Lilly follows no-no with gem of his own

Everyone from Cubs manager Lou Piniella to fellow starter Ryan Dempster needled Ted Lilly about having to follow up Carlos Zambrano’s no-hitter.

Lilly came close to one of his own, pitching no-hit ball until Mark Loretta’s seventh-inning single, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Astros 6-1 Monday in Milwaukee to sweep a two-game series that had been moved from Houston because of Hurricane Ike.

“There were a couple of guys before the game that let me know I had a lot of work to do to try and follow up ‘Z’,” Lilly said. “There’s so many things that it takes to go into a no-hitter for it to take place, and so my expectations were just to go out there and try and make good pitches and be aggressive.”

Hard-charging Houston had won 14 of 15 coming into the series, but the Cubs left the Astros 21/2 games back of Milwaukee and Philadelphia, which share the N.L. wild-card lead.

“After what ‘Z’ did last night, it would have been fun to do something I’m not sure has been done – yet,” Lilly said. “You don’t know if you’ll ever have that opportunity again, but I’ll take tonight the way it was.”

A.L. highlights

Red Sox 13, Rays 5: At St. Petersburg, Fla., six Boston players homered as the Red Sox climbed within percentage points of first-place Tampa Bay. Boston won for the first time in seven games at Tropicana Field this season.

Yankees 4, White Sox 2: At New York, Mariano Rivera moved into second place on the career saves list and the Yankees put a small crimp in Chicago’s postseason plans. The White Sox still lead the A.L. Central by 11/2 games over Minnesota.

Indians 3, Twins 1: At Cleveland, Scott Lewis pitched six shutout innings in his second career start as the Indians beat Minnesota.

N.L. highlights

Nationals 7, Mets 2: At Washington, John Lannan limited New York to one hit over seven innings as the Nationals beat the fading-again Mets. New York lost for the third time in four games, and its lead over idle Philadelphia in the N.L. East fell to a half game.

Dodgers 8, Pirates 2: At Pittsburgh, Hiroki Kuroda allowed three hits over seven shutout innings and Manny Ramirez had three more hits as Los Angeles won for the 13th time in 15 games and remained 41/2 games ahead of Arizona in the N.L. West .

Diamondbacks 3, Giants 1: At Phoenix, Adam Dunn hit a two-run homer with two out in the bottom of the eighth inning as Arizona won for the second time in 10 games.

Lidge having perfect season

With 12 games left, Phillies closer Brad Lidge still has a perfect season. The hard-throwing righty is 36 for 36 in save opportunities with a 2-0 record and 1.99 ERA in 66 games.

Dating to last season, Lidge has 39 consecutive saves. Only five relievers ever had a longer streak, according to Stats LLC. Eric Gagne saved 84 straight for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2002-04. Tom Gordon saved 54 in a row for Boston from 1998-99.

Lidge can pass Rod Beck (41), Trevor Hoffman (41) and Dennis Eckersley (40) this week.

“There’s a great amount of luck you need,” Lidge said. “Honestly, I think Gagne’s streak will never be broken.”

Report blasts stadium funding

State assemblyman Richard Brodsky said he will issue a report today finding that New York City manipulated the assessed value of Yankee Stadium to get an Internal Revenue Service tax exemption.

Brodsky has questioned the Yankees’ request to subsidize the stadium with $336 million in public funds issued by the city’s Industrial Development Agency. The report indicates taxpayers have spent between $550 million and $850 million on the project to create only 15 new permanent jobs. He said the IDA may have violated the law.

Clearing the bases

Detroit left-hander Kenny Rogers won’t pitch again this season, Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. Rogers is a free agent at the end of the season and the Tigers are unlikely to re-sign the 43-year-old veteran. Rogers finishes the season with a 9-13 record and 5.70 ERA in 30 starts. … The Minnesota Twins will call their new ballpark Target Field. The team and Target Corp. announced an agreement in principle on a 25-year partnership that includes naming rights to the Twins’ new stadium, scheduled to open for the 2010 season just across from Target Center, home to the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves.