Milwaukee, WI – Yovani Gallardo won his fifth straight start and the Milwaukee Brewers finished off a three-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs with a 3-2 win.
Gallardo (13-8) held the Cubs to two runs on four hits with nine strikeouts over seven innings. Over his past five starts, the right-hander has pitched to a 2.05 earned run average.
"He has strung together a lot of nice games in a row now," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "With all the pitches he can command, it makes it really tough to look for a certain pitch."
"The last couple of starts have been nice," Gallardo said. "I have been able to command my fastball and slider well."
Ryan Braun drove in a pair of runs and finished a single short of the cycle. The home run was his National League-leading 34th of the season.
Bryan LaHair laced his first home run since July 4, but the Cubs lost their fourth straight game.
Travis Wood (4-10) took the loss after allowing three runs in seven innings. He gave up six hits and a walk while striking out six.
"Just a couple of mistakes," Cubs manager Dale Sveum said. "Otherwise, he pitched pretty good."
David DeJesus spotted the Cubs a first-inning lead when he blasted his 12th career leadoff home run to right-center field.
But the Brewers quickly jumped ahead. Norichika Aoki punched a double in between DeJesus and Brett Jackson in left-center field to start the bottom of the first. After Rockie Weeks struck out, Braun belted a double to right field to tie the game.
Aramis Ramirez popped out before Corey Hart dropped a broken-bat double down the left-field line to give Milwaukee a 2-1 lead in the first.
Braun hammered a 1-1 fastball to the concourse beyond right-center field to tack another run on the board in the sixth, but LaHair lined a first-pitch fastball over the fence in right to pull the Cubs back within one in the top of the seventh.
However, the Cubs were unable to complete the comeback. Jim Henderson worked around a one-out walk and pitched a scoreless eighth inning and John Axford struck out the side in the ninth to earn his 20th save of the season.
"His fastball was outstanding again," Roenicke said. "He had a great slider to get a strikeout."
Game Notes
The Cubs are 4-18 in their last 22 games and a season-worst 29 games under .500 ... Prior to the game, the Brewers released pitcher Randy Wolf. The team recalled infielder Jeff Bianchi from Triple-A Nashville ... Braun tied Cardinals outfielder Carlos Beltran for the NL lead with 85 RBI ... Gallardo leads the NL with 21 quality starts ... The Cubs went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position and stranded five ... The Brewers went 2-for-9 with RISP and left four on base.
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