MILWAUKEE – Carlos Zambrano gave up four hits over eight shutout innings and Sammy Sosa homered in the Chicago Cubs’ 4-0 victory over the punchless Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday.

Zambrano (10-6) walked two and struck out eight in snapping a personal three-game losing skid. He needed 31 pitches to get out of the first inning, but after putting men on second and third, struck out Geoff Jenkins, Russell Branyan and Lyle Overbay. He began the second with two more strikeouts.

After the first inning, he allowed just two hits: a single by Ben Hendrickson in the third and a double by Craig Counsell leading off the sixth.

Kyle Farnsworth allowed a hit and walked a batter in the ninth before completing the five-hitter.

The Brewers’ inability to hit in the clutch doomed them again Thursday, when they went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. In their last 10 games, including eight losses, they’re just 4-for-73 with runners at second or third.

The Cubs won three of four games in the series that drew a Miller Park-record 167,109 fans, the majority of them rooting for Chicago.

Hendrickson (0-4) held Chicago scoreless until Tom Goodwin and Todd Walker hit back-to-back doubles to open the fifth and Sosa followed with a two-run homer, his 22nd, to left.

Hendrickson had watched his ERA fall from 9.75 to 6.88 through five innings, but Sosa’s shot sent it back up to 8.47.

Corey Patterson manufactured another run when he bunted for a single, stole second and scored on a double by Aramis Ramirez to make it 4-0.

Notes: A 48-year-old man from Madison, Wis., fell off a stadium escalator and was hospitalized with undetermined injuries. He was the second fan in two months to fall off an escalator at Miller Park. … The previous attendance record for a four-game series at the stadium was 154,263 against Houston from July 29-July 2, 2001. Thanks to the Cubs, the Brewers have nine sellouts this season, surpassing their total from 2002 (three) and 2003 (four) combined. … Brewers pitching coach Mike Maddux isn’t surprised his brother, Greg, is so nonchalant about his pursuit of win No. 300. He said he’s sure his brother is more concerned about the team’s success than his own: “That’s the first thing that is going to come up when people reminisce about him, what a great teammate he was,” Maddux said. “People remember the character. They don’t remember the numbers.”

AP-ES-07-29-04 1645EDT