Fight to the finish for Cubs
The Cubs knocked out the reigning Cy Young winner and a recent nemesis after only four innings.
Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly began the game by striking out the side on the way to 11 for the game.
Easy night? Hardly.
The Cubs knocked around Jake Peavy and then roughed up the San Diego bullpen before finally shaking the Padres 8-5 Wednesday on another chilly night at Wrigley Field.
But it wasn't over until Kerry Wood stranded the bases loaded in the ninth after allowing a run.
"Well, we had to work, yeah," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella, whose first-place club improved to 24-16. "San Diego was right in it until the end."
Lilly evened his record at 4-4 and looked dominant at times, as evidenced by the 11 strikeouts.
"I don't know if I'm a power pitcher," he said. "I don't think that I stand up there and try and throw fastballs by guys. I think I have to mix my pitches and change speeds and locate the ball and things like that. At times, when I got my curveball going, I think I'm going to get some strikeouts on it. I'm not going to say I'm a power pitcher."
Cubs leadoff man Alfonso Soriano is a power hitter, and after Lilly struck out the side in the top of the first, Soriano greeted Peavy with a home run, giving him 2 leadoff homers in two nights and extending his hitting streak to five games.
"Oh, man, I feel great," said Soriano, who has 6 homers. "I'm swinging at strikes. I want to hit the ball very hard, so that's what I'm working at right now, trying to be very aggressive at home plate but swing at strikes."
The Cubs had to sweat out a couple of threatening situations, and Lilly ran his pitch count to 102 before exiting after 6 innings.
Carlos Marmol quieted things down, and the offense enjoyed a 14-hit attack all the while making Padres pitchers work by going deep into counts.
Lilly, who had turned in 4 straight quality starts entering Wednesday, looked sharp from the get-go with his fastball and curve in the first inning as he got Scott Hairston swinging and Tadahito Iguchi and Brian Giles looking at strike three to open the game.
The Cubs scored twice in the second, with Soriano's 2-run single capping the inning against Peavy, who had a four-game winning streak against the Cubs.
"He's a very good pitcher," Soriano said. "He's got a very good fastball and a very good slider, but I think I'm hot right now, and I'm swinging the bat very well."
Aramis Ramirez opened the bottom of the third with a single, going to third when Kosuke Fukudome singled to center. Geovany Soto drove Ramirez home with a single.
The Padres awoke in the fifth, when they scored 3 runs. The Cubs got the runs back in the bottom of the fifth against Wilfredo Ledezma. Fukudome led off with a single, and Soto followed with his seventh homer of the year, a drive over the wall in center.
Lilly ran into trouble again in the sixth, when he opened by hitting Adrian Gonzalez with a pitch. Kevin Kouzmanoff doubled to the gap in left-center before Khalil Greene hit a sacrifice fly.
Marmol replaced Lilly in the seventh and struck out the side.
Cubs 8, Padres 5
At the plate: Alfonso Soriano led off the first inning with a homer for the second straight night. He has 46 leadoff homers, third all time behind Rickey Henderson (81) and Craig Biggio (53). Soriano also drove in 2 with a double. Geovany Soto hit a 2-run homer in the fifth, his seventh.
On the mound: Lefty Ted Lilly worked 6 innings, giving up 6 hits and 4 runs. He struck out 11, giving him back-to-back double-digit strikeout games for the first time in his career. Carlos Marmol shut the Padres down for 2 innings, striking out the side in the seventh. Kerry Wood gave up a run in the ninth.
-- Bruce Miles