Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Javier Baez and Anthony Rizzo hit back-to-
back home runs in the third inning and a Cubs rookie downed the Brewers for
the second straight night as Chicago pulled out a 4-2 victory on Wednesday.
A day after Kyle Hendricks helped pitch the Cubs to a shutout win, Tsuyoshi
Wada (2-1) held Milwaukee scoreless into the seventh before consecutive home
runs by Rickie Weeks and Martin Maldonado ended his night.
"Kyle and Wada have really stepped up and it's been nice," Rizzo said.
Wada only allowed three other hits and was backed by three hits apiece from
Chris Coghlan and Starlin Castro, who also drove in a run.
Kyle Lohse (11-7) gave up all four runs on seven hits to take the loss, the
third in four games for the NL Central leaders.
Lohse suffered an ankle injury during his at-bat in the top of the inning but
stayed in the game and served up long balls to Baez and Rizzo.
"It didn't feel right...and I tweaked it checking a swing," Lohse said. "I
couldn't push off the way I wanted to."
The blasts made it 4-0 after the Cubs had scored twice in the first courtesy
of Rizzo's sacrifice fly and Castro's RBI single.
Lohse did not come back out for the fourth, and Marco Estrada threw four
scoreless innings to keep the Brewers within striking distance.
Weeks and Maldonado made things interesting, but Justin Grimm, Neil Ramirez
and Hector Rondon combined to keep Milwaukee off the board the rest of the
way. Rondon picked up his 16th save with a perfect ninth.