Cubs turn to Jackson in opener with Brewers

Veteran righty Edwin Jackson can turn in a second straight gem on Monday night when the Chicago Cubs visit the Milwaukee Brewers to begin a four-game series at Milwaukee's Miller Park.

Jackson, who turned 30 years old last week, celebrated a day after the milestone with seven innings of one-run ball in a 9-1 defeat of the Cincinnati Reds.

It was his first victory in six tries for Jackson, who'd gone 0-4 since a 6-1 defeat of the Brewers on July 31 at Wrigley Field.

That win, which lifted Jackson to 4-5 in 11 career meetings with Milwaukee, saw him allow a run on eight hits in eight innings while walking no one and striking out four.

In 16 road games this season, Jackson is 4-8 with a bloated 4.96 earned run average across 90 2/3 innings while allowing an opposition batting average of .271.

For the Brewers, 24-year-old righty Wily Peralta tries to find consistency after a subpar 10-start stretch.

The youngster was near .500 at 7-9 through his initial 20 outings of the season, but has since won just two while Milwaukee has gone 3-7 with him on the mound.

He was a 6-1 loser to Jackson and the Cubs in the aforementioned July 31 game, in which he surrendered four runs on five hits in five innings.

In his last start, on Sept. 10 at St. Louis, Peralta allowed just two hits and three runs in 6 2/3 innings of a hard luck 4-2 loss.

On Sunday in Pittsburgh, Justin Morneau drove in the winning run in the eighth inning as the Pirates took a 3-2 win over the Cubs to wrap up a four-game set.

Welington Castillo hit a two-run home run for the Cubs, who have lost four of their last five. Travis Wood lasted six innings in the start and gave up two runs on five hits. Pedro Strop (2-2) was handed the loss.

In Milwaukee, Sean Halton capped the comeback with the game-winning homer in the bottom of the ninth, as the Brewers rallied over the final two innings to take a 6-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

Jean Segura's two-run triple and a sac fly from Jonathan Lucroy in the eighth knotted the score, then Milwaukee received some incredible glove work from Carlos Gomez in the top of the ninth.

Jay Bruce came up with two runners aboard and sent a shot to deep center field, but Gomez retreated toward the wall and jumped to rob him of a potential go-ahead homer. Halton then lifted the Brewers to the improbable win with his one-out blast over the left center field wall.

The Brewers won 10 of the first 15 games with the Cubs this season, after winning the 2012 season series 13-4.