Nieuwenhuis homers twice as Brewers defeat Cubs
MILWAUKEE -- Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a pair of home runs and Zach Davies pitched 6 1/3 solid innings as the Milwaukee Brewers snapped a two-game losing streak with a 6-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs in front of a sellout crowd of 44,643 at Miller Park.
Davies (7-4) scattered three hits, walked a pair and struck out four. He has allowed only three earned runs over his last three starts and is 7-1 with a 2.83 ERA over his last 14 outings.
John Lackey (7-7) went six innings for Chicago and allowed three runs on five hits and a pair of walks while striking out five.
Milwaukee took an early lead with two outs in the first inning when catcher Jonathan Lucroy capped off a 12-pitch at-bat by crushing a fastball to left-center for a two-run homer -- his 13th of the season.
Lackey stranded the bases loaded in the third but in the fourth inning he fell behind 2-1 to Kirk Nieuwenhuis, who made it a 3-0 game with a solo home run off the batter's eye in center.
Chicago finally got on the board in the seventh when Addison Russell singled off Jonathan Villar's glove to score Ben Zobrist, whose leadoff single to open the inning brought Davies' day to an end.
Left-hander Will Smith got out of the inning without any further damage -- he struck out Javier Baez and got pinch hitter Matt Szczur to ground out, stranding a pair.
Nieuwenhuis struck again in the eighth, breaking the game open with a three-run shot off reliever Mike Montgomery, who was making his Cubs' debut three days after he was acquired from Seattle in a four-player trade.
NOTES: Brewers OF Domingo Santana was scheduled to begin a three-game minor league rehabilitation assignment Saturday with Single-A Wisconsin. Santana has been sidelined since June 8 with a sore right elbow. ... Chicago will activate RHP Joe Nathan from the disabled list Sunday prior to the Cubs' series finale at Milwaukee. Nathan, 41, hasn't pitched since undergoing Tommy John surgery last year. He signed a minor-league contract with Chicago in May and has been on a 30-day minor-league rehab assignment. ... Cubs 1B Anthony Rizzo came into Saturday's game batting .328 (21-for-64) with 12 extra-base hits (.688 slugging) and 14 RBI over his last 16 games. ... The series concludes Sunday afternoon with Cubs LHP John Lester (10-4, 2.89 ERA) facing Milwaukee RHP Junior Guerra (6-2, 3.06 ERA).