Lilly, Cubs follow Zambrano no-hitter with 1-hitter

Ted Lilly of the Chicago Cubs took a no-hitter into the seventh inning on Monday against the Houston Astros, less than a day after Carlos Zambrano hurled one.

Lilly (15-9) yielded only a Mark Loretta single in the seventh inning in the 6-1 win at Miller Park in Milwaukee. Lilly worked seven innings, striking out nine and walking only Lance Berkman, in the second inning.

Berkman was promptly picked off by Lilly, a former Toronto Blue Jay. 

Just before Loretta got his hit, Houston's Reggie Abercrombie reached base on what was ruled an error by third baseman Aramis Ramirez.

Rookie Jeff Samardzija struggled replacing Lilly, issuing two walks, but Carlos Marmol and Bob Howry recorded the final five outs without a blemish.

Jim Edmonds, Derrek Lee and Geovany Soto each homered to lead the Cubs offensively. Chicago (90-58) holds an eight-game lead in the NL Central. Houston dropped to 80-69.

Zambrano fired the second no-hitter in the majors on Sunday night, striking out 10 Astros. It was the first National League no-hitter in two years.

"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'," said Lilly. "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."

Houston batters turned Cecil Cooper's worries into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Cooper had complained when the games were shifted to Milwaukee from Houston due to the impending Hurricane Ike.

"It might have had an effect," said Cooper. "I still don't have power at my house, but we're paid very well to play baseball so we have it a lot easier than most people back in Houston."

The third game of the series will take place in Houston after the end of the regular season, on Sept. 29, but only if it is needed to determine the NL playoff picture.

While Johnny Vander Meer famously threw back-to-back no-hitters for Cincinnati in 1938, no teammates have ever done it.

Consecutive no-hitters have taken place in the same series.

On Sept. 17-18, 1968, Gaylord Perry of the San Francisco Giants no-hit the St. Louis Cardinals 1-0. The next day, Cardinals pitcher Ray Washburn completed the feat against the Giants in a 2-0 victory.

Zambrano was the first Cubs pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Milt Pappas in 1972.