Lilly off list of Cubs' concerns

ST. LOUIS -- On Cubs manager Lou Piniella's list of "things to fix," Ted Lilly's name is getting closer and closer to being erased.

Lilly gave the Cubs and their overtaxed bullpen a much-needed 7 innings Saturday, and the offense helped him with a 6-run fourth inning in a 9-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals before a record 46,792 at new Busch Stadium.

"Lilly gave us 7 innings; we needed them, too," said Piniella, whose team improved to 18-12 by snapping a mini-skid of two games. "Lilly gave us exactly what we wanted. I told him he had a really good day, not only pitching, but that double.

"The only thing we needed to work on was that belly slide. I don't know where he came up with that."

Piniella was talking about a headfirst slide by Lilly on a seventh-inning double.

On Piniella's original list were Lilly, the bullpen, a sporadic offense and just-demoted pitcher Rich Hill as his main concerns. Lilly turned in his third straight "quality start," improving to 2-4 and lowering his ERA from 6.46 to 5.97.

It has been a gradual process. Lilly failed to last 5 innings in each of his first 3 starts. Now, the Cubs' No. 2 starter appears to be smoothing things out.

"I still don't feel like my velocity's where it can be, but I felt like my mechanics were a little bit better," Lilly said. "I was more consistent, and I made one-pitch adjustments more often.

"My arm strength feels good. I don't even know what it is on the gun. I just don't think it's where it'll be at some point. Hopefully it's soon."

Lilly faced 28 batters and threw first-pitch strikes to 20, setting a tone of getting ahead in counts.

Cubs hitters gave Lilly all the support he needed when they sent 10 men to the plate in the fourth. Geovany Soto hit a 2-run, ground-rule double to center, and Mike Fontenot belted a 3-run homer off Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Lohse.

"It always feels good when you get a chance to come up to bat with all those guys on," Fontenot said. "As a hitter, I think it makes it a little bit easier to get up there and try to hit a flyball or something like that. You can get an RBI for that. It definitely makes it easier to get up there and hit."

The other player who had Piniella smiling was Kosuke Fukudome, who batted cleanup for the first time this season while Aramis Ramirez sat out with a wrist injury. Fukudome, usually the fifth hitter, doubled twice, singled and drove in a pair.

"He's not going to change his hitting style," Piniella said. "He's going to be the same hitter, whether he hits 1, 5 or 6 or wherever he hits. It doesn't matter. Today he drove the ball to right, to left-center, a little single up the middle. It was a nice day for him."

As usual, Fukudome low-keyed it.

"I didn't change anything, and my approach is just the same as any other day," he said. "It was surprising (to bat fourth). I think we are a better team when Ramirez is in the lineup."

With Lilly off his "to do" list, Piniella can go on to other things.

"What you want do is fix the things that you need to fix, slowly, and one department at a time," he said. "All of a sudden, when you start winning again with regularity, you can sustain it. If not, you're always going to have these fluctuations.

"Lilly was a part of that, and now he's getting to the point where he's throwing the ball better."

Cubs 9, Cardinals 3

At the plate: Kosuke Fukudome, batting cleanup in place of Aramis Ramirez, doubled twice, singled and drove in 2. Mike Fontenot hit a 3-run homer in the Cubs' 6-run fourth. Fontenot also walked twice, with 1 of the walks driving in a run. The 4 RBI were a career high. Geovany Soto doubled home 2 in the fourth. He walked twice. The Cubs hit a season-high 6 doubles.

On the mound: Ted Lilly turned in his third "quality start" of the season, going a season-high 7 innings and giving up 6 hits and 3 runs. He threw 112 pitches, 78 for strikes. Carlos Marmol finished with 2 innings of hitless relief.

-- Bruce Miles