Wed May 14 23:36:10 2008

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Soriano, Soto power Cubs to victory over Padres

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Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Alfonso Soriano drove in three runs and Ted Lilly struck out a season-high 11 batters, as the Chicago Cubs downed the San Diego Padres, 8-5, in the third test of a four-game series at Wrigley Field.

Ted Lilly (4-4) gave up four runs on six hits over six innings to pick up his third straight win.

Geovany Soto hit a two-run homer and added an RBI single for the Cubs, who have won five of their last six games. Kosuke Fukudome was 3-for-5 and scored two runs, while Mark DeRosa and Ryan Theriot both finished 2-for-4 with a run scored.

The Padres' Jake Peavy (4-3) lasted only four innings, giving up four runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts to absorb the loss. Wilfredo Ledezma surrendered three runs on five hits in 1 2/3 innings of relief.

Tadahito Iguchi knocked in three runs for San Diego, which has dropped two of its last three contests.

The Cubs grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first, as Soriano, for the second consecutive game, led off with a home run, jumping on Peavy's 2-1 fastball and depositing it in the seats beyond the wall in center field.

Chicago then added two more runs in the second off the bat of Soriano. Fukudome led off with a double and Reed Johnson worked a two-out walk. Ted Lilly struck out, but took first on the wild pitch and Soriano then lined a two-run single to left field to give the Cubs a 3-0 lead.

Three consecutive singles by Aramis Ramirez, Fukudome and Soto produced another run in the third.

Meanwhile, Lilly allowed only one hit through the first four innings, but the Padres tagged the left-hander for three runs in the top of the fifth. San Diego loaded the bases on hits by Justin Huber, Josh Bard and Scott Hairston. Iguchi followed with a two-run single and a wild pitch by Lilly allowed Hairston to score.

The Cubs got two runs back in the bottom of the fifth on Soto's seventh home run of the season, but Khalil Greene hit a sacrifice fly in the next frame to narrow the deficit to 6-4.

Chicago answered in the bottom of the sixth, as Theriot led off with a single and came around to score on a double by Ramirez. The Cubs tacked on another run in the seventh on Johnson's RBI double.

With the bases loaded, Kerry Wood gave up an RBI single to Iguchi in the ninth, but got Brian Giles to fly out to end the game.

Game Notes

Soriano now has 46 career leadoff home runs, which is third in Major League history behind Craig Biggio (53) and Rickey Henderson (81)...Carlos Marmol tossed two perfect innings in relief for Chicago...Peavy has dropped three of his last four decisions...San Diego's Greg Maddux (3-3) and Chicago's Ryan Dempster (4-1) are scheduled to start the series finale on Thursday afternoon...Attendance was 39,650.