Chicago-Toronto: Cubs Beat Jays Behind Strong Outing From Lily

The Cubs beat the Blue Jays 7-4 behind an awesome performance by Ted Lilly who gave up only one hit in six innings of work for the Cubs.

He also struck out six but did walk five in route to his seventh win of the season.

The Cubs got on the board first in the third inning when Kosuke Fukudome singled in Micah Hoffpauir then Derrek Lee hit a single of his own that drove in Reed Johnson. Jim Edmonds later added a single of his own that drove in Fukudome to give the Cubs an early 3-0 lead.

The Cubs did not score again until the seventh inning when they put four on the board. The first run came off a Derrek Lee single that scored both Reed Johnson and Ryan Theriot, the Cubs next two runs came in on Aramis Ramirez two-run home run that put the Cubs up 7-0.

The Blue Jays finally scored in the bottom half of the seventh when Alex Rios hit a sacrifice fly that scored Greg Zaun. Their second run came in the eighth when Zaun hit a two-run home run off Neal Cotts.

The final run for the Blue Jays came in the ninth when Vernon Wells hit a sacrifice fly that scored Alex Rios making it 7-4.

For the game Derrek Lee went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and both Jim Edmonds and Reed Johnson had two hits. Edmonds went 2-for-4 with one RBI and Johnson went 2-for-5 scoring two runs on the day.

Next up the Cubs will take part in the Hall Of Fame Game which is a Exhibition Game played in Cooperstown New York against the San Diego Padres.

Most of the roster will be made up of minor leaguers. The position players expected to see playing time are Junior Lake, Cesar Salazar, Bryan Jost, John Contreras, Robinson Chirinos, George Matheus, Alvaro Sosa, Dwayne Kemp, and Kevin Soto.

As for pitchers, it is expected that Yohan Gonzales, Julio Pena, Rogelio Carmona, Miguel Sierra, Jeff Antigua, Luke Sommer, and Carlos Rojas will all see time.

The Cubs regulars will start the game and probably only go one or two innings before the young guys will get their chance to play. The starting pitchers for the game have yet to be announced.

This Hall of Fame game will be the last for MLB, the Cubs actually played in the very first one back in 1940 when they defeated the Red Sox 4-2.

After the game the Cubs will travel to St. Petersburg to face the Tampa Bay Rays Tuesday. Pitching in the first game of the three game series will be Ryan Dempster who is 8-2 with a 2.81 ERA. He will be facing Scott Kazmir who is 6-2 with a low 1.74 ERA.