Cubs 5, Brewers 1
MILWAUKEE -- Home runs by Luis Valbuena, Nate Schierholtz and Brian Bogusevic, and seven strong innings from right-hander Jake Arrieta helped the Chicago Cubs avoid a four-game sweep with a 5-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers Thursday.
Valbuena hit his 12th home run of the season with one out in the first inning when Milwaukee right-hander Kyle Lohse hung a 1-1 slider.
In the second, Schierholtz made it 3-0 Chicago with a two-run shot to right-center giving him a career-high 21 for the year.
The Cubs pounded out 13 hits, including three each from Logan Watkins and Anthony Rizzo, and two from Junior Lake.
Chicago added a run in the sixth when Brewers reliever Burke Badenhop missed the easy out at home on Arrieta's sac bunt and threw to first instead.
While the Cubs' bats broke out of a three-day slump -- outscored 17-4 in the first three games at Milwaukee -- Arrieta got into a groove and retired 11 straight after opening the game with a walk to Norichika Aoki.
Arrieta equaled his season-high by going seven innings and held the Brewers to a run on three hits with five strikeouts.
Carlos Gomez broke the shutout in the seventh, leading off with a solo home run to center -- his 21st of the season -- but Jeff Bianchi was left stranded after a two-out double.
Lohse was done after five innings. He gave up three runs on seven hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Lohse hasn't won since Aug. 20 and is 1-2 with a 5.04 ERA in four starts since.
Bogusevic put the Cubs up 5-1 with a solo home run in the ninth off Brewers reliever Donovan Hand.
NOTES: Injured Brewers 1B/OF Corey Hart visited with his teammates before the game Thursday. Hart has missed the entire season after surgeries on both his knees. In the last year of a three-year contract, Hart said he would be willing to take a discount to remain with the Brewers, who took him in the 11th round of the 2000 draft. ... Cubs manager Dale Sveum said he plans to use RHP Pedro Strop in save situations for the rest of the season. RHP Kevin Gregg is 32-for-37 in save opportunities but is a free agent after the season and the Cubs are interested in Strop, who was acquired from the Baltimore Orioles earlier this season in a trade for pitcher Scott Feldman. ... SS Jean Segura and OF Khris Davis were not in the Brewers' lineup Thursday. Segura strained his hamstring in the first inning Wednesday and is day-to-day and Davis is still nursing a sore left wrist that has limited him to three games since Sept. 4. ... Chicago C Welington Castillo left the game with right knee soreness in the sixth inning.
