Brewers 11, Cubs 5
Ryan Braun homered among his three hits and knocked in three runs as host Milwaukee routed Chicago in the opener of a three-game series.
Rickie Weeks and Martin Maldonado added three hits and two RBIs each and Weeks scored three times for the Brewers. Marco Estrada (5-2) allowed six hits and four walks over six innings but limited the damage to three runs to improve to 6-1 against the Cubs.
Cubs left-hander Travis Wood (5-5) was shelled for seven runs and 10 hits in 2 2/3 innings — his shortest outing of the season. Nate Schierholtz homered among his two hits and Starlin Castro and Luis Valbuena also had two hits for Chicago.
The Brewers batted around in the first, scoring five runs and forcing Wood to throw 36 pitches to get through the inning. Braun followed Jean Segura's leadoff single with his eighth homer of the season — his first at home since May 22, 2013 — for a 2-0 lead and Khris Davis, Weeks and Maldonado all added run-scoring hits later in the frame.
The Cubs pushed across a pair of runs in the third to get within 6-2, but Milwaukee pulled away with a four-run fifth in which Weeks, Segura and Braun delivered RBI singles and Estrada squeezed home a run. Schierholtz homered leading off the sixth, but the Cubs didn't do any more damage until Starlin Castro and John Baker came up with back-to-back RBI singles with two outs in the ninth.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Brewers have recorded 10 or more hits in nine straight games, tying the franchise record set in 1983 and matched in 2011. … Cubs 1B Anthony Rizzo got his first day off this season after starting the team's first 51 games. Rizzo is 6-for-25 on the club's current road trip. … Brewers CF Carlos Gomez went 1-for-3 to extend his hitting streak to 10 games and Davis went 2-for-4 to push his streak to eight.