Samardzija roughed up in Iowa

The Cubs called up right-handed reliever Jeff Stevens from Class AAA Iowa Monday.

They'll likely recall righty Jeff Samardzija from Iowa today. Samardzija started Monday's game for Iowa.

Stevens is beginning his fourth stint with the big club. At Iowa, he was 1-3 with 2 saves and a 2.03 ERA in 42 relief appearances.

He began his major-league career with four straight scoreless outings. Stevens is one of three pitchers acquired from Cleveland for infielder-outfielder Mark DeRosa last Dec. 31. The other pitchers, John Gaub and Chris Archer, have enjoyed good seasons in the minor leagues.

Samardzija had a rough outing for Iowa in its season finale Monday against Albuquerque. He worked 42/3 innings, giving up 7 hits and 5 runs. He walked one, struck out five and gave up a homer.

He's a winner: Ted Lilly won his 43rd game as a Cub. He began the day as one of three pitchers since 1969 with at least 42 wins in his first three seasons with the Cubs.

Milt Pappas had 44, and Jon Lieber had 42.

Lilly entered the day tied with the Cardinals' Adam Wainwright and the Phillies Jamie Moyer for the most wins in the National League since 2007.

Good pitch, no hit: The Cubs improved to 69-67 with Monday's victory.

In their 7 starts this month, Cubs pitchers have given up 5 earned runs in 442/3 innings for a 1.01 ERA. The team is just 4-3 in those games because of a lack of offense.

"It's been a struggle, it really has," manager Lou Piniella said on his WGN radio pregame show. "At times, it's hard to watch. I don't' have an answer for it, I really don't. If I had, I think we would have corrected it by now. We've played different lineups. We've played different people. We've put them in different spots. It's been a struggle for us to drive in runs and to get the tack-on runs.

"We're in a stretch now where we haven't scored many runs in our last eight or nine ballgames. What's amazing is that our pitchers have pitched well, especially our starters. They have really pitched good baseball. We've gotten quality start after quality start, and it's hard for us to win with consistency. We just don't put runs on the board. The runs are hard to come by."