Lilly, Cubs connect as streak hits eight

ATLANTA - The hits just kept on coming for the Cubs on Thursday night, in more ways than one.

First, they beat the Atlanta Braves 11-7, sweeping this three-game series and outscoring the Braves 29-9. That gave the Cubs a record of 74-47 and an eight-game road winning streak, their best since the 1945 pennant winners reeled off 12 straight.

Oh, and there was that little matter of settling things with the Braves for their pitcher throwing at Alfonso Soriano's head Wednesday. Ted Lilly, who has been known to stand up for his teammates in the past - here specifically - drilled Yunel Escobar in the left arm with a pitch in the sixth inning.

Escobar pointed at Lilly, who walked toward Escobar, but umpire Joe West pushed Lilly back toward the mound as the benches and bullpens emptied. But there was no serious altercation, nor was anybody ejected.

Of greatest importance to the Cubs was that they increased their lead in the NL Central to 4 games over the Brewers.

"We swung the bats really well the entire series," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella. "We put up almost 10 runs a game. It was a good series. Now we go on to Florida."

The Cubs roughed up Braves starter Tom Glavine in the early going. They scored twice in the first inning. In the third, Kosuke Fukudome and Derrek Lee singled. Aramis Ramirez followed with his 20th homer of the year, a booming drive to right-center.

Soriano hit a 2-run shot in the fourth, and the Cubs added 2 in the fifth to take a 9-4 lead. In the process, they took a hit of their own when Ramirez dived awkwardly into home plate trying to avoid the tag while scoring on Geovany Soto's double. Ramirez left the game with a bruised left hip, and he's day to day.

"I'm doing all right," he said. "We'll know more tomorrow, but it's not that serious. I should be OK."

The fun started in the sixth when Lilly hit Escobar with a man on second and two outs.

"I'm trying to throw inside," Lilly said. "That's what I do. That's part of my game. If I'm going to hit him, and he's going to be upset, I understand. He's unhappy about it. No one likes to get hit. I couldn't tell what he was saying, though."

Braves pitcher Francisley Bueno threw at Soriano on Wednesday after Soriano admired a ball he hit to the left-field wall. Last season, the Braves threw at Soriano because they didn't like him admiring a home run. The next night, Lilly hit Edgar Renteria, getting ejected in the first inning.

"There's no doubt it's not going to cool down any time soon," the Braves' Jeff Francoeur told reporters. "Lilly threw at Renteria last year, threw over (Brian McCann's) head last year, and suddenly, he hits Escobar. If you pimp a homer, you deserve to get hit."

Cubs reliever Bob Howry gave up a 3-run homer to Francoeur in the seventh, and the Cubs were happy to get out with the win.

"We're playing good baseball," Piniella said. "We need to go to South Florida and continue it."

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