Ted Lilly found out before today’s game that he got selected to his 2nd All-Star appearence. Then, he went out & got a win against a tough Milwaukee lineup.

Lilly struck out 9 batters in 6 1/3 innings & got plenty of offensive support as the Chicago Cubs cruised past the Milwaukee Brewers 8-2 on Sunday afternoon from Wrigley Field.

With the win, the Cubs move just 1.5 games behind 2nd place Milwaukee in the NL Central.

The Cubs got an immediate rally going on the 1st after Kosuke Fukudome hit a lead-off triple against Brewers starter Mike Burns.

Ryan Theriot then grounded out to J.J. Hardy at shortstop, which did not advance Fukudome from 3rd on the play.

Derrek Lee then belted a 2-run homer to left center (15th of season) off Burns to give Chicago a 2-0 lead.

Milwaukee then cut into their deficit in the top of the 4th on Prince Fielder’s 2-out solo homer (22nd of season) off Chicago starter Ted Lilly to straightaway center, which made it a 2-1 game.

The Cubs then struck for a couple more runs in the bottom of the 4th after Milton Bradley drew a lead-off walk from Burns.

Jake Fox then hit a double to left field, which put runners on 2nd & 3rd with nobody out for Alfonso Soriano.

Soriano then flied out to Ryan Braun in left field, which was unable to advance Bradley from 3rd base.

Geovany Soto got it done with a sacrifice fly to Mike Cameron in center field, which scored Bradley from 3rd & gave Chicago a 3-1 lead.

Fox was able to advance to 3rd on the play.

This brought up Mike Fontenot, who delivered with a clutch 2-out RBI single to center which scored Fox from 3rd base & gave the Cubs a 4-1 lead.

Chicago struck for more runs in the 5th after Kosuke Fukudome & Ryan Theriot hit back-to-back singles against Burns.

Derrek Lee then hit an RBI single past a diving J.J. Hardy at shortstop, which scored Fukudome from 3rd & gave the Cubs a 5-1 lead.

Ryan Theriot then advanced to 3rd on a wild pitch during Milton Bradley’s at-bat, but Derrek Lee was gunned down by Jason Kendall at 2nd base.

Bradley wound up striking out looking, which left it up to Jake Fox.

Fox then unleashed a 2-run homer (4th of season) onto Waveland, which gave Chicago a commanding 7-1 lead.

The Brewers scored a run in the top of the 6th after J.J. Hardy & Prince Fielder hit back-to-back 2-out singles off Lilly.

Casey McGehee then  stroked an RBI single to left field, which scored Hardy from 3rd & made it a 7-2 game.

With runners on 1st & 2nd with 2 outs, Mike Cameron struck out to end the inning.

The Cubs pushed across another run in the bottom of the 6th after Mike Fontenot hit a lead-off double against Brewers reliever Chris Narveson.

Ted Lilly then laid down a sac bunt, which advanced Fontenot to 3rd with just 1 out for Kosuke Fukudome.

Fukudome then drove Fontenot home with a sacrifice fly to Mike Cameron in center field, which gave Chicago a 8-2 lead.

Ryan Theriot then singled, while Derrek Lee reached 1st safely on a fielding error by Prince Fielder.

This put runners at 1st & 2nd with 2 outs for Milton Bradley, who rifled a singled off Bill Hall’s glove at 3rd & into left field.

This loaded the bases for Jake Fox, who flied out to Prince Fielder in foul territory at 1st base to end the inning.

Milwaukee pushed across a run in the 7th after Jason Kendall hit a lead-off double against Lilly, which just got past a leaping Derrek Lee at 1st base & into right field.

Bill Hall then struck out before pinch-hitter Matt Gamel singled to right, which ended Lilly’s outing.

Cubs manager Lou Piniella then went with Aaron Heilman out of the bullpen to face Corey Hart.

Heilman won the battle, as he got Hart to hit into an inning-ending doubleplay.

The Brewers got another rally going in the 8th after J.J. Hardy hit a lead-off single against Heilman.

3 batters later,  Casey McGehee reached safely on a ball that skipped off Mike Fontenot’s glove & into left field.

This put runners on 1st & 2nd with 2 outs for Mike Cameron, who hit a warning track flyout to Sam Fuld in left field to end the inning.

Carlos Marmol pitched a scoreless 9th to end the game & give Chicago the series win over Milwaukee.

Ted Lilly (8-6) gets the win for the Cubs after pitching 6 1/3 innings & allowing 2 runs on 9 hits while walking none & striking out nine.

Mike Burns (1-2) takes the loss for Milwaukee after allowing 7 runs on 9 hits in just 4 2/3 innings of work.

Every Cub position player that started today’s game with the exception of Geovany Soto (0-for-3 with a sac fly) recorded at least 1 hit.

The Cubs will welcome in the Atlanta Braves into Wrigley Field for a 3-game series that begins Monday evening at 6:00 PM cst, as Randy Wells (3-3, 2.43) will face off against Jair Jurrjens (6-6, 2.73).

Wells will shoot for his 4th consecutive win on Monday & is 1-2 in 4 home starts with a 3.09 ERA.

Jurrjens enters Monday’s game with the NL’s 5th best ERA & is coming off his best start of the season.

On July 1st against Philadelphia, Jurrjens took a no-hitter into the 7th inning & allowed just 1 hit during Atlanta’s 11-1 win.

Monday will be Jurrjens’ first career start against Chicago.

Congratulations again to Cubs’ starting pitcher Ted Lilly, who will make his 2nd All-Star Game appearence on July 14th at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

The Cubs will also welcome back 3rd baseman Aramis Ramirez, center fielder Reed Johnson & reliever Angel Guzman for Monday night’s game against Atlanta.

Signing off for now,

Matt T for Cubshub.com