St. Louis, MO - Ted Lilly won his sixth straight start, as the Chicago Cubs downed the rival St. Louis Cardinals, 7-1, in the middle of a three-game series at Busch Stadium.
The stretch of success ties a career high, as Lilly (11-4) won a career-best six straight starts from August 25-September 21, 2003 with Oakland. Lilly has also won seven straight decisions, which is a personal best.
The southpaw allowed just one run on six hits over seven innings for the Cubs, who have won five of seven. They now trail the Brewers by just two games in the NL Central.
Mike Fontenot and Cliff Floyd both knocked in a pair of runs in a winning effort.
Adam Wainwright (9-8) was charged with six runs on nine hits over five frames for St. Louis, which has dropped three of four. Juan Encarnacion provided most of the Cards’ offense, going 4-for-4 with an RBI.
Chicago put up two runs in the fourth to move in front. With runners on first and second and two down, Fontenot singled to right to plate the first run of the game. Jacque Jones followed with a single of his own to score Floyd for a 2-0 edge.
The Cardinals sliced their deficit in half in the bottom of the fourth as So Taguchi walked, swiped second and then came in on Encarnacion’s base hit.
The Cubs, though, responded with a four-run fifth. Ryan Theriot’s RBI base hit put the Chicago lead back at two, and Floyd roped a two-out double to center later in the frame to bring in a pair and extend the advantage to 5-1. Fontenot capped the surge with a base hit to center that scored Floyd.
Lilly’s RBI single in the eighth accounted for the final margin.
Game Notes
Wainwright had won his last three starts coming in…Chicago has won five of its seven matchups with St. Louis this season and is 26-16 in the series since the start of the 2005 campaign. The Cubs have also won all four of their meetings in St. Louis this season after losing six of nine there a year ago…Chicago outhit St. Louis 14-8.
