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Cubs hand Brewers 7th straight loss

Sep 3, 2014 - 4:49 AM Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Arismendy Alcantara hit a two-run homer, Jake Arrieta made a quality start and the Chicago Cubs sent the spiraling Milwaukee Brewers to a seventh straight loss in a 7-1 final on Tuesday.

Arrieta (8-5) came away victorious in his 100th career start by holding Milwaukee to one run and five hits over six frames.

The Brewers' bats have been silent for an entire week, scoring just 14 runs during their season high-tying skid. Their five-month long stretch of holding at least a share of first place in the NL Central ended Monday when the Cardinals leapt them in the standings.

Yovani Gallardo (8-8) surrendered all seven Chicago runs, though two were unearned, while giving up eight hits over five innings.

"It's not a good time to have one of these stretches," Gallardo said. "This is what you work so hard for in the spring."

Gallardo came in 5-0 with a 1.77 ERA in his previous seven starts at Wrigley field but found himself in a 4-0 hole after just one inning.

Luis Valbuena opened the scoring with an RBI bloop base hit to left field, and Jorge Soler singled in Starlin Castro, who sprained his left ankle while sliding awkwardly into home. Castro walked off the field under his own power but was replaced in the field in the top of the second.

Consecutive errors by Elian Herrera, one fielding and another throwing, each led to a run, and the Cubs extended the lead with a three-run fifth.

Valbuena reached on a double and came around when Welington Castillo's deep fly to the left-field wall was just out of Khris Davis' reach.

Alcantara followed with his eighth home run of the year, and Chicago cruised from there.

"The young guys are starting to step up," Arrieta said. "They're getting more comfortable at this level."

Game Notes

The Cubs have won five straight at home ... With four strikeouts, Gallardo tied Ben Sheets' on the all-time franchise strikeout list with 1,206 ... Jason Rogers pinch-hit for Brewers reliever Tom Gorzelanny in the seventh inning and doubled in his first big league at-bat ... Soler did not record an extra-base hit. He was trying to become the first player since 1914 to record an extra- base hit in his first six big-league games.