Entering tonight’s game, Padres ace & reigning NL Cy Young winner Jake Peavy was 3-0 in 5 career starts against the Cubs with a 2.10 ERA.

None of Peavy’s past success mattered on Wednesday night, as he suffered his shortest outing of the season (4 innings) as the Cubs beat the Padres 8-5 at Wrigley Field for their 6th win in the last 8 games.

The Cubs started another rally off Peavy in the bottom of the 2nd inning after Kosuke Fukudome’s lead-off double.

4 batters later, Cubs started Ted Lilly struck out for what looked to be the 3rd out, but the ball got away from Josh Bard which enabled Lilly to reach 1st safely & load the bases. (Reed Johnson drew a 2-out walk).

Soriano made the Padres pay for the fielding miscue, as he delivered a 2-run single to give the Cubs a 3-0 lead.

After Aramis Ramirez & Kosuke Fukudome hit back-to-back singles off Peavy to start the bottom of the 3rd inning, Geovany Soto then delivered an RBI single to give the Cubs a 4-0 lead.

Ted Lilly cruised along until the 5th inning, when he nearly let San Diego rally to take the lead for the 2nd straight game.

After Lilly got Khalil Greene to fly out to deep centerfield, he allowed back-to-back singles  to Justin Huber & Josh Bard.

After Edgar Gonzalez flied out to centerfield for the 2nd out, Scott Hairston hit a single to load the bases with 2 outs for Tadahito Iguchi.

Iguchi then hit an RBI single which scored Bard & Huber, making it a 4-2 game. Soriano tried to nail down Huber at the plate, but the throw got away from Soto which allowed both Hairston & Iguchi to get into scoring position.

Hairston would later score on a wild pitch from Lilly to make it a 4-3 game.

That’s the closest San Diego would get to providing a threat, as Lilly froze Brian Giles on a called strike three with Iguchi at 3rd base as the game-tying run.

The Cubs immediately struck back in the bottom of the 5th inning after Kosuke Fukudome hit a lead-off single against Padres reliever Will Ledezma.

Geovany Soto then followed with a 2-run homer (7th of season) to straight-away centerfield, giving the Cubs a 6-3 lead.

Lilly got into more trouble in the top of the 6th inning, as he hit lead-off batter Adrian Gonzalez with a pitch & allowed a double to Kevin Kouzmanoff to bring up Khalil Greene as the game-tying run.

Greene hit a sac fly to deep left field, scoring Gonzalez from 3rd base to make it a 6-4 game.

Lilly then bounced back by striking out both Huber & Bard to end the Padres’ scoring threat.

The Cubs started yet another rally in the bottom of the 6th inning after Ryan Theriot hit a lead-off single against Padres reliever Bryan Corey.

2 batters later, Aramis Ramirez delivered an RBI double which scored the speedy Theriot from 1st base & gave the Cubs a 7-4 lead.

Chicago got their 8th & final run on Reed Johnson’s 7th inning RBI double, which scored Mark DeRosa (who hit a lead-off single & advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch) from 2nd base to give the Cubs a 8-4 lead.

Cubs closer Kerry Wood made things very interesting in the top of the 9th inning after getting Khalil Greene to groundout to shortstop for the 1st out.

Wood gave up a single to pinch-hitter Tony Clark & a double to Josh Bard before walking Jody Gerut to load the bases with only 1 out.

After Wood got Scott Hairston to strike out swinging for the 2nd out, Tadahito Iguchi hit an RBI single to score Clark from 3rd base for the Padres’ 5th & final run.

Ted Lilly (4-4) gets the win after pitching 6 innings & allowing 4 runs on 6 hits & striking out a season-high 11 batters.

Jake Peavy (4-3) loses for the 1st time in his career against the Cubs after pitching just 4 innings & allowing 4 runs on 7 hits.

Chicago will now look to win 3 out of 4 against San Diego in Thursday afternoon’s series finale from Wrigley Field at 1:20 PM cst.

Cubs righthander Ryan Dempster (4-1, 2.76) will take the mound against Padres righthander & former Cub Greg Maddux (3-3, 3.60), who could be making the final Wrigley Field apperance of his 20 year career on Thursday.

Dempster will be looking to beat the Padres for the 1st time as a starter since August 10th, 2002. (Dempster was a member of the Cincinnati Reds.)

The Cubs’ offense has scored a total of 56 runs during Dempster’s 5 home starts to date this season.

Maddux is 12-3 with a 2.56 ERA in 22 career starts against the Cubs & is looking to win his 2nd straight Wrigley Field start.

Maddux beat the Cubs on June 17th, 2007 after allowing 3 runs on 7 hits in 6 innings during the Padres’ 11-3 win.

Signing off for now,