Finally the Cubs held on for a victory late in the game but boy were things shaky once again. A win is a win however, and with the Milwaukee Brewers winning earlier in the day, the Cubs needed to win on Wednesday night against the St. Louis Cardinals to keep their 4.5 game lead in the division.

Ted Lilly tossed eight inning and only allowed one run on five hits. Lilly was able to last so long in the game because he did not walk a batter and struck out five batters. He even ran over Yadier Molina on a close play at the plate. Even though Lilly was out on the play, it was awesome to see him attempt to knock the ball loose as Molina blocked the plate off.

Kerry Wood was bad once again in the ninth inning however. He allowed a Ryan Ludwick two-run home run that brough the Cardinals within one run. Luckily for Wood and the Cubs he was able to get Josh Fields to fly out to center field to end the game. It was Wood’s 29th save of the season in the game.

Felix Pie got the Cubs scoring started in the second inning when he hit an off-speed pitch to left-center and Kosuke Fukudome scored on the play. It was awesome to see Pie make a contribution as he started his first game in a long time.

The Cubs got a huge break later in the second inning when Felipe Lopez committed an error when he tried to turn a double play. Mark DeRosa and Pie both scored on the error to score the cubs second and third runs of the game. Aramis Ramirez added another run in the second inning when he knocked in Alfonso Soriano with a rbi single to left field.

The Cubs now have Rich Harden coming back on Thursday night as they finish up the series against the Cardinals. The Cubs will really watch Harden’s pitch count but the bullpen is ready to go as Wood was the only reliever to throw on Wednesday night.

Stay positive cubs fans, still up 4.5 games which a good thing!