pitching here," Lilly told the Cubs' official Web site. "There's so much energy to feed off."

Lilly gave up his first earned run of the year at home while striking out 10 in eight innings of a 6-1 win over Florida on May 2. He earned his first road triumph after giving up two runs and four hits in six innings of an 8-5 win over Houston on Thursday.

"I'm not concerned whether it's road or home," Lilly said.

It hasn't mattered in his career versus San Diego. Lilly is 4-1 with a 1.96 ERA against the Padres and 2-0 at Wrigley despite a 3.21 ERA.

On Tuesday, Milton Bradley hit a two-run homer and Alfonso Soriano and Kosuke Fukudome each had three hits in the Cubs' 6-2 win over the Padres (13-20), who have lost four in a row overall and nine straight on the road.

Despite star Aramis Ramirez out with a dislocated shoulder and Derrek Lee batting .202 while trying to play with a bulging disc in his neck, Chicago is 8-3 in May and has won five of six at Wrigley.

"We've had a lot of injuries," Lee told the Cubs' official Web site. "We're going to be fine. We have a good team. It speaks a lot about this team that we've kept our heads above water with everything we've had going on."

Though batting .186, Bradley is hitting .304 (7 for 23) with two home runs and six RBIs during a six-game hitting streak.

"I've always said, I don't play baseball, I feel it," said Bradley, a former Padre who's off a poor start in his first of a three-year, $30 million deal.

Fukudome is hitting .474 (9 for 19) during a five-game hitting streak , and .348 (8 for 23) in seven games against San Diego.

Chris Young (2-1, 4.76) takes the ball for the Padres after allowing three runs and five hits while striking out six and walking four in six innings of a 4-3, 10-inning win over Arizona on Thursday.

After giving up two earned runs in 13 innings to win his first two starts, Young is 0-1 with a 6.41 ERA in his last five outings.

The right-hander is 1-0 with a 2.28 ERA in four starts against the Cubs.

Adrian Gonzalez had a two-run home run Tuesday for San Diego, which is 5-14 away from home and hasn't lost 10 straight on the road since April 29-May 16, 1987.

"We're just not playing good baseball," Gonzalez said. "It's part of a learning process with a young team, but that's not an excuse."

Gonzalez has homered in each of his last two games, but is 1 for 9 with three strikeouts against Lilly.