Brewers 4, Cubs 0

MILWAUKEE – Doug Davis threw eight strong innings and Geoff Jenkins hit a two-run homer in the Milwaukee Brewers’ 4-0 win that completed a three-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs.

Davis (9-6), who leads the club in wins, struck out a career-high nine and allowed just four hits and two walks in bouncing back from an 8-1 loss at Pittsburgh on Friday that snapped his four-game winning streak.

The Cubs hadn’t been swept in a series of three or more games since Sept. 24-26, 2002, against Cincinnati. It was the Brewers’ first sweep of the Cubs since May 9-12, 2002, at Wrigley Field and their first sweep of the Cubs at home since Sept. 18-20, 2000, at County Stadium.

Last year, the Cubs won all seven games at Miller Park and entered this series with both momentum – they were coming off a sweep of the White Sox – and menace, with Matt Clement, Mark Prior and Carlos Zambrano facing a team that had lost four straight to the last-place Pirates.

It was the Brewers, though, behind Ben Sheets, Victor Santos and Davis, who dominated. Combined, they allowed two runs in 21 2-3 innings, both by Santos on Tuesday. And the bullpen didn’t allow Chicago any runs in 5 1-3 innings.

Mike Adams pitched the ninth for Milwaukee Wednesday.

Zambrano (9-4), who was named to his first All-Star team Sunday, allowed four runs on eight hits and four walks in 5 2-3 innings. Kent Mercker relieved Zambrano with the bases loaded in the sixth and got Jenkins to bounce out to first to end the threat. It was just the fourth time in 17 starts this season that Zambrano allowed four or more earned runs.

Jenkins’ two-run homer, his 12th, gave Milwaukee a 3-0 lead in the third. After Lyle Overbay followed with a single, Zambrano started hollering at home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi over his pitch calls. Catcher Michael Barrett spun around to shield his pitcher, who was storming around behind the mound and needed a visit from pitching coach Larry Rothschild to calm down.

Ben Grieve’s two-out RBI single in the fifth made it 4-0.

Overbay struck out but reached on a wild pitch in the second. He scored from second on a single by Wes Helms, giving Milwaukee 1-0 lead.

Notes: Davis had struck out eight three times in his career. … The sellout crowd of 42,291 brought the series total to 129,602. … Brewers RF Grieve drew six walks in the three-game series. … Prior said he didn’t learn until Wednesday morning about the scoring change that resulted in the four runs he surrendered Tuesday being earned instead of unearned. The Brewers urged the official scorer to switch Craig Counsell’s sacrifice to an infield single, arguing that rookie 3B Brendan Harris needed to make a spectacular throw to get the runner. Prior said he wasn’t upset with the ruling, which raised his ERA a full run to 4.00, and Cubs manager Dusty Baker said: “My thoughts weren’t on earned runs, they were on another loss.”

AP-ES-07-07-04 2256EDT