Reed Johnson had three hits and Geovany Soto drove in two runs as the Chicago Cubs defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1 on Saturday afternoon. Chicago starter Ted Lilly improved to 10-2 in his last 12 decisions and the Cubs have won six of their last seven games. Lilly battled through early control problems to pitch 6 1-3 solid innings. After throwing 54 pitches in the first two innings, the left-hander finished strong and left to a loud ovation in the seventh inning.

Lilly (11-6) allowed one run on five hits. He had five strikeouts and walked three.

Ryan Doumit had three hits, including two doubles for the Pirates, who lost for the second time in five games.

Trailing 1-0 in the second inning, Aramis Ramirez led off with a double that dropped down the left-field line and Johnson followed with a single. Ramirez scored on Soto's groundout to second and Ronny Cedeno gave the Cubs the lead with an RBI single to center that brought home Johnson.

Leading off the fourth, Johnson and Mark DeRosa hit back-to-back singles off Pirates starter Paul Maholm (7-7). After a double steal, Soto drove in Johnson with a single and DeRosa scored on Cedeno's double-play ball.

Alfonso Soriano led off the fifth with a double down the left-field line and scored on Derrek Lee's sacrifice fly to give the Cubs a 5-1 lead.

Doumit doubled in the second inning and scored on Maholm's bases-loaded infield single.

Maholm gave up five runs on eight hits in six innings. He had two strikeouts and walked two.

Notes:@ Cubs RF Kosuke Fukudome didn't start, but had a pinch-hit single in the seventh inning and stayed in the game in right. ... The Cubs have won their last five games against left-handed starters. ... Lilly had his 10th quality start in his last 12 outings. ... Maholm gave up more than three runs for the second time in his last nine starts.

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