Struggling Lilly didn't have much

PHOENIX -- There was no second guessing Cubs manager Lou Piniella this time when it came to removing starter Ted Lilly on Thursday.

It was a struggle from the outset for Lilly, who never made it out of the fourth inning of the Cubs' 8-4 loss to the Diamondbacks in Game 2 of the NLDS at Chase Field.

"Lilly gave it his best, but it didn't work out," Piniella said.

Lilly labored through a 25-pitch first inning, walking two but escaping trouble with he struck out Mark Reynolds.

He wasn't as fortunate in the second inning when the D'backs scored four times to wipe out a 2-0 deficit.

There were two runners on and two out when Lilly left a 3-2 pitch up and Chris Young air-mailed it into the left field seats for a 3-2 Arizona lead.

Lilly threw his glove in disgust after the homer.

"I think the catcher (Geovany Soto) called for a breaking ball, but he threw a high fastball and the kid Young hit it a long way," Piniella said.

After a single by Stephen Drew, Eric Byrnes hit a triple off the left-field wall that Alfonso Soriano couldn't get to in time to make it 4-2.

Lilly found himself in a jam again in the fourth when Augie Ojeda led off with an infield single and one out later Young walked.

Stephen Drew then delivered a 2-run triple into the right field corner on Lilly's 79th pitch and the left-hander was done.

Lilly gave up 7 hits and walked four on a night when he was far from at his best. Of those 79 pitches, only 44 were for strikes.

Lilly had been 9-1 this season when starting a game following a Cubs loss.

The D'backs did exactly what they wanted hoped to do against Lilly.

"We had to try to work the count and get the count in our favor so we could make him a little bit more predictable," D'backs manager Bob Melvin said. "It's no different for us (than against Carlos Zambrano in Game 1). We have to grind and get his pitch count up."

That's just what the D'backs did and by the fourth inning they were in the Cubs' bullpen.

Meanwhile, D'backs starter Doug Davis was nearly as good as teammate Brandon Webb was in Game 1.

Davis gave up a 2-run homer to Geovany Soto in the second inning but little else until the sixth when a pair of two-out walks to Mark DeRosa and Jacque Jones got him out of the game.

"It was a gutsy game for him," said Melvin. "He didn't have his best command tonight."

For the second straight game the top of the Cubs' lineup was a non-factor.

Now it's a do-or-die Game 3 challenge for the Cubs, with Rich Hill getting the start against playoff veteran Livan Hernandez for the D'backs.

"Being able to take two here is huge for us," Melvin said. "We know in the very least we're coming back here, so that's a good feeling."