(Sports Network) - Wrigley Field has been a win factory this season for the Chicago Cubs and will be today's site for the finale of a four-game series versus the San Diego Padres.

Chicago has won two of the first three meetings with the Padres and six of eight games overall to maintain its one-game lead over St. Louis for the top spot in the NL Central. It improved to 5-1 on a 10-game homestand and 16-7 as the host this season following Wednesday's 8-5 victory over San Diego, highlighted by a solid outing from starter Ted Lilly.

Lilly was reached for four runs on six hits over six innings to pick up his third straight win, while striking out a season-high 11 batters.

Alfonso Soriano drove in three runs and Geovany Soto clubbed a two-run homer and ended with three RBI in a winning effort. Kosuke Fukudome was 3-for-5 and scored twice for the Cubs, who will also host Pittsburgh for three games in the Windy City.

Chicago bolstered its outfield on Wednesday by signing veteran center fielder Jim Edmonds to a contract, and he will be available for today's game. Edmonds was just released by the Padres last Friday after they acquired him in a trade with St. Louis in December. The 37-year-old was batting just .178 with one home run and six RBI in 26 games this season.

In parts of 16 big league seasons with the Angels (1993-99), Cardinals (2000-07) and Padres (2008), the four-time All-Star amassed a career batting average of .286 with 363 homers and 1,127 RBI.

Cubs starter Ryan Dempster is coming off a pair of subpar outings and will try for a win in Thursday's finale. Dempster is 0-1 in his previous two trips to the hill after opening the season 4-0 in six starts.

Dempster started the recent efforts with a May 5 performance at Cincinnati in which he gave up five unearned runs in six innings of a 5-3 loss. He then took the hill on Saturday versus Arizona, allowing two runs in six frames of a 7-2 Cubs win that he did not receive a decision in.

He is 4-1 with a 2.76 earned run average in eight starts in 2008. In 17 career games (8 starts) against San Diego, the right-handed Dempster is 5-3 with a 4.35 earned run average.

The Padres have lost two of three and fell to 4-9 this month after Wednesday's three-run loss at Wrigley Field. San Diego ace and reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy lasted only four frames, giving up four runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts to suffer the loss. Wilfredo Ledezma then surrendered three runs on five hits in 1 2/3 innings of relief.

Tadahito Iguchi knocked in three runs for San Diego, which is last in the NL West standings and will visit Seattle at Safeco Field for three games to close out a seven-game road trip.

Greg Maddux is slated to handle pitching duties for the Padres today and is 3-3 with a 3.60 earned run average in eight starts.

Maddux ended a four-start winless streak (0-3) in his previous outing on Saturday versus Colorado. In the 3-2 victory at Petco Park, the future Hall of Famer gave up just one unearned run in six innings of work. He also notched the 350th win of his career, becoming the ninth pitcher in big league history to reach that mark.

The right-hander and former Cub is 12-3 with three complete games and a 2.56 earned run average through 22 career starts against Chicago.

The Padres went 5-3 against the Cubs last season, with a 3-2 mark at Wrigley Field, and are 13-5 over the previous 18 matchups in this series.