Brewers send Cubs to seventh straight loss

Baseball Betting Lines

08/03/2010 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Casey McGehee drove in two runs to back a solid performance from Chris Narveson as Milwaukee held off Chicago, 4-3, in the middle installment of a three-game series.

Ryan Braun collected three hits and a walk while Prince Fielder added a pair of hits and a run batted in for the visitors' second straight win after five consecutive losses. Both had five hits in the Brewers' 18-1 demolition of the Cubs in the series starter on Monday.

Narveson (9-7) allowed a lone run on six hits while walking one and striking out six over 5 2/3 innings to grab the win for Milwaukee, which earned a fifth series win on the road in 18 sets away from home. John Axford gave up a run in the ninth but hung on to record his 16th save of the season.

Thomas Diamond (0-1) suffered the loss in his big-league debut after yielding three runs on seven hits while walking three and striking out 10 for the Cubs, who absorbed their seventh straight defeat.

Mike Fontenot started the bottom of the ninth with a pinch-hit double and moved to third on a Tyler Colvin groundout. Starlin Castro singled into left- center field to drive in Fontenot to cut the lead to 4-3 but stumbled trying to stretch it into a double and was eventually tagged out in a rundown. Derrek Lee then struck out to end the game.

Braun walked with two outs in the first, moved to third base on a Fielder single and scored when McGehee followed with a base hit. The Cubs came right back to tie the game in the bottom of the inning on an RBI hit by Lee that plated Castro.

The visitors regained the lead for good in the third on a Fielder's run- scoring single that chased home Rickie Weeks, who had drawn a leadoff walk.

Milwaukee added another run in the fourth when Jonathan Lucroy doubled with one out and scored when Narveson followed with a base hit to center.

Narveson was lifted with a runner at second and two outs in the sixth after retiring Alfonso Soriano and replaced by Todd Coffey, who struck out Geovany Soto to end the inning.

Weeks and Braun singled off Justin Berg before Fielder was hit by James Russell to load the bases with one out in the seventh. McGehee's sacrifice fly on a diving catch by Marlon Byrd in center field chased home Weeks to push the Brewers advantage to 4-1.

Kosuke Fukudome blasted a one-out pinch-hit home run in the seventh that brought Zach Braddock out of the bullpen. The rookie southpaw retired Colvin and walked Castro before he was removed in favor of Kameron Loe, who got Lee to line out to end the frame.

Aramis Ramirez and Byrd started the eighth inning with singles before Loe battled back to strike out Soriano and Soto and get Blake DeWitt to line out to squash the rally.

Game Notes

Mark Prior was the last Cubs pitcher to strike out 10 in his major league debut on May 22, 2002...He signed Tuesday with the Orange County Flyers in the independent Golden Baseball League...Prior has not pitched in the major leagues since 2006...Diamond was the first pitcher to make his big league debut in a start for the Cubs since Ryan O'Malley threw eight shutout innings in a 1-0 win over Houston on August 16, 2006...Diamond was 5-4 with a 3.16 earned run average in 21 starts at Iowa before his promotion on Monday...The Cubs are 13-25 in one-run games, the most losses by any team in the big leagues in that situation...Lee has 1,799 career hits...Byrd has hit safely in eight out of nine...The Cubs lead the season series, 6-5...Chicago recalled right-hander Mitch Atkins from Triple-A Iowa on Tuesday and sent right-hander Brian Schlitter to the same club...Milwaukee is 41-4 leading after seven innings...Narveson is 3-0 in nine games, including two starts, against the Cubs.