Ted Lilly gets 100th career win, pitching Cubs to 5-2 victory over Cardinals

Lilly earns 100th win, leads Cubs over Cardinals

CHICAGO — Ted Lilly allowed four hits and a run in eight strong innings to earn his 100th career victory as the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-2 Saturday.

Lilly (9-6), the Cubs’ lone selection to the All-Star game, walked one and struck out four in a 103-pitch outing and left with a 5-1 lead. The veteran left-hander was staked to an early 3-0 lead with Jeff Baker hitting a two-run, bases-loaded single in the first.

St. Louis got a run in the ninth off reliever Carlos Marmol and had the tying run at the plate before closer Kevin Gregg struck out pinch-hitter Skip Schumaker to end the game.

Albert Pujols singled with one out in the ninth and Ryan Ludwick walked. Pinch-hitter Chris Duncan hit a chopper back to Marmol, who threw to second for the force but the relay was too late to complete the double play.

The play brought both managers out of the dugout — St. Louis’ Tony La Russa apparently wondering if Theriot touched the bag when he took Marmol’s throw and Chicago’s Lou Piniella apparently questioning if the throw to first was in time.

Yadier Molina then hit an RBI single to make it 5-2. After Marmol threw a wild pitch, Gregg relieved and struck out Schumaker to get his 16th save in 19 chances.

The Cubs loaded the bases in the opening inning on two walks and Aramis Ramirez’s single. Brad Thompson (2-6) then hit Milton Bradley with an 0-2 pitch with two outs to force in the first run before Baker lined a two-run single up the middle for a 3-0 lead.

The Cards got a run back in the fourth. Colby Rasmus beat out an infield single to second — Baker double-clutched before making the late throw to first — and moved up on a balk by Lilly. Ludwick, who drove in four runs Friday, then sent a hard shot that skipped past third baseman Ramirez for an RBI double.

Theriot’s single, a double by Derrek Lee and Ramirez’s RBI grounder made it 4-1 in the fifth. Alfonso Soriano, who’s been in one of the biggest slumps of his career with a .189 average over his previous 41 games, delivered an RBI single to make it a four-run lead and finish Thompson.

Thompson gave up five hits and five runs in 4 2-3 innings. He also walked three, threw a pair of wild pitches and hit a batter.

Baker, in his second start since being acquired from the Rockies on July 2, had a single, double and a walk and helped turn a nice double play in the seventh by bare-handing a flip from shortstop Theriot and firing to first.

Notes: Lee, who slid in hard to the plate to score on Soriano’s single, left the game after the bottom of the fifth with neck spasms. Micah Hoffpauir took over at first base. … Ramirez’s RBI was his first since coming off the disabled list Monday. He’d missed two months due to a dislocated shoulder. … Lilly is 100-81 in his major league career that began in 1999. He has also pitched for the Expos, Yankees, Athletics and Blue Jays.