Splitting headache

ST. LOUIS -- Don't count Cubs manager Lou Piniella among fans of the day-night doubleheader.

"I think St. Louis was just as fatigued as we were," Piniella said Saturday night after his club dropped a 4-3 decision to the Cardinals in the nightcap of a day-nighter.

The Cubs won the first game 3-2 behind starting pitcher Ted Lilly and the bullpen.

"It's not an easy day, believe me," Piniella said. "I don't know why Major League Baseball allows these type of doubleheaders at the end of the year, I really don't. But that's not for me to decide.

"Play a game at noon, and sit around all day and have to play again at night. If you're going to play a doubleheader, play a doubleheader and forget about it."

The net result was that the Cubs (77-72) dropped a half-game to Milwaukee (75-72), which beat Cincinnati. The Cubs lead the Brewers by 1 game in the National League Central.

The Cubs looked ready to blow the Cardinals out of the second game, taking a 3-0 lead by the second inning. The lead might have been bigger had the Cubs not had two baserunners thrown out at home plate.

Jacque Jones, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez jumped on Cardinals starter Joel Pineiro with 3 straight one-out singles in the first, with Ramirez's hit scoring Jones.

After Cliff Floyd walked, Mark DeRosa lofted a flyball to center field. Jim Edmonds caught it and nailed Lee at the plate.

In the second, Ryan Theriot doubled with one out. Pitcher Sean Marshall singled to left, and Cubs third-base coach Mike Quade sent Theriot, who was easily gunned down at the plate by So Taguchi. Alfonso Soriano took some of the sting out of that by hitting an opposite-field homer to right-center.

"It's easy to say now the guy hit a home run," Quade said. "To heck with that. The decision on D-Lee, OK, he's out. I got no problem with that decision. We're going to take our shot there. But with Theriot, for me at least, you go back and say, 'Maybe you were overaggressive in that situation.' "

Marshall couldn't stand the prosperity, but he flirted with trouble from the get-go. This was Marshall's first start since Aug. 31, and he threw 31 pitches in the first inning, stranding three runners. He gave up 2 more hits in the second but skated again.

It all came crashing down on Marshall (7-8) in the third, when he was charged with 4 runs (2 earned). With one out, Marshall struck out Ryan Ludwick, and the ball got away from catcher Jason Kendall, who threw low to first base for an error.

From there, the Cardinals picked up 2 hits and a walk before reliever Michael Wuertz gave up an RBI triple to Miguel Cairo.

"Actually, I felt really good," Marshall said. "It's one of the best days I felt all year. I felt strong. I felt refreshed. Maybe I felt a little too refreshed."

Kendall blamed himself.

"The bottom line is I didn't make that throw," Kendall said. "It changed the momentum, and they won. I had to step over the bat. Whatever. The bottom line is I should have taken my time and made the throw. I didn't, and the momentum changed."

The Cubs came from behind in the first game.

Lilly threw 33 pitches in the first inning, when the Cardinals took a 2-0 lead. All the trouble came after two outs. Albert Pujols singled and Ludwick walked before Jim Edmonds drove both home with a double.

"Lilly has a real good way of hanging in there even though he starts some games a little shaky," Piniella said. "He seems like he gets better as the game progresses, and that's exactly what he did today."

The Cubs got a run back in the second on a sacrifice fly by Mike Fontenot, and the game stayed that way until the eighth. Pinch hitter Cliff Floyd opened with a walk, and Piniella sent rookie Sam Fuld out to run for Floyd. Fuld drew a couple of pickoff throws from Ryan Franklin before Soriano launched a 3-2 pitch over the wall in left.

"It was a very good pitch, and I think I made very good swing," Soriano said. "They threw a pitch middle-away, so I think I made a pretty good swing. That's the best swing I made in maybe two weeks."

Piniella got stellar work from his bullpen. The last hit the Cardinals got in this game was pitcher Braden Looper's two-out single in the fourth.

Kerry Wood (1-0) earned his first victory since May 2006 with a 1-2-3 seventh. Carlos Marmol worked the eighth before Piniella turned to Ryan Dempster one day after Dempster had to be lifted from a game after a shaky ninth.

Dempster faced three pinch hitters, striking out Russell Branyan and getting Skip Shumaker on a liner to left. Dempster ended the game by striking out Chris Duncan.

"Ted and Sori probably did more than me today," Dempster said. "I faced a few guys and was lucky enough to get out of there without giving up a run, and we won the game. It's fun. It's fun when the game's on the line."

Cubs 3, Cardinals 2 Cardinals 4, Cubs 3

At the plate: Alfonso Soriano hit a 2-run homer in each game. His eighth-inning homer in Game 1 rallied the Cubs from a 2-1 deficit. Derrek Lee had a pair of hits in the second game. The Cubs totaled just 13 hits for the doubleheader.

On the mound: Lefty Ted Lilly did not get the victory, but he picked up a quality start in Game 1, working 6 innings and giving up 4 hits and 2 runs, both in the first inning. Kerry Wood earned his first victory since May 29, 2006, by working a perfect inning of relief. Carlos Marmol set up Ryan Dempster, who earned his 27th save. Left-hander Sean Marshall got roughed up in the second game, lasting 2¿ innings and giving up 4 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits. The bullpen pitched scoreless ball again, with Wood working in both games. He struck out two of the three batters he faced in Game 2.

-- Bruce Miles