Cubs beat Padres 8-5

Cubs beat the Padres 8-5 behind Ted Lilly 's dominant performance in which he struck out eleven over six innings of work while allowing four earned runs on six hits. With the victory he bettered his record to 4-4 on the season.The Cubs offense got off to a great start as Alfonso Soriano once again hit a lead off home run to give the Cubs an early 1-0 lead. They then scored two in the second on Soriano single and also picked up a run in third off a Geovany Soto single that scored Aramis Ramirez to give the Cubs a 4-0 lead. Their other runs came in the fifth when Soto hit a two-run home run and in the sixth another run was added when Aramis Ramirez doubled in Ryan Theriot. The final run was scored in the seventh when Reed Johnson doubled in Mark Derosa to put the Cubs up 8-4.The Padres scored three runs in the fifth their first two runs came off a Tadahito Iguchi single then their third run came off a wild pitch that allowed Scott Hairston to score. They then added another run in the sixth when Khalil Greene hit a sac fly that scored Adrian Gonzales. Their final run came in the ninth off an Iguchi single that scored Tony Clark. The Padres Jake Peavy only put in four innings of work as he allowed four earned runs on seven hits while striking out eight and walking two. With the lost Peavy fell to 4-3 on the season.
The Cubs are now 24-16 and sit atop the National League Central 1 game ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Today the Cubs will send Ryan Dempster who is 4-1 with a 2.76 era to the mound as Greg Maddux who is 3-3 with a 3.60 era will pitch for the Cubs. Game time is set for 1:20 pm ct.