DeRosa's two HRs, Lilly's strong outing carry Cubs

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Mark DeRosa and Ted Lilly got the Chicago Cubs back on track -- DeRosa with two fine swings and Lilly with another impressive outing.

DeRosa hit a grand slam and also a two-run homer to match his career high with six RBIs, Lilly pitched eight shutout innings and the Cubs ended a four-game skid with a 9-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Monday night.

"It felt good to contribute," DeRosa said. "Hitting the grand slam, I felt kind of put the game away. We needed this win, no doubt. We've had our share of adversity."

DeRosa hit his third career grand slam and produced his second multihomer game, which he also did on Aug. 9, 2006, at Oakland while with Texas. His power stroke helped Lilly (9-5) win his fourth straight decision.

Lilly was on the cusp of his fifth career complete game and third shutout, his first since he blanked Boston in a 3-0 win on Aug. 23, 2004, for Toronto.

DeRosa's two-run homer came in the fifth off Barry Zito (3-12), then he connected for the grand slam in the eighth against Billy Sadler to give him 10 home runs, matching his 2007 total. All five of his June homers were hit in California. DeRosa had five total RBIs over his previous 17 games.

"Lilly gave us a big game on the mound and DeRosa gave us a big game with the bat," manager Lou Piniella said. "It was a good win for us."

Lilly struck out for the fifth time to start the ninth and the Cubs fans still jumped to their feet to give him a warm ovation, despite him becoming the first pitcher to do so since Clay Hensley in 2006.

"That was pretty funny. It would have been more fun to hit a little bloop single somewhere," Lilly said. "I felt like I tried every different swing and every different stance."

The fans cheered again when Piniella lifted Lilly for Kerry Wood in the ninth following consecutive singles. Wood allowed Rich Aurilia's two-run double.

Lilly had been campaigning for Piniella to use him as a pinch-hitter. But probably not now.

"I wouldn't blame him, especially after what he saw tonight," Lilly said. "I don't think that I put much fear in any of those pitchers. I guess once the scouting report gets out, I'm done now."

Matt Murton hit a two-run double and Kosuke Fukudome also drove in a run for the Cubs, who were swept by the Chicago White Sox over the weekend to end interleague play and had dropped eight of 12 coming into this four-game series.

Lilly outpitched Zito in a matchup of a pair of lefties and former A's teammates, with Zito becoming the major league leader for losses and falling to 0-8 at home in the Giants' waterfront ballpark -- where a large contingent of Cubs fans were in attendance.

Zito had to throw an extra 16 pitches after an error by third baseman Jose Castillo in the second, allowing Fukudome's RBI single for the Cubs' initial run.

"He had some bad luck out there," manager Bruce Bochy said. "He had a tough error at a bad time."

Zito, trying to win back-to-back starts for the first time all year, has a 5.99 overall ERA and 7.33 at home. Zito walked five in five innings to up his season total to 22. That's after he didn't walk a batter in his last outing for the first time in 2008. But he also had a season-best six strikeouts.

The $126 million pitcher also became the franchise leader for losses before the All-Star break.

"It's real frustrating. There's no excuse," Zito said. "My stuff was crisp and that's a good sign. I'm encouraged even if I didn't get the result I wanted. We ran into Lilly tonight, who pitched great. I feel more like myself as far as my stuff goes. That makes this one even harder. I was ready to turn it around."

Lilly has 17 career wins in June, matching his winningest months of May and September. He's 9-2 over his last 14 starts after starting the year 0-3.

"He started off slow," Piniella said. "I mentioned a month or six weeks ago his stuff was getting better. His velocity, and he worked on his curveball. You could see he was going to get on a little bit of a roll and he has."

Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez is away from the team for three days to attend to a personal family matter, Piniella said. DeRosa is playing in his place.

"No one's going to replace him," DeRosa said. "He's one of the best hitters in the game."

Game notes
Giants LHP Jonathan Sanchez was named NL Player of the Week. Sanchez went 2-0 with a 1.23 ERA, throwing 14 2-3 innings in which he allowed two earned runs on nine hits. ... The Cubs will get OF Reed Johnson (lower back spasms) off the DL on Thursday. "I can start resting my outfield a little bit again," Piniella said. ... The Giants' Double-A Connecticut C Pablo Sandoval was added to the World roster for the All-Star Futures game.