MILWAUKEE – All-Star Ben Sheets struck out 12 in seven innings and Craig Counsell hit a rare homer that led the Milwaukee Brewers over the Chicago Cubs 1-0 Monday.

The Brewers, who struck out 17 in all, stopped a season-high four-game losing streak and also ended the Cubs’ four-game winning streak. Milwaukee hadn’t beaten the Cubs at home since Aug. 28, 2002, a span of eight games. They were 0-7 against the Cubs at Miller Park last season.

Milwaukee usually holds it own at Wrigley Field and this one felt like a road game for the Brewers. Probably three-fourths of the 45,016 fans in the stands cheered for Chicago.

The crowd was the second-largest in Miller Park history, behind only the 46,218 who watched these teams play last Sept. 6.

They got to see a great pitching duel between Sheets (8-5), who earned his second All-Star selected Sunday, and Matt Clement (7-7), who walked a season-high six but didn’t allow any of them to score. He struck out 10 in seven innings and allowed just three hits – only one after the first.

Sheets gave up four hits and one walk to go with his dozen strikeouts, his most whiffs since fanning a career-best 18 on May 16 against Atlanta.

Luis Vizcaino pitched the eighth for Milwaukee and Dan Kolb, who will join Sheets in the All-Star game at Houston on July 13, got his 25th save in 26 chances.

Vizcaino allowed consecutive one-out singles before striking out Derrek Lee.

Counsell homered for the first time since April 6 at St. Louis to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead in the first. Counsell sent an 0-2 fastball over the wall in right-center for his second homer.

Both Sheets and Clement, who hasn’t won since June 8, took advantage of the ballpark’s shadow, which poked across the diamond in the middle innings. Clement struck out the side in the fifth, and Sheets struck out his 10th and 11th hitters in the bottom of the inning.

Sheets struck out the side in the second, when he stranded a runner on third, and he struck out Sammy Sosa and Lee with a runner at third base an inning later.

The Brewers threatened in the bottom of the third when they loaded the bases with two outs, but Keith Ginter hit a ball straight into the dirt that catcher Michael Barrett picked up inches in front of the plate for the forceout at home.

Ginter also hit into a fielder’s choice that stemmed a rally in the first an he bounced into a double-play in the sixth, stranding six runners altogether.

This was the first game of the year between the NL Central rivals, who face each other 16 more times in the next 50 days.

Notes: Brewers 2b Junior Spivey had an MRI exam on his injured left shoulder Monday, and the team will get the results Tuesday. … Brewers LF Geoff Jenkins stole second base in the first, his first swipe since 2002. … Even with Jenkins mired in a season-long batting slump, Cubs manager Dusty Baker said he had earned his respect, a feeling that’s mutual. “One time I told him, You have a heck of a swing,’ and he said, “You taught it to me,”‘ Baker recalled. “He had seen me at a camp in Sacramento when he was young.” … Sheets and Kolb each earned a $25,000 incentive for making the All-Star team, GM Doug Melvin said. … Cubs batters set their season high for strikeouts.