Lilly sends Cubs to 8-2 win over Dodgers
Ted Lilly got his first win in nearly a month and Aramis Ramirez homered to help the Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-2 on Wednesday night.
The Cubs remained a half game ahead of Milwaukee in the NL Central. The Dodgers started the night in third place in the NL West, three games behind San Diego and Arizona.
Lilly (14-7) allowed two runs and six hits in 6 2-3 solid innings to win for the first time since Aug. 9 and tie Carlos Zambrano for the team lead in wins.
Ramirez hit his 20th homer, a two-run shot in the third for a 3-0 lead against lefty Eric Stults.
Stults (1-3), recalled Tuesday from the minors for the fourth time this season, got the start because David Wells is serving a seven-game suspension. In his sixth major league start, he gave up eight hits and four runs Ã¢â‚¬â€ť three earned Ã¢â‚¬â€ť in 4 1-3 innings.
Lilly left leading 4-1 after giving up a two-out walk to Mike Lieberthal in the seventh and Carlos Marmol relieved. Pinch-hitter Olmedo Saenz hit a liner to center and when Chicago's Felix Pie slipped, the ball rolled all the way to the wall, allowing Liberthal to score and giving Saenz an RBI double. Pie had just entered the game in the sixth as a defensive replacement.
Liberthal's double, a single by Stults and sacrifice fly by Rafael Furcal got the Dodgers their first run in the fifth.
But the Cubs got it right back when Mark DeRosa doubled, Derrek Lee singled and Dodgers' right fielder Matt Kemp fielded the ball and threw it over catcher Liberthal's head for an error. The ball bounced off a brick wall and DeRosa took off for the plate to put Chicago ahead 4-1.
Trying to shake up his offense, Cubs manager Piniella made some changes in his lineup, inserting Craig Monroe in center, Ronny Cedeno at short and Pacific Coast League Player of the Year Geovany Soto behind the plate to start the game.
Monroe doubled in the second and scored on Soto's RBI single. And when the Dodgers had a runner at third with two outs in the third, Cedeno made an alert play, grabbing Juan Pierre's hard liner after it deflected off third baseman Ramirez's glove.
The Cubs tacked on four in the eighth on an RBI double by pinch-hitter Ryan Theriot and run-scoring single from Jacque Jones, two regulars who didn't start the game. DeRosa then hit a two-run single through a drawn-in infield to make it 8-2.