The left-hander, who does not have the go-ahead to steal bases, held Houston to four hits over eight innings, and Carlos Marmol picked up his fifth straight save as the Cubs beat the Astros, 2-0, Wednesday to win the series. Derrek Lee belted a two-run homer, his 27th, in the fourth inning for all the offense Lilly (10-8) needed. Chicago began the day six games behind Colorado in the National League Wild Card race and won for the 10th time in the last 26 games.
“We’re fully aware of what we need to do,” Lilly said. “We have to win the game we’re playing. You’ve heard it a thousand times — we don’t have any influence on who wins the game we’re not playing in. We go out there and put all our concentration and physical and mental energy into the game that we have to deal with, and we’re putting ourselves in the best chance to win.” [...]
